Hombre del oeste

Tense , violent ,epic Western in which Gary Cooper , Lee J Cobb and Julie London stand out . Brilliant and taut Western with wonderful use of locations and top-of-the-range cast . Gary Cooper is the Man of the West , a reformed outlaw called Link Jones (Gary Cooper , he bravely did his own horse-riding scenes despite physical pain from a car accident years earlier though) becomes stranded after an aborted train robbery with two other passengers (Julie London , Arthur O'Connell) . Cooper is forced to rejoin his ex-colleague (Lee J Cobb) and ex-boss to save himself and other innocent people from the band's (Jack Lord , Robert J Wilke, Royal Dano) mistreatment .

Magnificent Western plenty of thrills , shootouts , violence , gorgeous landscapes and results to be pretty entertaining . This excellent Western deserves another look at 1958 , nowadays is better considered then the 50s when was dismissed . In spite of its violence that influenced in Spaghetti Western , ¨Man of the West¨ turns out to be an essential and indispensable Western for hardcore aficionados . Jean-Luc Godard, a film critic before he became a director, raved about the film saying it was the best film of that year ; because of his recommendation, the film has been reevaluated and is now considered a classic western . Gary Cooper is frankly well in the role that fits him like a gun fits a holster .Gary Cooper was, at 56, a decade older than Lee J. Cobb who played his "Uncle" Dock Tobin , in the film Cooper and John Dehner talk about being children together , Dehner was actually fourteen years younger than Cooper . However , Stewart Granger was originally announced for the lead role and James Stewart eagerly sought the role played by Gary Cooper, but since Stewart had fallen out with director Anthony Mann he did not get the part . Very good support cast formed by notorious secondaries such as Jack Lord , Royal Dano , Robert J Wilke , Arthur O'Connell , Frank Ferguson and special mention to Lee J Cobb . Colorful cinematography in CinemaScope by Ernest Haller . Powerful and thrilling musical score by Leigh Harline .

This top-drawer Western was stunningly realized by the master Anthony Mann , infusing the traditional Western with psychological confusion , including his characteristic use of landscape with marvelous use of outdoors which is visually memorable . Mann established his forte with magnificent Western almost always with James Stewart . In his beginnings he made ambitious but short-lived quality low-budget surroundings of Eagle-Lion production as ¨T-men¨ , ¨They walked by night¨ , ¨Raw deal¨ , ¨Railroaded¨ and ¨Desperate¨ . Later on , he made various Western , remarkably good , masterpieces such as ¨The furies¨ , and ¨Devil's doorway¨ and several with his habitual star , James Stewart, as ¨Winchester 73¨ , ¨Bend the river¨ and ¨The far country¨ . They are characterized by roles whose determination to stick to their guns would take them to the limits of their endurance . Others in this throughly enjoyable series include ¨Tin star ¨ and ¨Man of the West¨ is probably one of the best Western in the fifties and sixties . After the mid-50 , Mann's successes came less frequently , though directed another good Western with Victor Mature titled ¨The last frontier¨. And of course ¨Man of the West ¨ that turns out to be stylish , fast paced , solid , meticulous , with enjoyable look , and most powerful and well-considered . This well acted movie is gripping every step of the way . It results to be a splendid western and remains consistently agreeable . Rating : Above average , the result is a top-of-range Western . Well worth watching and it will appeal to Gary Cooper fans .

Stranded in the middle of nowhere after their train is robbed, a former outlaw, a schoolteacher and a gambler take refuge with the gang that the former outlaw once belonged to in this dark western drama. Taking refuge does not come easy to the once-outlaw, played by Gary Cooper, as he has to pretend to still be a tough lawbreaker despite reforming his ways, and there is a lot of tension in the air as the gang members are equally as uneasy about his return. The plot actually has a lot in common with David Cronenberg's 'A History of Violence' with Cooper having to face the violent past that he thought he left behind. Cooper never quite seems right in the role though; aside from being two decades older than his character, it is hard to ever imagine Cooper once being a hardened outlaw. As a character, he is not as well developed as Viggo Mortensen in 'A History of Violence' either with the train robbery happening before we even have a chance to know him. The film is also set back by a melodramatic music score from Leigh Harline that comes off as overbearing half the time. The film does have its moments though. The long distance shots of Cooper entering the supposedly abandoned cabin are great, capturing the eerie isolation of the place. The scene in which Julie London is told to strip at knife point is nail-bitingly intense too, and while he looks too young to really be Cooper's uncle, Lee J. Cobb is delightful in the role, radiating both danger and a sense of longing, wanting so much to reconnect with the outlaw nephew he thought he lost forever.

Link Jones (Gary Cooper) is a former outlaw, coming from the west to hire a schoolteacher to his small town with the savings of the locals. A gang robs the train where Link is traveling, including his luggage with the money, the train successfully escapes from them, but the singer Billie Ellis (Julie London), Sam Beasley (Arthur O´Connell) and him are accidentally left behind, in an isolated place many miles far from any city. The next train will pass by the region only a week later, and they look for a shelter for the cold night. They find an abandoned ranch where Link used to live. However, the gang who stole the train is lodged there, and further, Link was a member of this gang. He introduces Billie as his wife, and says that he decided to return to the group. A tense, dramatic and violent relationship develops between Link and the group, with tragic consequences. This western is very different from the others, without action, but having dramatic psychological drama instead, including a claustrophobic situation in the house. Gary Cooper plays a protective good man who wants to forget his past; Julie London's role is a lonely woman, who does not love any man or anything, but who falls in love with Link; and the performances of the `bad guys' are fantastic. This movie is really a classic western. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): `O Homem do Oeste' (`The Man of the West)

Due to his reputation as a 'genre' director, Anthony Mann's film-making skills are apt to be undervalued but his cycle of exemplary fifties Westerns of which 'Man of the West' is the capstone, marks him out as a master of his craft.

This is his penultimate Western as indeed it is for its star Gary Cooper and one wonders why the film fared badly at the box office. Perhaps audiences were perplexed by the absence of James Stewart whose professional partnership with Mann had already yielded eight films, five of which were Westerns. As it happened they had a falling out and alas never again worked together but for this viewer at any rate the casting of Cooper is better suited to this material. Stewart's persona in his Westerns with Mann reveal what one critic has termed an 'underlying hysteria' whereas Cooper's innate vulnerability, if anything deepened by age and ill-health, gives his performance as Link a gravitas which contrasts wonderfully with Lee J. Cobb's demented Dock Tobin and his assorted gang of misfits played Jack Lord, Royal Dano, Robert Wilkie and John Dehner. Cooper's softly-softly, low key approach makes his later acts of violence even more effective. Despite the age difference his cleverly lit scenes with sultry Julie London work really well and their simpatico is palpable.

Mann has had the courage here to make Miss London's forced striptease as slow as possible(who's complaining!) whilst the drawn out fight between Link and the Coley of Jack Lord is stunning in its rawness and brutality. He and his cinematographer Ernest Haller have given us dark and gloomy interiors as well as varying their palette in the changing landscapes whilst the final confrontation in the old ghost town is brilliantly staged. Leigh Harline provides another superlative score.

Time has treated this piece well and it is now rightly seen not just for the masterpiece it assuredly is but also as bridging the gap between the traditional and 'adult' Westerns that were to come.

I am loath to agree with Jean-Luc Godard but when he wrote that with this film Anthony Mann virtually 'reinvented the Western', he hit the nail on the head.

There is a bit wrong with this film. Gary Cooper's age versus Lee Cobb's. The coincidental stranding of Julie London and Arthur O'Conell after the train robbery. The abrupt ending.

There is quite a bit not wrong also. The outdoor photography. The interior train scenes seem to have been entirely shot on a real train going down the tracks, not a set with rear projection. All the settings are real looking not Hollywood whitewash. Gary Cooper is low-key but builds his conflicted character well. The villains are among the nastiest one can see in pre-1960's westerns. They really lay the groundwork for the stock western psycho in later Spaghetti Westerns. Jack Lord plays a real maniac!

Mann's eye for visual composition really adds to the psychological atmosphere. You can see the influence on Leone and it seems like Leone imitated a couple of shots from this film. The set design for the town of Lasso could have been used in any Italian western.

A good, if depressing, alternate western.