|
The Westerner (1940)
In director William Wyler's A-list entertaining western
saga that starred Walter Brennan (who won a record-setting
third Academy Award for his supporting role) and Gary Cooper - it
was set in the era of vicious range
wars between cattlemen and homesteaders in the post-Civil War period
- in 1882:
- drifter cowboy and saddle tramp Cole Harden (Gary
Cooper), on his way through Texas to California, rode into Vinegaroon,
TX (later renamed Langtry) run by notorious, self-appointed, despotic
hanging Judge Roy Bean (Oscar-winning Walter Brennan), who called
himself "the
Law west of the Pecos"
- Harden was falsely accused of stealing a horse (claimed
by the Judge's sidekick Chickenfoot
(Paul Hurst)) after buying a horse from a horse thief (Tom Tyler),
and was taken before the infamous justice of the peace for a mock
trial, and sentenced to hang
- Harden talked his way out of being hanged by convincing
the judge of his friendship with the obsessive judge's idol, English
stage star Lily Langtry (Lilian Bond).
- the quick-thinking Harden sweet-talked
homesteader Jane-Ellen Mathews (Doris Davenport) for a lock of her
hair, and gave it to the Judge and convinced him that it was really
from Lily Langry
- Harden and hanging Judge
Roy Bean also engaged in a drinking bout
- Harden ended up defending homesteaders on the opposite
side from the judge in a bloody and violent range war and land dispute;
an exciting scene showed a devastating cornfield fire set by the
Judge's men to run off homesteaders
- in the final showdown and shootout scene, Harden confronted
the judge in a gas-lit opera theatre in Ft. Davis, Texas with guns
drawn before a Langtry performance; when the theater curtain opened,
it revealed deputized
Harden standing on stage and ready for a gunfight with Judge Bean (the
sole audience member) rather than a performance by British actress
Lily Langtry (Lilian Bond) - 'the famous Jersey Lily'; the Judge was
lethally wounded during the brief gunfight
- backstage, the dying Judge was wide-eyed as
he glimpsed the fantasy woman of his life; she blurred
in his vision as he fell dead
|
Hardin's Request of a Lock of Hair From Jane-Ellen Mathews
Fire Set by the Judge's Men
The Langtry Performance
The Judge's Backstage Meeting with Langtry
|