The Westerner (1940)

The Westerner (1940) ****

Produced by Samuel Goldwyn
Distributed by United Artists
Directed by William Wyler

    Following along what we'll call the Garfield Trail, we come to 1940's The Westerner starring Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan. The Westerner certainly blazes no trail in plot (very run-of-the-mill farmers/ranchers feud) but the film is so well done it has become a standard of the genre often making it on lists of the top westerns. The plot is not at all the same as Tim McCoy's film of the same name from 1934. Cole Harden (Cooper) is brought into the town of Vinegaroon, Texas for stealing a horse and finds a corrupt town leader named “Judge” Roy Bean (Brennan) who passes sentence as he pleases and has a strange obsession with an English actress he has never met. Cole finds a way to use this obsession to get him out of a death sentence, forges an uneasy friendship with the judge, and discovers the goings on between sod busters and cattlemen. Judge and his men are in favor of keeping these new incoming agrarians out via any means necessary. Cole meets a young farmer’s daughter named Jane-Ellen Matthews (Doris Davenport) and wants to help. Judge goes too far in his war against the settlers and Cole vows to bring him to justice.
Gary Cooper plays a surprisingly warm character and is really a joy to watch. Surprisingly, Copper didn’t even want to do the picture thinking Walter Brennan would steal the show. Brennan is indeed amazing as the slightly off judge and took home an Oscar for his performance. Doris Davenport, who had come to Sam Goldwyn’s attention when auditioning for Scarlett O’Hara does incredibly well and yet it would be her last year in acting (having only ever been in five films). It appears she was in a car accident and walked with a cane after. The film is solid all the way around and one of my favorite Gary Cooper westerns. William Wyler directed this film (the first western from the director who gave us the most famous movie no one knows (The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)) and later Ben-Hur (1959).

Union Pacific (1939)

Union Pacific (1939) ***

Produced by Cecil B. DeMille
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille

   Continuing the odd Virginian connection, we have 1939’s Union Pacific. Released right around the time of Stagecoach, the two big budget films helped to bring the genre out of the B-movie serial slump it was in through much of the 30s. The story is Ernest Haycox's novel "Trouble Shooter." Cecil B. Demille was not a great director of westerns and Union Pacific is more of a historical epic with western spectacle thrown in for good measure and many of the scenes are borrowed from The Iron Horse. The cast, however, is superb and the big ticket train wrecks and an Indian/Cavalry battle carry the film. The film was even up for an Academy Award for Best Special Effects that year.
    Jeff Butler (Joel McCrea) is working for the Union Pacific to keep the Irish plugging away to beat the Central Pacific to Utah. An unscrupulous investor pays Sid Campeau (Brian Dunlevy) and Dick Allen (Robert Preston) to work against the railroad by distracting the Irish with booze, gambling, and women. Jeff and Dick turn out to be old pals but are split by their opposing interests and their collective interest in the railroad mail gal (Barbara Stanwyck with a grating accent). The film covers all the fictionalized action leading up to the "Last Spike" driven in 1869 (fun fact - they used the actual golden spike for the film). McCrea and Dunlevy would go on to play against one another as the Virginian and Trampus in 1946’s version of The Virginian.

Law and Order (1932)

Law and Order (1932) ***

Produced by Carl Laemmle Jr.
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Directed by Edward L. Cahn

   This film had many contributions from a more contemporary perspective that lent itself well to the creation of a film which has the at times non-western feel like that you see in Gary Cooper’s performance in High Noon (1952). The source material is the novel “Saint Johnson (1930)” by William R. Burnett whose 1929 work "Little Caesar" became the 1931 film of the same name that stands proudly in the tradition of 30’s gangster films and John Huston’s adaptation captures this aspect well. It is also the first (and one of very few) westerns directed by Edward L. Cahn. As an example, he would much later direct the sci-fi classic It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) which would influence the original screenplay for one of my personal favorites Alien (1979). What really sells Law and Order are the compelling performances by a fine cast. Walter Huston, who we just saw before as Trampus in The Virginian (1929), at first plays it a bit aloof but builds tension throughout the film eventually screaming it the streets about a “reckoning” that immediately brought to my mind the scene from Tombstone (1993). Harry Carry does extremely well as the Doc Holiday figure of Brandt and his death with the line “bury me with my shotgun” is a standout moment as well. While not a huge role, Judge Simpson is played by Russell Simpson who was in both silent versions of The Virginian though is best known as Pa Joad from 1940’s The Grapes of Wrath. You will even hear the familiar screeching of Andy Devine, who will for me forever be the stagecoach driver from Stagecoach (1939).
The novel by Burnett is admittedly a fictionalized account of Wyatt Earp at Tombstone where the names and locations have been changed, though Tombstone replaces the fictional Alkali from the novel. I don’t need to recount the tale here given my audience but this version lacks any inserted love affair to muddy the waters of tough guy and buddies taming a lawless frontier town. A classic and far better than the remake in ’53 with Ronny Reagan.

The Virginian (1929)

The Virginian (1929) ***

Produced by B.P. Schulberg and Louis D. Lighton
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Directed by Victor Fleming

It is impossible to understand the significance of this film without a fair bit of background information. The Virginian (1929) is based upon a popular play adaptation of Owen Wister’s novel of the same name which was published in 1902. The novel came to influence the popular notions of the west which would dominate the narrative throughout the heyday of the Western. The Virginian was a clever, fun loving, smooth talking man of moral fibre and inherently captured the nobility of the cowboy. There had been many novels before it with a western setting and countless stories of outlaws, but Wister put the cowboy at the center. The book was an immediate success and in 1904 Wister and Kirke La Shelle wrote a stage adaptation that narrows the story emphasizing the relationship between the Virginian and Steve. Opening on Broadway, the lead was played by Dustin Farnum who of course became an early western movie star in De Mille’s The Squaw Man (1914) and again as the Virginian in the first film adaptation. The Virginian would be made again in 1923 under Thomas Forman before Victor Fleming’s first talkie version in 1929. In fact, this was Fleming’s first talkie ever which alone would keep this film remembered by film buffs. Adding to the western tradition, The Virginian was also the first talkie and first western by the young Gary Cooper who would become a staple of the genre.

The Virginian (Cooper) finds himself at odds with a cattle rustler named Trampas (Walter Huston) but his greatest concern comes from his friend Steve (Richard Arlen) joining up with Trampas under the promise of getting wealthy enough to start his own ranch one day. The two friends are also involved in attempting to win the heart of the new school teacher (Mary Brian). The story feels a bit slow which comes from the source material but can become tedious. Cooper does a fine job in the role of the Virginian though it is really Walter Huston (father of director John Huston) that shines as the villain. One interesting note is that Cooper’s voice coach for the southern accent was a fresh-to-Hollywood Randolph Scott. 

Westward Ho!!!

So I realize that for the most part I am the only one who reads this blog so for my own notes I will be moving forward down a "best of the genre" list created by Brian Garfield in his excellent reference work "Western Films." This should clear up the Wayne heavy nature of my reviews. His chronological list is as follows:

The Virginian (1929)
Law and Order (1932)
Union Pacific (1939)
The Westerner (1940)
Western Union (1941)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Canyon Passage (1946)
Ramrod (1947)
Pursued (1947)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Four Faces West (1948)
Red River (1948)
Blood on the Moon (1948)
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
Rio Grande (1950)
The Gunfighter (1950)
High Noon (1952)
Ride the Man Down (1952)
The Naked Spur (1953)
Shane (1953)
Bad Day at Black Rock (1954)
Johnny Guitar (1954)
The Searchers (1956)
Lonely Are the Brave (1962)
Ride the High Country (1962)
The Wild Bunch (1969)

Sure the Duke makes a good appearance but you can't have a list without him plus this one captures the breadth of the genre well.

Getting Back in the Saddle

Alright, let's take some time and get a few more films under our belt, perhaps see if we can find out who our readers are and what they are looking for. Have any films you want to see reviewed? Any aspect of the Western you might want to take a look at?

I think I am going to try to hit around a bit and grab films from different eras. I will still get JDubs in here as often as it makes sense to and I will try to stick to the big pictures and fan favorites.

Silverado (1985)

Silverado (1985) ***

Produced by Lawrence Kasden
Distributed by Columbia
Directed by Lawrence Kasden

   From the guy that co-wrote the Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, we have an ensemble western that tries very hard to capture something of the glory days but only makes it painfully obvious how impossible it is. Cinematography is top notch, award winning soundtrack, all star cast but the film is still bogged down by the conventions of the time. There is a huge 80s style body count, the obligatory "don't forget that minorities had it even worse" apology and an obsession with seeming genuine. The story is all over the place in order to force the four main characters together. It is high quality work all around but feels like Kasden missed the mark. He and his brother Mark wrote the screenplay and Lawrence directed so blame sits squarely on his shoulders.

   The story brings together two former bad boys Emmett (Scott Glenn) and Paden (Kevin Kline) who head out for Silverado. On the way Emmett is reunited with his brother Jake (Kevin Costner) and new buddy Mal (Danny Glover). Once in Silverado, they find local power player McKendrick (Ray Baker) bullying the locals with the help of a lackey sheriff named Cobb (Brian Dennehy). Our four heroes come together to right the wrongs in town... John Cleese, Rosanna Arquette, and Jeff Goldblum are amongst the people along the way. There are some great performances by these actors but the overly complicated story leaves you feeling like you have been watching a western soap opera. Lots of attempts at classic western scenes are injected but feel so contrived that they lose any nostalgic value. Should you watch it? It is in the midst of a western lull chronologically so you can flesh out your western education with it but just realize it has its faults.