One reason filmmakers might like using a lesser known historical figure like Judge Roy Bean is they can play with what's fact and what's fiction a little more. In THE WESTERNER'S opening credits, there's a sentence that states the film is "legend founded on fact." A slight wink that this tale may be more fun than factual. THE WESTERNER is a fun film, a smart western comedy with some serious overtones. Director William Wyler was better known for sweeping dramas like WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939), THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946), and BEN HUR (1959) but he also could handle comedy as he demonstrates in THE WESTERNER and later ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953) starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.
THE WESTERNER was written by Jo Swerling and Niven Busch (with some uncredited help from Hollywood and literary heavyweights W.R. Burnett, Lillian Hellman, and Dudley Nichols) based on a story by Stuart N. Lake. Cole Harden (Gary Cooper) is on his way to California when he crosses paths with the hanging Judge Roy Bean (Walter Brennan), "the Law West of the Pecos," who holds court over the town of Vinegarroon, Texas (with Arizona standing in for Texas). Cole is accused of stealing a horse named Pete that belongs to Chickenfoot (Paul Hurst), one of Roy Bean's jurors and card playing cronies. Faced with the prospect of hanging, Cole is saved by two random things. Perky homesteader Jane Ellen Mathews (Doris Davenport) marches into Bean's bar accusing him and his men of stampeding their crops. This interruption gives Cole time to notice Roy Bean's infatuation with the world renowned musical star Lily Langtry (Lilian Bond), "the Jersey Lily" whose posters are plastered all over Bean's bar and room. When Cole mentions that he's met Lily Langtry and carries with him a lock of her hair (he's lying), Bean suspends Cole's hanging for two weeks.
King Evans (Tom Tyler), the man who stole Chickenfoot's horse and sold it to Cole walks into Bean's bar. Cole recognizes King. After some fisticuffs between Cole and King, King's shot dead by Bean. Bean still has plans to hang Cole but he's intrigued by the drifter. Cole and Bean get drunk. The next morning, Cole rides off with Pete the Horse (having won Pete back in a card game with Chickenfoot). Bean chases after him. Bean tells Cole he's not a free man until he sees that lock of Lily Langtry's hair. Cole rides off with Bean's revolver. Cole continues his journey to California when he rides into the Mathews homestead. Their hired help (including a young Dana Andrews) has just quit, tired of dealing with Bean and his gang. Jane's father Caliphet Mathews (Fred Stone) watches as Cole thanks Jane for sticking up for him back in town. The Mathews invite Cole for dinner. Afterward, Mr. Mathews asks Jane to convince Cole to stay and help them husk the corn in their field. Taken by the frontier beauty, Cole reluctantly agrees.
The next morning as the Mathews and Cole finish husking the corn, the Mathews neighbor Wade Harper (Forrest Tucker) and other homesteaders ride off for Vinegarroon to lynch Judge Roy Bean, weary of Bean's constant harassment. Cole rides off to stop them, arriving before Wade and his party to warn Bean. Cole manages to diffuse the situation, telling both sides to "make peace instead of war." Cole promises Bean Lily's lock of hair if Bean and his men will help him round up the homesteader's stray cattle. Cole returns to the Mathews homestead where he cajoles Jane to let him cut off a lock of her hair. Cole seems to keep Bean in line when he presents the judge with "Lily's" blonde lock.
Cole and Jane's courtship and first kiss coincides with the blessing of the homesteader's crops. But THE WESTERNER takes a dark turn as Bean's men torch the crops during the celebration. In the process, Jane's house is burned to the ground and her father accidentally killed. Jane blames Cole for the tragedy. Cole confronts Bean who confesses he was behind it. He has no regrets. Bean changes the name of the town from Vinegarroon to Langtry, Texas as his idol Lily Langtry is performing in nearby Fort Davis. Determined to stop Bean, Cole travels to Fort Davis where he's sworn in as a deputy. Bean arrives in Fort Davis where his crony Southeast (Chill Wills) has bought up all the tickets in the theater. Bean enters, the only audience member. But when the curtain goes up, it's Cole not Lily Langtry waiting for Judge Roy Bean on the stage for a final showdown.
Cooper's Cole Harden is the classic wandering loner, the "Hero with a Thousand Faces" as author Joseph Campbell would write. Cole is like Clint Eastwood's 'The Man With No Name" or one of Kurosawa's lone samurai or Mad Max in George Miller's THE ROAD WARRIOR (1981). Cole stumbles into a situation that will require unique skills. In THE WESTERNER, Cole uses his wits to stay alive when he first gets into trouble, capitalizing on Bean's fondness/adoration for Langtry to keep the hangman's noose off his neck. Cole placates both sides (Bean and his men and Jane and the homesteaders), trying not to rile either one. It's only when Bean's men burn the crops and kill Jane's father that Cole takes a stand, allying with the homesteaders.
The legend of Roy Bean is much more colorful than the factual Roy Bean but the real Bean was an eccentric character. Although Judge Roy Bean was often called the "hanging judge" in film and literature, the real Judge Roy Bean only sentenced two men to hang and one of them escaped. The real Bean did have an infatuation for English stage star Lily Langtry after seeing a drawing of her in a magazine. Films like THE WESTERNER like to place Bean and Langtry in the same theater or actually meeting each other as in THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN. But in reality, they never did meet although the real Lily Langtry did visit the town of Langtry, Texas ten months after Bean's death in 1903.
William Wyler is one of the premiere directors from the Golden Age of Hollywood, directing hit films from the 30s all the way to the late 60s. Not normally known as a comedy director, THE WESTERNER has some great comic moments. After a night of drinking a deadly alcohol called "Rub of the Brush", Cole wakes up the next morning...in Bean's bed...with Bean snoring next to him. When Cole shakes Bean to try to wake him, an ace of hearts card falls out of Bean's sleeve. The saga of Pete the Horse is another funny bit. After almost hanging for having bought a stolen horse belonging to Bean's acquaintance Chickenfoot, Cole wins Pete the horse from Chickenfoot in a card game. THE WESTERNER has a light touch for two thirds of the film, the interaction between Cole and Bean priceless.
Like Wyler, Gary Cooper was more recognized for dramas and adventure films like William Wellman's BEAU GESTE (1939), Howard Hawks SERGEANT YORK (1941), Sam Wood's THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES (1942), or Fred Zinnemann's HIGH NOON (1952) than comedies. Yet Cooper possesses a sly comic touch in THE WESTERNER. Cooper's Cole has a twinkle in his eye whether he's trying to outfox Bean or convince Jane to let him cut off a lock of her hair. Cooper did appear in comedies like Frank Capra's MR DEEDS COMES TO TOWN (1936) and Howard Hawks BALL OF FIRE (1941) but he played simpler or absent minded characters in those comedies. Cooper's Cole is a quiet observer but quick witted when he needs to be. Besides surprising me with his comedic timing, Cooper may be the second best actor on horseback next to the one and only John Wayne. Cooper can really ride. Brennan may play the real life Roy Bean in THE WESTERNER but Cooper had his chance a few years earlier, playing Wild Bill Hickok (another actual real life western legend) in Cecil B. DeMille's THE PLAINSMAN (1936).
Walter Brennan who plays Judge Roy Bean may be one of the best supporting actors you never heard of. Brennan holds the distinction of having won three Best Supporting Actor Academy Awards. His first two wins were for COME AND GET IT (1936) and KENTUCKY (1938). THE WESTERNER would be his third and last win. Brennan normally played eccentric good guys but two of his most memorable roles are as villains like Old Man Clanton in John Ford's MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1946) and as Judge Roy Bean in THE WESTERNER. Bean is more comic than evil but he's responsible for stampeding the homesteaders crops and trying to starve them out. Brennan and Cooper were old friends from the silent film days who would go to casting calls together when talkies took over. Brennan and Cooper would make five films together including SERGEANT YORK and Frank Capra's MEET JOHN DOE (1941). There was no mistaking Brennan's unique, quivering voice. Just watch Brennan's mastery of the character role as Stumpy in Howard Hawks RIO BRAVO (1959) to realize what a fine, scene stealing actor he was.
Director Wyler introduces us not only to the irascible Judge Roy Bean at the beginning of THE WESTERNER but to a colorful array of supporting characters that hang out with Bean. This brotherhood echoes the male camaraderie that Howard Hawks loved in many of his films like ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS (1939) or RED RIVER (1948) except these gents are slightly shadier. Chickenfoot, Southeast, and undertaker Mort Borrow (Charles Halton) make up the motley crew that follow Bean and his brand of law and order. They serve as Bean's jury to convict cattle rustlers and horse thieves but they're also Bean's drinking and card playing pals. After a strong showcasing early in THE WESTERNER, the group mostly disappear once the film's plot focuses on Cole and Bean.
The female lead Doris Davenport who plays Cole's love interest Jane in THE WESTERNER may be one of those actresses you never heard of. I had never seen her before although she resembles one of my favorite actresses Donna Reed (IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY). Davenport holds her own with stars Cooper and Brennan as the strong willed Jane Ellen Mathews. Sadly, right after THE WESTERNER was released, Davenport was in a car accident that crushed her legs. She had to use a cane for the rest of her life and retired from movies shortly after, explaining why I wasn't familiar with her body of work. There wasn't much.
Besides such talent as director William Wyler and his star studded group of writers, THE WESTERNER boasts camerawork by the legendary Gregg Toland who shot Wyler's WUTHERING HEIGHTS a year earlier and also photographed John Ford's THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940) and Orson Welles CITIZEN KANE (1941). Toland's black and white cinematography and deep focus is renowned. In THE WESTERNER, Toland has to deal with some tricky fire special effects that look very realistic. And Wyler and Toland's parallel tracking shots of racing wagons and horses foreshadows Wyler's incredible chariot race sequence from BEN HUR. Sadly, Gregg Toland would die unexpectedly early at the age of 44 in 1948. THE WESTERNER'S music is by composer Dimitri Tiomkin (HIGH NOON, DIAL M FOR MURDER). I've never been a big fan of Tiomkin's film music but his folksy score for THE WESTERNER is just right.
THE WESTERNER came out around a time when the Western was beginning to make a comeback. Westerns were popular during the silent era with stars like Tom Mix but had not found their footing quite in the talking 30s. When they did emerge in the late 30s, the Western was usually a comedy like George Marshall's DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939) starring Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart. John Ford's STAGECOACH would ignite the genre for the next 30 years. THE WESTERNER is mostly comedy with some dramatic beats. The plot of a land war between cattlemen and homesteaders is new. The wandering hero Cole is an archetype we will see in various forms to come. The eccentric Judge Roy Bean (based on an actual person) adds some authenticity to the tale. Bean is a comic villain that you empathize with especially in the finale when he finally meets his idol Lily Langtry under unfortunate circumstances. THE WESTERNER will move you in ways you might not expect a Western to touch you.
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