Violent, sometimes sadistic, the film is nonetheless a powerful piece of work

Nazi_Fighter_David

Mann's cycle began in 1950 with "Winchester '73," continued up to 1958 (his pallid remake of "Cimarron" in 1960 hardly counts here) with "Man of the West," and included a remarkable body of work as "Bend of the River," "The Naked Spur," "The Far Country," "The Man from Laramie," "The Last Frontier," and "The Tin Star."

"Man of the West" starred Cooper instead of James Stewart, and its highly charged story of the conflict between two one-time partnered outlaws, one now reformed, carries strong overtones of sex and violence, the one motivated by the presence of Julie London, the other taken care of by Lee J. Cobb's particularly repulsive villain... The film is replete with interesting, complex characters and exciting situations...

Gary Cooper, in the Arizona of the 1870s, sets forth from his little town with six hundred dollars to hire for it a teacher… A trip on a train introduces him to a comely saloon singer (Julie London), to a card sharp (Arthur O'Connell), but also to a bit of his past he'd rather forget… For when the train is held up it is all too soon apparent that the gang is one to which he'd belonged in the bad old days, led by a villainous kinsman (Lee J. Cobb) and containing another member of the family (John Dehner).

The reformed Cooper's only chance of a getaway—and the girl's chance too—lies in him convincing Cobb and Co., that his loyalties lie with them… Fine, says Cobb, in effect, but do something to prove it.

The 'something' is joining in a stage bank hold-up...

From this moment, the theme is familiar in Mann Westerns and here the mechanics of the 'purging' and the power of it get their best expression… Mann's picture shifts from half-comedy to tense melodrama... Cooper stops being a hick and starts acting serious and clever... "You've changed," O'Connell observes. "You act like you belong with these people."

The clash of family loyalties soon makes itself felt… The old man brought him up when he was a boy—the old man still obviously thinks something of him, since he stops an attempt on his life… But the old man is also a villain, and villainy is his prevailing climate and that is why Cooper initially made his breakaway…

The difference between Cooper and his depraved relatives was significant when it comes across in the way they treat Billie (Julie London). Most Western heroes distrust women, but Cooper respects at least two: his wife and the pretty saloon singer... It makes no difference to him that in Billie's shady past she has probably taken off her clothes for many men and gone much farther than that... When Jack Lord forces Billie to disrobe, Cooper realizes her humiliation... After beating Lord, Cooper makes him cry by stripping off his clothes in front of Billie, reminding him of how he insulted the dancehall girl: "How does it feel?!"

Gary Cooper must take part in two gunfights at the end of the film... The first one in Lassoo, a ghost town which represents the life Cooper left behind... Here, Cooper reveals the very bad talents Cobb taught him... And after finding the saloon singer has been raped, Cooper goes off to find Cobb... Mann typically sets his final gun duels far away from civilization, off in the wilderness, away from all eyes...

Released in CinemaScope and Technicolor, this visually beautiful dramatic Western gained instant notoriety, in 1958, because of the scene in which Julie London strips for the Tobin gang...

score 9/10

Nazi_Fighter_David 14 January 2000

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0064926/