Surprisingly incoherent and boring

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This Golden Age western started off in an almost light-comedic vein, despite its more serious subject matter of the dispute between cattle-men and homesteaders in post US Civil War Texas, which introduces us to the dominating character of Roy Bean (Walter Brennan) as judge, jury and executioner of anyone who comes across his path. Sure enough, across his path, moseys drifter Gary Cooper's Cole Harden, caught stealing the horse of one of Bean's gang, but picking up on the judge's infatuation with theatrical star Lilly Langtry, bluffs his way out of a near-certain hanging and begins an uneasy friendship with his new benefactor on the strength of a supposed past acquaintance with the famous actress..This odd pair bonds over a few bottles of the local snake-eye, but the film deepens and darkens with Cooper's involvement with the god-fearing homesteaders and in particular the doughty daughter of the occupiers' elderly patriarch and after a peace largely brokered by Cooper breaks down with the renegades burning down their rivals land and homes, it's obvious that Coop can't stands no more and sets himself on a collision course with the Judge in a showdown at, of all things, a theatrical performance in town by the one and only Miss Langtry.I'm not sure the story needed the fantastical involvement of Lily, unless the real Roy Bean was indeed her number one fan, but the rest of the film plays just fine. Cooper is his usual gawky, bumbling ordinary average Joe, who has more steel about him than you'd think, while Brennan steals the show with that so-distinctive voice and a performance of rare verve and charm. Doris Davenport I wasn't familiar with but she isn't overawed by the two star names as the feisty daughter.You can usually count on William Wyler to deliver a solidly entertaining movie, cleverly mixing in elements of action, drama and comedy to good effect. Master cameraman Gregg Toland as usual delivers some fine tableaux in black and white, especially the fire scene, this last perhaps inspired by a similar one in the previous year's blockbuster "Gone With The Wind" and there's another excellent scene where Cooper gets into a fight with a local rancher, with no exaggerated sound effects in literally, quite a dust-up between the two.I liked this film the more it progressed and in particular featured two fine lead performances at its heart.

Judge Roy Bean, a colourful character in the Old West who appointed himself a judge and dispensed an eccentric brand of justice from the bar of his saloon, is today probably best-known to film buffs like me from the 1972 Paul Newman vehicle "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean", but "The Westerner" is an earlier attempt to put his career on screen. In the Newman film Bean was very much at the centre of the action, but here he plays the antagonist to the film's fictitious hero, a wandering cowboy named Cole Harden.In 1882 Harden arrives in the town of Vinegaroon, Texas and narrowly avoids being hanged by the judge on a charge of horse-stealing. Despite Harden's narrow escape from the death penalty, a curious friendship grows up between him and the judge, but this friendship comes to an end when a "range war" breaks out between the local cattle ranchers and a group of newly-arrived farmers who want to fence off their land, which has previously been open range land, and use it for cultivating crops. Bean is obviously biased in favour of the ranchers, whereas Harden takes the side of the farmers. He does so because he sees them as underdogs, fighting against a group of wealthy and powerful bullies who will not hesitate to use violence, but even he has to concede that the ranchers might have a point. The farmers have been granted their lands by Eastern politicians and seem quite unaware that the arid plains of West Texas are not ecologically suitable for "sod-busting". By 1940 when the film was made, the Dust Bowl catastrophe had taught Americans that not all of the West lent itself to the sort of arable farming practised further east.The film helped to perpetuate some of the mythology which has grown up around Bean. It is unlikely that in reality he was as obsessed with the actress Lily Langtry as he is shown here, and he certainly did not rename Vinegaroon "Langtry" in her honour. (The name derives from a railroad engineer called George Langtry). Nor, in fact, was he a "hanging judge"; he only ever passed two death sentences, of only one which was carried out, and at a time when horse stealing was still a capital offence in Texas he habitually refused to hang horse-thieves provided the horse was returned to its rightful owner. He was indeed originally self-appointed, but was later officially appointed as a Justice of the Peace, something not referred to in the film. He was to die peacefully of old age in 1903, not in the manner shown here. The film's attitude towards Bean is, in fact, ambiguous. I have never really understood why Walter Brennan was awarded an Oscar (his third Academy Award, then a record) for Best Supporting Actor as it is never clear what sort of man Bean really is. At times he is sentimentalised as a lovable old rogue, but at others he is very much the villain of the piece- nasty, corrupt and cruel, and the main enemy of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to be found anywhere west of the Pecos.The female lead Doris Davenport is rather dull as Jane-Ellen Mathews, the daughter of one of the farmers and Harden's love-interest. Gary Cooper, however, is good as Harden himself. I am not sure if the film's title "The Westerner" refers to Harden or to Bean, but Harden comes across as the quintessential Westerner as seen by Hollywood- lean, rangy, laconic and tough, but with an innate sense of decency and justice in which Bean is lacking. Cooper did not specialise in Westerns to the extent of someone like John Wayne, but he could certainly be good in the genre.Besides Brennan's Oscar, the film received two other Academy Award nominations for Best Story and Best Art Direction, Black and White. While I felt that the story has its faults, the look of the film is certainly attractive. As one might expect from that fine director William Wyler, the direction is stylish and well-handled. It might have been a better film had the scriptwriters been able to decide what line to take on Bean's criminal activities instead of veering between condemning them and then trying to justify them on the grounds that he's a colourful character, and where would the Old West have been without colourful characters? 6/10

Roger Ebert introduced "The Cole Rule," which is 'no movie made since 1977 containing a character with the first name "Cole" has been any good.' "The Westerner," starring Gary Cooper as Cole Harden, came out in 1940.The film centers around Harden and Roy Bean (Walter Brennan), the barman and self-proclaimed judge of Vinegaroon, Texas. Bean has a tendency of serving capital punishment as easily as he serves whiskey. When Harden shows up on the scene--the classic drifter who comes from "no place in particular" and who's going "no place special"--telling tales of trysts with Lily Langtry, Bean's hanging ways are brought to a halt, at least for a little while. You see, Bean is madly in love with Langtry, a famous actress, despite not ever meeting or seeing her in the person; in fact, he has pictures of her plastered over nearly ever square-inch of his bar and bedroom. As great as Cooper is as the reluctant hero of above-average intelligence, Brennan is the star, delivering one of--if not the best of--his performances. He inhabits a "judge" Roy Bean who's at both times dangerous and pitiful. In his initial intellectual face- off with Harden--which quickly devolves into empty feats of masculinity--Bean comes off as a fierce, no-nonsense sociopath, incapable of sentiment. However, at the mere mention of Langtry, his face melts into a picture of childish affection. He's so good, that despite being the antagonist, the ways in which the hero manipulates Bean's schoolboy crush are borderline heartbreaking. Brennan rightly won the Academy Award that year. "The Westerner" is also home to one of the all-time great shootouts. It's comically realistic, as these aren't two sharpshooters, but they know how a gun works. So, naturally, they run around, shooting blindly and hiding behind things, as anybody in a shootout would. To boot, there's an orchestra between the two of them, so occasionally a bullet will graze an instrument, creating a natural, offbeat score to match the scene.In 1972, John Huston released another film based on the legend of Bean entitled, "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean," starring Paul Newman as the "judge," which is likewise an outstanding film. It's been a while since I've seen it, so I can't compare the two movies like I wish I could.Given the eclectic personality of the real-life Bean, "The Westerner" is a refreshingly quirky western, and is worthy of its source material.

The heart of the movie is the developing relationship between Bean (Brennan) and Harden (Cooper), and it's one of the more affecting ones in Hollywood filmdom. The two actors play off one another in subtle and convincing fashion. Credit too, a clever screenplay that creates the troubled friendship in unforgettable fashion. Bean, of course, represents the lawless first wave of frontier settlement by ranchers, and Brennan's almost scary as the hangin' judge. He's aggressive, foul-tempered, and allows no second-guessing. And when Harden's accused of being a horse thief, it's almost certain he's a "gonner". Except the saddle tramp has quick wits about him, claiming he knows the object of Bean's near worship— songstress Lilly Langtry. That's enough to get his hanging postponed. Note, however, that neither we nor Bean are told at any time whether Harden has made-up the story or not. With the lock of hair, though, it appears he has.The dramatic high point, of course, is the crop burning by the ranchers. It's an attempt to drive out the second wave of settlers, namely the farmers who've taken over good grazing land. It's a great effect that stands up even today, the vast fields of corn going up like a roaring inferno. I don't know how the movie makers did it, but it's definitely an A-movie effect. Throughout it all, Cooper is his usual tight-lipped, unsmiling movie self, a distinct contrast to the talkative Bean, and a perfect casting choice.I can't help thinking that the judge's obsession with Langtry represents his soft side that he's had to channel away from the hard side as keeper of law and order on the frontier. That final sequence is so well thought out. It's almost a 'male weepie' and a perfect culmination of the wavering relationship between the two men. Then too, what a great glimpse of earthly heaven right before the slow fadeout.All in all, the 100-minutes is an unforgettable western, thanks mainly to Brennan's sharp- edged judge, richly deserving of the Oscar he received.