Gary Cooper plays Cole Harden, a cowboy hauled into Judge Roy Bean’s barroom court on a charge of stealing a horse.
Bean’s a hanging judge, and Harden senses the end could be near. But he also notices the bar is plastered with photos of actress Lily Langtry.
So he makes up a story about knowing Lily; he even says he has a lock of her hair. The tall tale saves him from the rope, and he gets a new friend to boot.
But Harden soon learns he’s stepped into the middle of a war between the cattlemen — led by Bean — and the local homesteaders, who are fencing in part of the countryside, much to the ranchers’ dismay.
One of those homesteaders is pretty Jane Ellen Mathews (Doris Davenport). Though her dreams of settling down and raising a family don’t quite match Harden’s dreams of living a free and easy life, he can’t help falling for the charming young lady.
And though he lives the life of a cowboy, he does his best to convince Bean to make peace with the homesteaders.
Just when he thinks all is well, Bean sends his henchmen to burn out the farmers. Their crop is ruined. Their homes are burned. Mary Ellen’s father is killed.
And so Harden goes looking for Bean. And he knows just where to find him. Lily Langtry is playing in Fort Davis, and Judge Roy Bean has bought every ticket in the theater.
Gary Cooper as Cole Harden, trying to find out who burned out the homesteaders in The Westerner (1940)
Walter Brennan as Judge Roy Bean, posters of Lilly Langtry plastered all over his barroom wall in The Westerner (1940)
Review:
An entertaining film that earned Walter Brennan his third supporting actor Oscar in a five-year span. He’s brilliant as the cantankerous judge who’s convinced homesteaders will ruin Texas for cattlemen, but is willing to drive his cattle off the homesteaders’ land in exchange for a lock of Lily Langtry’s hair.
Of course, that hair actually comes from the head of pretty Doris Davenport, played the Jane Mathews. The scene in which Gary Cooper convinces her to give it up provides one of the film’s lighter moments.
Another comes when Jane is trying to convince Cooper’s character to hang around and help harvest a corn crop, a chore he’s not particularly fond of. Her father encourages Jane to flirt, then flirt some more to win him over.
But the film’s most memorable scenes include the burning out of the homesteaders and the raising of the curtain for Lily Langtry’s performance, with Judge Roy Bean as the only audience member, sitting front and center in a large theater.
You’ll spot lots of familiar faces too, like Forrest Tucker in his first credited role, Dana Andrews in one of his first, and a very young Chill Wills, though the voice is unmistakable. The non-speaking role of Lily Langtry fell to Lilian Bond.
Doris Davenport as Jane Mathews, determined not to be chased off her homestead by anyone in The Westerner (1940)
Forrest Tucker as Wade Harper, ready to wage war against the cattlemen on the homesteaders’ behalf in The Westerner (1940)
Directed by:
William Wyler
Cast:
Gary Cooper … Cole Harden
Walter Brennan … Judge Roy Bean
Doris Davenport … Jane Mathews
Fred Stone … Caliphet Mathews
Forrest Tucker … Wade Harper
Paul Hurst … Chickenfoot
Chill Wills … Southeast
Lilian Bond … Lily Langtry
Dana Andrews … Hod Johnson
Charles Halton … Mort Borrow
Trevor Bardette … Shad Wilkins
Tom Tyler … King Evans
Lucien Littlefield … The Stranger
Runtime: 100 min.
Paul Hurst as Chickenfoot,, questioning Judge Roy Bean’s decision to travel for Fort Davis in The Westerner (1940)
Chill Wills as Southeast, watching out for trouble for Judge Roy Bean in The Westerner (1940)
Memorable lines:
Judge Roy Bean: “Shad Wilkins, you’ve been tried and found guilty of the most serious crime west of the Pecos — to wit, shooting a steer.”
Businessman drinking at the judge’s bar: “Have you ever met Miss Langtry?”
Judge Roy Bean: “No, I never met her. I never met the sun. I never shook hands with the moon. And I never got introduced to no clouds.”
Judge Roy Bean: “You men get some rope and string him up.”
Chickenfoot: “String him up? Why he’s dead already.”
Judge Bean: “We hang horse thieves don’t we? String him up!”
Fred Stone as Caliphet Mathews, encouraging his daugther to be kind to Cole Harden in hopes that he’ll stay to help the homesteaders in The Westerner (1940)
Tom Tyler as King Evans, the man who sells Cole Harden a stolen horse in The Westerner (1940)
Settler to Jane Mathews: “Land’s no good when there’s always lead flyin’ over it.”
Judge Bean to Cole Harden: “Don’t you trust me, Cole?”
Harden: “When I was a kid, I had a pet rattlesnake. I was fond of it. But I wouldn’t turn my back on it.”
Cole Harden: “You know, you’re not the prettiest girl I ever saw.”
Jane Mathews: “Well that’s great news. Who asked you?”
Harden: “But you’ve got the prettiest hair I’ve ever saw.”
Jane: “Why do you like to make fun of me?”
Harden: “Ah, cause I like you, I guess.”
Judge Bean, being warned by his friends to stay out of Fort Davis before newly appointed deputy Cole Harden will be waiting for him: “A deputy’s star makes the finest kind of a target.”
Gary Cooper as Cole Harden snipping a lock of hair from Jane Mathews (Doris Davenport) in The Westerner (1940)
Lilian Bond as Lily Langtry, the actress Judge Roy Bean idolizes in The Westerner (1940)
Charles Halton as Mort Borrow, the undertaker cashing in on Judge Roy Bean’s harsh justice in The Westerner (1940)
Walter Brennan as Judge Roy Bean listening to a description of Lilly Langtry from Cole Harden (Gary Cooper) in The Westerner (1940)
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