The Westerner
Directed by William Wyler. 100 mins. (1940)
Gary Cooper - Cole Harden
Drifter Cole Harden is accused of stealing a horse and faces hanging by self-appointed Judge Roy Bean, but Harden manages to talk his way out of it by claiming to be a friend of stage star Lillie Langtry, with whom the judge is obsessed, even though he has never met her. Tensions rise when Harden comes to the defense of a group of struggling homesteaders who Judge Bean is trying to drive away.
Also starring Walter Brennan, Doris Davenport, Forrest Tucker, Chill Wills, Lilian Bond and Dana Andrews.
Classic western noteworthy for Walter Brennan's Oscar-winning performance as Judge Roy Bean, Brennan's third and last Oscar win.
Nominated for 3 Oscars winning Best Supporting Actor (Walter Brennan)
Tagline - The Raw Untamed Adventurous West... Lives Again!
Maria’s notes
One of my father’s favorite directors to work with was William Wyler, from “The Westerner” in 1940, their first collaboration - to "Friendly Persuasion "in 1956. Both films created an important impact on the film career and character of Gary Cooper.
This unusual story/film- some half-truth and half-fiction was in the beginning a source of tremendous irritation and resentment between my father and producer Samuel Goldwyn’. My father thought that he would be portraying the historical, colorful and infamous Judge Roy Bean. To his shock he discovered that Goldwyn had cast Walter Brennen in that plum part. When Cooper objected strongly, Goldwyn tried to placate him by saying don’t worry we will he will expand your part!
His role in the shooting script did not please my father at all, but he finally agreed to - fulfill his contractual obligations “under a formal written protest”!
It was another one of those tough physical locations in the desert near Tuscan, Arizona with extreme temperature fluctuations endured by the cast and crew.The role GaryCooper inhabited- a character named Cole Harden, has to use his wit, cleverness and devious tendencies in order to save his own skin, when Judge Bean wants to see him DEAD. To avoid being hung, Harden cleverly plays on Bean’s obsession with the real-life famous beauty, singer and entertainer of the day, Lily Langtry, Walter Brennen and my father became buddies while making the film. They joked around with each other with Brennen making phone calls to my father impersonating Sam Goldwyn’s angry diatribes at Cooper!! The screenwriter Niven Bush and my father also became friends as he praised how helped his writing with the factual knowledge of the real was that was so important in developing the story line.
Maria Cooper Janis