Prismark10 William Wyler directs a fictionalised account of the story of Judge Roy Bean (Walter Brennan), a small town saloon public official with a penchant for hanging and corrupt as well as he sides with the cattlemen against the homesteaders. Cole Harden (Gary Cooper) is sentenced by the Judge to hang after he is falsely accused of horse stealing. Cole noticing that the Judge is infatuated by the English actress Lily Langtry claims to have met her and even having a lock of her hair.The Judge suspends his sentence and both become unusual friends, Cole even rescues the Judge from some irate homesteaders. However the aggression by the cattlemen leads to one local homesteader Jane Ellen Mathews (Doris Davenport) farms being burned down and her father being killed. She had a tentative romance with Cole and he goes looking for the Judge who does little to protect the homesteaders in the lawless frontier.The film is nicely photographed by the legendary Gregg Toland, it is also overlong, too episodic with too many lulls in the story. It is an offbeat movie but vacillates too often between being a comedy, romance and a drama.

LeonLouisRicci Entertaining and Glossy Hollywood Product, this Time its a Western. Stagecoach (the one that put John Ford and John Wayne on the map), the Previous Year, Made it Clear that Westerns were an Untapped Gold Mine for an A-List Production. This One was Given the Golden Treatment and it Could Hardly Fail. Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan, Cinematographer Gregg Toland, Nevin Bush Pushing the Pen, and All the Money in the World. What's Not to Like. Well, More than Competent in Many Respects, the Movie also Smacks of a Prefabricated Production. It's a Good Looking bit of Stiffness. Expected Things Happen Expectedly, the Humor, the Tension Between the Sodbusters and the Cattlemen, the Mating of Two Handsome People, and it All Happens with the Rigidness of Some Sort of Cooking Recipe.That was the Hollywood Studio of the Time. Take Very Few Chances and Never Go Off Script. It Works in an Assembly Line Kind of Way. But the Art Suffers. That Type of Production is Fine for Making Cars but Creativity is Hardly a Concern.So Viewers can Enjoy what's Here and They Did and They Do. There are a Few Unexpected Subtleties that can Surprise. For Example Gary Cooper Fingering His Wallet "Inserting" the Lock of Hair. But Overall, the Sympathetic Ending for the Judge is an Abrupt and a Cheat Considering what had Gone Before. Again it's a Studio Concession for a Satisfying Conclusion that Destroys Any Semblance of the Assertion of the Beastly Character that was On Display for the Previous 100 Minutes.

Errington_92 An intriguing Western which mixed drama, comedy and romance, The Westerner was well-directed and acted. It is these qualities which notes The Westerner as a quality feature.Gary Cooper leads the cast as drifter Cole Harden wandering into a long-standing battle between homesteaders and cattle herders in Vinegaroon, Texas. Being acquainted with self-righteous 'Judge' Rob Bean (Walter Brennan) whose antics have made him powerful amongst the cattle herders and Jane-Ellen Mathews (Doris Davenport), a homesteader who becomes Harden's love interest. Attempting to act as mediator, Harden has to deal with consequences stemming from his peaceful means. You may think this synopsis sounds like a straight-up Western with shootouts and fiery romance abound. However the characterisation offered great depth which are played out and explored.As an antagonist 'Judge' Bean was never one-dimensional. Whereas delivering his own form of 'justice' with no remorse and continuously conveying a leering arrogance, Bean has an obsession with starlet Lily Langtry. Adoring her pictures across his saloon, Langtry becomes a symbol for Bean's greed, selfishness and desire. Worthy opposition arrived through Harden, upping the ante in a clever game of wits between Bean getting themselves into situations which were marvellously performed by Cooper and Brennan. Their chemistry made The Westerner transformations into different genres work.The Westerner also knew how to balance generic concepts neither becoming too dramatic or comical. After the execution of a condemned man comes along the over-zealous undertaker portrayed as a laughable opportunist. Thinking Harden will be his next profit the undertaker sly-fully takes his measurements. Once Harden is spared a hanging the undertaker's reply "I've just lost a customer". This line's delivery and meaning showcased the dynamics The Westerner had to be a quality feature.

cricket crockett We here in Texas have always HATED corn. If you have steak, who needs vegetables? America is fat (morbidly obese) today because high fructose CORN syrup is sneaked into almost every product in our groceries. Roy Bean tried to nip the creeping evil of Big Corn in the bud during the time he appears in this libelous Big Corn Lobby smear campaign film, THE WESTERNER. As Roy knew, any grain or vegetable requires many illegal southerners to harvest. Folks like Col. Travis and Jim Bowie DIED in order to kick them out of here (they even had the unmitigated gall to try to free our Intercontinentals!). Heroes such as Davey Crockett, Sam Houston and corn farmer-Hanging Judge Roy Bean tried to insure Texans a future steady diet of good old American steak. But rascals with names like Abe Lincoln and Michelle Obama have crammed fattening corn products down our throats instead as the decades roll by. At the end of this film, the FAKE westerner played by Gary Cooper ASSASSINATES Roy Bean so the Yankee fat cats behind Big Corn can have the last laugh. If you feel a twinge of unease watching your 400-pound 12-year-old waddling toward the fridge tonight, blame Gary Cooper and Big Corn!!