Gary Cooper plays the title role in Anthony Mann’s 1958 American Western Man of the West, which was also directed by Walter Mirisch & released by United Artists. The Border Jumpers, authored by Will C. Brown in 1955, served as the inspiration for Reginald Rose’s screenplay. Lee J. Cobb, Jack Lord, Arthur O’Connell, and Julie London all appear as co-stars. One of Cooper’s last Westerns is the movie.
On October 1st, 1958, the movie had its premiere. The movie was severely derided by American critics at the time of its premiere, although Jean-Luc Godard, a cinema critic before becoming a director, liked it.
Gary Cooper plays a convicted bank teller who is being kept prisoner by his old group in this horrific yet masterfully staged drama. Despite not being a financial hit, the movie Man of The West is known as Mann’s final great western.
Man of The West Main Cast
American star Gary Cooper was raised in England and was schooled at a renowned institution before being raised on the Montana property of his affluent father. Cooper’s performance in Man of the West, his penultimate western and possibly his best, embodied his distinctive mix of decency, resolve, and self-doubt. Mann only made one movie with him because he didn’t think James Stewart, a longstanding friend, was the right actor for the part. They reportedly never spoke again.
Man of The West Main Plot
When a train is robbed by thieves, Gary Cooper’s portrayal of ex-outlaw Link Jones is there. When he steps in to stop it, he is struck unconscious and left in the midst of nowhere with con artist Sam and saloon singer Billie, whom he had intended to hire as a teacher in his town.
The three follow Link to his old house, which is now a bandit hideaway and is run by his uncle. To rescue his new pals, Link must reunite with the old group for one more heist.
Link and Dock’s reunion set up the film’s main ideas, which successfully disprove the Western’s tenets. When Dock Tobin remembers when Link left him, his initial shock at seeing his former charge return turns to disgust as his humor and monstrosity combine.
The concept that the Tobins are a family lends compassion to the horror and makes us consider the complex norm—the American family as both awful and a haven. Both a monster and a loving father, Dock.
Man of the West Filming Locations
Despite having a Texas setting, most of the movie was shot in California. The opening sequences where Cooper boards the train were shot near Sonora & Jamestown, in the core of the ’49 gold rush nation along the 57-mile path of the Sierra Railroad. The old train is real — not studio crafted. “Man of the West” was shot primarily in California’s splendid Red Rock Canyon in the Mojave desert.
Sonora & Jamestown
Within a couple of months of the discovery of gold in Woods Creek, a kilometer south of the town, Jamestown was established in 1848. This finding came just a few months after the first gold discovery that started the California Gold Rush in Coloma on the American River upstream from Sacramento. Early on, while Mexican miners relocated a few kilometers along Woods Creek to the area now known as Sonora, American miners remained to operate close to Jamestown.
Red Rock Canyon
The 195,819-acre Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is situated a short distance west of Las Vegas in the Mojave Desert. A region of great beauty and geologic interest is Red Rock Canyon. It is one of the locations where the Man of the West was filmed.
How to watch Man of the West?
You can watch the western Man of the West, starring Lee J. Cobb, Julie London, and Gary Cooper, online right now. You can watch it on your Roku device through The Roku Channel, Tubi – Free Movies & TV, and Movieland. Tv, Plex – Free Movies & TV, RealChill, Prime Video, Vudu, or Apple TV.
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