Man of the West **** (1958, Gary Cooper, Julie London, Lee J Cobb, Arthur O’Connell, Jack Lord, John Dehner, Royal Dano, Robert J Wilke) – Classic Movie Review 6,493

Anthony Mann’s first-class 1958 Western film Man of the West stars Gary Cooper as gunman Link Jones pressured into just one more bank job by his former outlaw cronies, led by nasty patriarch Dock Tobin (Lee J Cobb).

Director Anthony Mann’s first-class 1958 Western film Man of the West stars Gary Cooper as gunman Link Jones who is trying to go straight but allows himself to be pressured into just one more bank job by his erstwhile former outlaw cronies, led by nasty patriarch Dock Tobin (Lee J Cobb).

With the screenplay by Reginald Rose based on the 1955 novel The Border Jumpers by Will C Brown, it is an admirably robust and intelligent yarn. And Mann directs forcefully and imaginatively in his last Western outing, which is also one of his finest.

Cobb and Cooper at their best keep the tension rising impressively, while finely etched minor characters receive top-quality support performing.

The film is shot in CinemaScope and Color by Deluxe by Ernest Haller, mostly in California though the story takes place in Texas.

Cooper did his own horse-riding despite pain after a car accident, but Chuck Roberson, Jack Williams and Jack N Young were stunt performers.

It is produced by Walter Mirisch and distributed by United Artists. 

Release date: October 1, 1958.

Also in the cast are Julie London as Billie Ellis, Arthur O’Connell as Sam Beasley, Jack Lord as Coaley, John Dehner as Claude, Royal Dano as Trout, Robert J Wilke as Ponch, Dick Elliott, Frank Ferguson as Crosscut Marshal, Tom London as Tom, J Williams as Alcutt, Chief Tahachee as Pio, Tina Menard, Emory Parnell as Henry, Chuck Roberson, Guy Wilkerson, Jack Williams and Joe Dominguez.

James Stewart, who had worked with Anthony Mann on eight films, five of them Westerns, wanted the star role. But Mann thought that Stewart wrong for the role and also the two men had fallen out while shooting Night Passage (1957). Nevertheless, Cooper was was not exactly ideal casting: he 56 at the time of filming and his lead character was 36. 

Gary Cooper and Robert J Wilke were adversaries in High Noon.

Man of the West is directed by Anthony Mann, runs 100 minutes, is distributed by United Artists, is written by Reginald Rose, is shot in CinemaScope and Color by Deluxe by Ernest Haller, is produced by Walter M Mirisch, is scored by Leigh Harline, and is designed Hilyard M Brown.

Reginald Rose is best known for writing Twelve Angry Men (1957), which also features Lee J Cobb. Cobb was ten years younger than Cooper, playing his uncle in Man of the West, so he had to be carefully made up to try to look older.

James Stewart worked with Anthony Mann on the five classic Westerns: Winchester ’73 (1950), Bend of the River (1952), The Naked Spur (1953), The Far Country (1954) and The Man from Laramie (1955).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6493

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