Man of the West

Released by: Eureka Entertainment
Released on: March 23, 2015
Director: Anthony Mann
Cast: Gary Cooper, Julie London, Lee J. Cobb, Arthur O'Connell, Jack Lord, Royal Dano, Chief Tahachee
Year: 1958

The Movie:

Based on Will C. Brown's novel The Border Jumpers, Man of the West stars Gary Cooper as Link Jones, a reformed outlaw intent on staying straight. He hopes to catch the train to Fort Worth, where he's going to hire a schoolteacher for the town of Good Hope. On the train, he meets a con man named Sam and is introduced to a saloon performer named Billie Ellis, whom Sam insists would make an excellent schoolteacher. Unfortunately, the train is held up by robbers on horseback, and the bag of money Link is carrying is stolen. He fights back but is knocked from the train. When it takes off again, it does so without Link, Sam, and Billie, who now have to trek across country to Fort Worth. Link leads them to his boyhood home, hoping they can rest there for the night, but he finds his uncle and cousins instead. To make matters worse, they're the very men who robbed the train—and with whom Link had once spent time as a criminal. Now he has to find a way to escape their clutches and rescue his newfound friends before the men kill him.

When it was released in 1958, Man of the West was largely overlooked by American critics, and it failed to make back its production costs at the U.S. box office. In Europe things were a different story, however. Not only did the film find an audience, it also met with acclaim. French film critic and future director Jean-Luc Godard (Breathless, 1960; Alphaville, 1964; Passion, 1982) loved it, as did British critic Derek Malcolm.

Today, it's rather difficult to see what's so special about the film. It has an air of stage-bound stuffiness about it, as if it were based on a play rather than a novel. It unfolds in three acts: the first on the train, the second in a cabin, and the third in the wilderness. The second act is not only the longest, it's also the dullest and moves at too slow a pace, with far too many scenes of people walking in and out of the same room and talking. The plot takes a couple of illogical leaps, and no one is particularly likeable, not even Cooper's Link Jones, who rarely has anything to say; he mostly stands around being the object of his cousins' hatred and his uncle's distrust. Part of the problem may be that Cooper was simply too old for the part and unable to portray the hero the way he once could. The film might have worked, at least on one level, had Cooper's and Lee J. Cobb's roles been reversed. Though he played Link's uncle, Cobb was considerably younger and more energetic than Cooper. (But at least he got to ham it up.)

Mann's direction is too often static, but there are moments of visual splendor, particularly in the film's opening and closing acts, thanks to cinematographer Ernest Haller. Haller had gotten his start with Biograph way back in the silent era (1914, to be exact) but found fame shooting a number of Bette Davis features. Though he was nominated for Oscars no less than seven times, he is best known for Gone with the Wind (1939), the film for which he won. Other films he shot that remain of interest to R!S!P! readers include House of Horrors (1929), Murders in the Zoo (1933), Mildred Pierce (1945), Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Back from the Dead (1957), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), and Dead Ringer (1964). His television work included episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Star Trek.

Somewhat surprisingly, Man of the West has seen a number of Blu-ray releases in various countries, including the United States, Germany, and now Great Britain, where there is a deeper appreciation for its virtues. It may not be the best Western ever made (or even close to it), but it certainly has gained a cult reputation over the years, and Eureka delivers the goods.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Eureka Entertainment has released Man of the West as part of its Masters of Cinema collection in a Dual Format Edition. (Only the Blu-ray is reviewed here.) The film has been given an MPEG-4 AVC encode with 1080p resolution and is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Much of the film was shot in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and these scenes are quite pleasing to the eye, with a heaping of fine detail and vivid colors. True, there are a couple of shots in which colors seem a tad faded in comparison, but these are not the norm. There's some crush in the darker sequences, which comprise much of the second act, but when lighting is strong, the detail is there. There is also a slight flicker at times, but it's never overwhelming. Detail and color fare their worst in transition shots, but this is fairly common with older films on Blu-ray. While the BD of Man of the West may not be perfect, it's still a nice presentation that should please fans of classic westerns looking for a generally sharp and colorful Blu to impress their friends!

The audio is presented in LCPM 1.0. Most of the time it sounds very good, with dialogue clearly audible and music never overpowering. There are infrequent moments of slight hiss, but, as with the visual flicker, is never all that distracting. English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired are included.

Audio commentary is provided by film critics Glenn Kenny and Farran Smith Nehme. Unlike the Douglas Pye interview detailed below, the recording is clear and easy to make out. Much of the commentary is spent describing the action on-screen, with a dissection of that action and much discussion of what's going to happen. There are, of course, digressions about the stars, as well as forays into the film's background. It's all pretty interesting and informative stuff, well worth a listen.

“Douglas Pye on Man of the West” is a 17-minute interview in which Pye, of the Department of Film, Theatre & Television at the University of Reading, discusses the film's background, director Mann, the later history of the Western, and differences between the novel on which Man of the West is based and the film. Pye is sometimes difficult to make out, and unfortunately there are no subtitles.

The original U.S. theatrical trailer, running approximately three minutes, is included.

The package contains a 44-page booklet featuring a review of the film by Godard himself. Titled “Supermann,” it was originally published in Cahiers du cinéma no. 9 in 1959 and translated into English by Tom Milne. The booklet also contains the article “Man(n) of the West(ern)” by Robin Wood, originally published in CineAction no. 46 in 1989. Godard's review is accentuated by a number of stills from the film; Wood's is mostly image-free per the original publication. Both are worth a read.

The Final Word:

Man of the West is superfluous stuff, though fans of the Western genre will likely want to pick it up. Eureka's Masters of Cinema Blu-ray release is the best the film has ever looked and probably will for years to come. While it suffers from occasional minor flickering and hiss, it is, overall, a very nice presentation, with vivid colors and strong detail. And finally, the extras, which include an interview and audio commentary, are revealing.

Note: Man of the West is locked to Region B.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!