DANGEROUS… JUDGE ROY BEAN… WHO CALLED HIMSELF “THE LAW WEST OF THE PECOS”… THE MOST DREADED MAN ON THE FRONTIER!
Gary Cooper read the script for The Westerner and decided that this was not for him. He was not going to play the most colorful part, Judge Roy Bean, and he couldn’t see why the film would need “a Gary Cooper”. Even when the screenwriters expanded his part, Cooper resisted. But Bean wasn’t really the lead character and producer Sam Goldwyn wanted Cooper to headline the picture. In the end, he had to threaten Cooper with legal action if he didn’t do what his United Artists contract stipulated. Not the best of circumstances, but this is a terrific film – and Cooper is very good in it.
The only law west of the Pecos
The year is 1882 and the Texas town of Vinegaroon is where Roy Bean (Walter Brennan) has become “the only law west of the Pecos”. He may not be a real judge, but that’s what he calls himself, and with the support of several loyal men who hang around his saloon Bean has the power to hold trials and carry out executions as he sees fit. His latest victim is Cole Harden (Cooper), a drifter who was caught riding a horse that belonged to Chickenfoot, one of Bean’s liaisons.
The judge holds the trial in his saloon as always, and it looks like the verdict will be the same as always… until Cole mentions Lily Langtry, the famous British stage actress. Implying that he’s actually met and gotten to know her intimately, Cole suddenly has Bean in the palm of his hand. But how should he take advantage of this situation?
Defining Bean for the ages
William Wyler made two great movies in 1940. The Letter was a dark story about a murderer (Bette Davis), and even though Roy Bean is sort of a villain in The Westerner, that film is still much lighter in tone. The judge was a real-life figure who has become part of Western mythology; Brennan’s portrait has defined him for the ages. Much of the film’s appeal lies in the scenes between Cooper and Brennan. The drifter enters Bean’s saloon fully knowing that he’s in trouble, but after desperately looking for, and finding, clues how to sway the judge, he just runs with it. Both men’s performances are partly comical, but for different reasons. Bean wears his emotions on his sleeve, a true sucker whenever Langtry (also a real-life figure) is mentioned. Cole is comical because it is always obvious to us in the audience that he’s playing the judge, and watching that game is a lot of fun. Still, both men are dangerous and Cole’s attempts to manipulate Bean don’t work out as well as he hopes.
That fact complicates another aspect of the film, a depiction of the struggle between cattle ranchers and the homesteaders, with Cole being forced to act in order to protect the ailing newcomers. Wyler and his cinematographer Gregg Toland portray them as noble and simple folk, doing their best to make the crops grow under the Texas sun. There’s a romance between Cole and the daughter (Doris Davenport) of one of the homesteaders, but thankfully it doesn’t take up too much room.
The latter half of the film offers some tension as the two groups clash and Cole comes up with the ultimate way to take down the judge’s “empire”, appropriately enough in a theater, a symbol for not only Lily Langtry but also Roy Bean’s own legal theatrics.
Cooper underestimated the value of his role, but he might have understood it better once on set, because he’s doing such a terrific job. Still, it’s hard to deny Brennan the fact that he’s the real star here, bagging his third Oscar as the volatile Bean. A quick look at the character’s actions reveals a possible psychopath with a weird obsession. But Brennan makes us care about him, right down to the final showdown, and it’s no small feat.
The Westerner 1940-U.S. 100 min. B/W. Produced by Samuel Goldwyn. Directed by William Wyler. Screenplay: Jo Swerling, Niven Busch. Story: Stuart N. Lake. Cinematography: Gregg Toland. Art Direction: James Basevi. Cast: Gary Cooper (Cole Harden), Walter Brennan (Roy Bean), Fred Stone (Caliphet Mathews), Doris Davenport (Jane Ellen Mathews), Forrest Tucker, Chill Wills… Dana Andrews.
Trivia: Bean was also portrayed in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972).
Oscar: Best Supporting Actor (Brennan).
Last word: “Probably my biggest ‘sheer chance’ thing happened right down there on 44th Street in New York. I had just made my first movie, ‘The Westerner’, starring Gary Cooper. Down there, they put up a huge sign … ‘The Westerner’, starring Gary Cooper and Dana Andrews. I had exactly four lines in the picture. Nobody had ever heard of me. But the publicity department had done that for all the billboards. They thought Andrews was a girl’s name, and was the girl in the picture, and that it looked more exciting to have Cooper and a girl… If I’d used my first name, Carver, maybe I’d never have made it.” (Andrews, “Dana Andrews: The Face of Noir”)
