Westerner, The (United Artists 1940, Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan)

Water Brennan snagged his third Academy Award for his role as tempestuous Judge Roy Bean (‘The Only Law West Of The Pecos!’), in this lavish Sam Goldwyn Western adapted from a story by famed Wyatt Earp biographer Stuart N. Lake.

Gary Cooper played the wandering saddle tramp who concocts a yarn about his friendship with stage actress Lily Langtry in order to escape the noose on a false charge of horse-theft. When Bean’s goons kill a homesteader who had been sheltering him, Cooper’s character swears vengeance on Bean and comes looking for him at Fort Davis.’

Walter Brennan affected a neck dislocation for his part of Judge Roy Bean. The real life Bean, known as ‘The Hanging Judge,’ was himself hanged and cut down, leaving him with this particular neck ailment.

production details
USA | United Artists | 100 minutes | 1940
Director: William Wyler
Script: Jo Swerling, Niven Busch, Stuart N. Lake,

cast
Lilian Bond as Lily Langtry
Connie Leon as Lily Langtry’s Maid
Stanley Andrews as Sheriff
Chill Wills as Southeast
Walter Brennan as Judge Roy Bean
Lew Kelly as Ticket Man
Trevor Bardette as Shad Wilkins
Tom Tyler as King Evans
Gary Cooper as Cole Harden
Dana Andrews as Hod Johnson
Charles Halton as Mort Borrow
Charles Coleman as Lily Langtry’s Manager
Art Mix as Seth Tucker
Paul Hurst as Chickenfoot
Jim Corey as Lee Webb
Doris Davenport as Jane Ellen Mathews
Fred Stone as Caliphet Mathews
Forrest Tucker as Wade Harper
Lucien Littlefield as The Stranger
C.E. Anderson as Hezekiah Willever
Arthur Aylesworth as Mr. Dixon – Homesteader
Bill Beauman as Man Getting Haircut
Hank Bell as Deputy
Gertrude Bennett as Abigail
Danny Borzage as Joe Yates
Heinie Conklin as Man at Ticket Window
Philip Connor as John Yancy
Buck Connors as Abraham Wilson
Frank Cordell as Man
Joe De La Cruz as Mex
Helen Foster as Janice
William Gillis as Leon Beauregard
Roger Gray as Eph Stringer – Homesteader
Aleth Hansen as Walt McGary
Corbet Morris as Orchestra Leader
Buck Moulton as Charles Evans
Jack Pennick as Henry Williams
Julian Rivero as Juan Gomez
Henry Roquemore as Stage Manager
Annabelle Rousseau as Elizabeth
Miriam Sherwin as Martha
William Steele as Tex Cole
Phil Tead as Prisoner
Lupita Tovar as Teresita
Blackjack Ward as Buck Harrigan
Ted Wells as Joe Lawrence