Man of the West
- Jun 11
- 2 min read
Made in 1958, Man of the West is a western directed by Anthony Mann and starring Gary Cooper, forever identified with his iconic role as the brave, noble sheriff in the classic movie High Noon. Audiences loved Coop, as he was called. As for Anthony Mann, during the 1950s he made his own mark on the western genre by directing five gritty westerns starring actor Jimmy Stewart.
But when it came time for him to make Man of the West, Mann chose to work with Gary Cooper instead, and their only collaboration produced one the best films of both their careers.
In the film, Cooper stars as Link Jones, a quiet man who’s traveling across the Texas frontier to hire a schoolteacher for the small town where he lives. But when the train he’s on is robbed, he finds himself stranded in the wilderness with a gambler and saloon singer. The trio soon find themselves in even more trouble when they cross paths with a band of outlaws led by the notorious Dock Tobin. Tobin is a ruthless, psychotic old man who’s preparing to rob a bank in a nearby town.
As fate would have it, Dock is Link’s uncle. Link was once part of the murderous gang, until he was horrified by the blood on his hands and ran away to start a new life. Now reunited with his prodigal son, Dock wants Link to rejoin the gang, and Link realizes that the only way for him to survive is to pretend that he’s his old violent self again.
Man of the West was vilified by some for being “sick and distasteful.”
Upon its release, Man of the West was vilified by some in the press for being “sick and distasteful.” Some hated that Cooper betrayed his High Noon persona by playing such an unlikeable person. Others were outraged that the movie showed the gang humiliating and degrading the only woman in the film.
But French director Jean-Luc Godard pushed back. He called it one of the best films of the year. Many others now regard it as Anthony Mann’s masterpiece, a story that starts with easy going charm, then spirals into darkness as Gary Cooper seeks to purge himself of the sins of his past.
Yes, at age 57 Gary Cooper was too old to play the tormented Link Jones, but it’s a great performance. Lee J. Cobb is riveting as the mad-as-hell Dock Tobin, a King Lear of the plains. The rest of the cast is stellar as well, including Julie London, Arthur O’Connell, Jack Lord and John Dehner. And a special nod to how Anthony Mann uses the changing landscape to evoke the inner turmoil of his characters and the ghosts that stalk them.
Call it sick. Call it distasteful. I call Man of the West a simply terrific, four-star outlaw western from Hollywood’s golden age.
