The Westerner ★★★½ 1940 Cooper stars as Cole Hardin, a sly, soft-spoken drifter who champions Texas border homesteaders in a land war with the legendary Judge Roy Bean (Brennan). Known as "The Law West of the Pecos," Bean sentences Hardin hang as a horse thief, but he breaks out of jail. Hardin then falls for damsel Jane-Ellen (Davenport) and stays in the area, advocating the rights of homesteaders, and has to have a final confrontation with the judge. Brennan's Bean is unforgettable and steals the show from Cooper. Film debuts of actors Tucker and Andrews. Amazing cinematography; Brennan's Oscar was his third, making him the first performer to pull a hat trick. 100m/B VHS, DVD. Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Doris Davenport, Fred Stone, Chill Wills, Dana Andrews, Forrest Tucker, Charles Halton, Lupita Tovar, Tom Tyler, Lillian Bond;
Director:
William Wyler;
Writer:
Jo Swerling, Niven Busch;
Writer:
Gregg Toland;
Cameo:
Dimitri Tiomkin. Oscars '40: Support. Actor (Brennan).
