Man of the West

Mies lannesta / Mannen fran vastern. US (c) 1958 Ashton Productions. Originally released by United Artists. D: Anthony Mann. SC: Reginald Rose - based on the novel The Border Jumpers by Will C. Brown. DP: Ernest Haller - CinemaScope - De Luxe. Starring: Gary Cooper, Julie London, Lee J. Cobb, Arthur O'Connell. 100 min. Print: Cin. fr. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Arlecchino, 3 July 2008. - The print is a mixed bag from brilliant to mediocre colour and definition. - A masterpiece revisited in a magnificent scope presentation. Anthony Mann had fallen out with James Stewart, and the aged Gary Cooper brought his own tragic charisma into the part (interesting to see this soon after Morocco, made 28 years earlier). - There is Dostoyevskian grandeur in this story of the man's return to his criminal past, and conquering the evil father figure. - Lee J. Cobb's barking may get a bit monotonous. - Humoristic touches in the beginning, as the man of the West boards a train for the first time in his life. - Julie London presents a romantic interest which remains only a beautiful, unrealized opportunity. - This film is a noble entry in the "good-bad man / woman" tradition of the Western. The story would have been perfect for William S. Hart.