MAN OF THE WEST, MGM, 1958.
Dir. Anthony Mann, Perf. Gary Cooper, Lee J. Cobb, and Julie London. Review by Dominic
Man of the West sees Link Jones (Cooper), another of Anthony Mann’s ex-outlaw heroes, riding cautiously into the big smoke intent on finding a schoolteacher for the remote town of Sawmill. Clearly a man still negotiating a place for himself in civilized society, Link’s movements are awkward and uncertain; as he steps on to the railway platform he is startled by the roar of the steam engine, a symbol of the progress of a world to which he doesn’t quite belong.
After a bungled train robbery, Link and two fellow travelers are abandoned at the side of the track, and soon find themselves at the house of his former life, hoping to take shelter in the apparently abandoned shack. This is no place of rest, however, and inside the shack are the three bandits who robbed the train, as well as Link’ mad-dog former mentor, Dock Tobin (Cobb).
Link isn’t involved in the robbery (although who, back in town, would believe the poor guy?). In any case, the men who were involved represent his old life catching up with him. His abandonment at the side of the track, after having been engaged in so innocent a pursuit as finding a schoolteacher for his village, represents his difficulty in remaining “on the right track,” and it is once he and his companions are made to endure the torment and degradation of the bandits that his righteousness is really put to the test.
Man of the West contains one of Cooper’s more intriguing performances. He brings to the role of Link an uncommon edginess that, while it doesn’t surpass James Stewart’s work in similar roles for Mann, fills out the character with a fitting sense of haggard nervousness. His performance is also elevated considerably by the director’s great strength with character interactions, which ensures that what is communicated through body language and eye contact is more potent, evocative, and lingering than the dialogue.
Cooper convincingly portrays his character’s position as someone snagged between worlds, unable to truly see himself as redeemed. Not only does Link fail to be as gallant as we expect, but he doesn’t seem to know how to be a “strong” good guy. The problem, however, is that Cooper is not quite as persuasive as a reformed cutthroat: one never truly gets the impression of sadism or bloodlust roiling just below Link’s surface. Lee J. Cobb provides a performance of a rather different tenor, and apart from his absurdly hammy demise, he is electric as Link’s delirious uncle.
Man of the West focuses less on landscape than previous Mann films like Bend of the River (1952) or The Man from Laramie (1955), and stresses stifling, highly contained tension and psychological turmoil over roving action. It uses this focus to illustrate internal as well as external forms of conflict and, through the development of Link’s character, deftly question the line between bravery and bloody-mindedness.
