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Man of the West | 
 enlarge | Director: Anthony Mann
Actors: Gary Cooper, Julie London, Lee J. Cobb, Arthur O'connell, Jack Lord
Studio: United Artists
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $7.45
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New (31) Used (8) from $6.25
Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 1439
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 99
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: M110709
UPC: 883904107095
EAN: 0883904107095
ASIN: B0014BQR24
Theatrical Release Date: 1958
Release Date: May 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed Items! FAST International Airmail!
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Amazon.com
Western auteur Anthony Mann and aging Western icon Gary Cooper team up in this stark tale of a trio of train passengers stranded in the middle of the desert after a railway holdup. Taking responsibility for his helpless compatriots (Julie London as a sad-eyed prostitute and Arthur O'Connell as a garrulous but cowardly banker), craggy-faced Link Jones (Cooper) takes them into a veritable viper's nest in a desperate gamble. It turns out the respected town elder is a former member of the outlaw gang that robbed them, and he's welcomed back by patriarchal gang leader Dock Tobin (Lee J. Cobb) like the prodigal son. The other bandits are not so forgiving but humor the old man while plotting to unmask Cooper as a devious traitor in a battle of wits and wills. Mann returns to his favorite themes of family and betrayal with a dramatic twist and wrenches up the jagged conflict with the most spare imagery of his career: the trio hiking down an endless horizon of empty track, a lone ramshackle shack on the arid plains, the desolate ghost town where Tobin's planned bank heist turns out to be a pathetic fantasy. Mann's taut direction creates a tension that hangs in the air like the sword of Damocles over the stranded travelers and explodes in cruel, raw violence. Reginald Rose (12 Angry Men) wrote the literate if sometimes overly symbolic script, and John Dehner, Jack Lord, and Royal Dano costar as Tobin's angry gang members. --Sean Axmaker
Product Description
Gary Cooper in his last great role portrays a former outlaw whose past returns to haunt him when he is forced by his old gang to participate in a train robbery. Julie London and Lee J. Cobb co-star.System Requirements:Running Time: 83 minutes Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN/CLASSICS Rating: NR UPC: 883904107095 Manufacturer No: M110709
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 Man of the West July 16, 2008
I first saw this movie about 40 years ago. I thought it was great then and it is still great. Gary Cooper gives an outstanding performance. Jack Lord is excellent as a bank and train robber, this is pre Hawaii 5-0. Lee J. Cobb is great as the patriarchal head of an outlaw clan. One of the great western classics from before the advent of the spaghetti westerns.
 One of Coop's last Westerns June 24, 2008
This under-rated classic along with "The Hanging Tree" which came out a year later, was one of the last westerns that Gary Cooper made. Unfortunately, it was dismissed upon its first release but the French, particularly Francois Truffaut lauded praise on it and it is now one of the many classic westerns that Anthony Mann has made. It's plot really foreshadows that of Eastwood's "The Unforgiven" in many ways though I do lean more to Clint's western classic than this one. But don't let that deter you from checking this out. Mann was a master at using the natural landscape/terrain to convey the tensions in his characters and this is no exception. Like Coop, this was to be Mann's last western before he directed the big spectacles like "El Cid" and "The Fall of the Roman Empire". One example of Mann's use of the environment is the shootout scene between Coop and John Dehner (cousin Claude). The brilliant tension that Mann achieved in this particular scene was exceptional and not even Eastwood could equal this as much as I like him but of course, Clint's particular strength was more in the psychology of his characters whereas Mann's strength as a director was using the natural environment to convey tensions in his characters. Anyway, I will renting this film from Blockbuster and if it holds up well, perhaps I will buy it. But do see this film for Cooper and Anthony Mann's brilliant direction plus the screenplay by Reginald Rose.
A Word About the New DVD June 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Just to let you know, the new DVD is anamorphic widescreen. On top of that it has been remastered and cleaned up quite a bit. Its a great transfer of a great film.
Its a shame there isn't any special features about this landmark western, however regardless of that fact, this DVD is a must own for any fan of the genre.
Well Hello Link! April 25, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This Western stands far above 95% of the other films in this genre. Why? Great direction, flawed and therefore interesting characters, quirks, twists, classic conflicts, Julie London at the height of her mythic beauty, memorable dialogue, enigmatic situations, wonderful actors and performances. This is most definitely not a formulaic picture. When is the last time you saw a fight in a western where one guy rips the clothes off of another, just for humiliation sake?
Gary Cooper is topnotch as usual, here toward the end of his long and glorious career, but taking some chances by playing a once-super nasty hombre who's now gone straight. My friends and I memorized long passages of the dialogue, particularly the lines spat out by gang leader Doc Tobin, played magnificently by Lee J. Cobb. Here's Doc waxing nostalgic, upon first recognizing Link after many years : "Uvalde.....Saltillo.....Black Fork! Remember them times?? We killed that bank guard together. You held him and I took the top of his head off?" Later Link complains that Doc makes him stay in a room with the creepy mute Trout, played by one of filmdom's alltime great psychos, Royal Dano. Doc again: "Being with Trout is like being alone!" If you don't know about Royal Dano, think of Crispin Glover to get an idea. The two are probably related somehow.
What a great supporting cast as well, featuring, besides Dano, some of the dirtiest and most lowdown badguys ever: the frightening John Dehner as Cousin Claude, and that unsung antihero of countless westerns, snarling Robert J. Wilke. And we would be remiss if we did not mention the guy who got his pants ripped off and ends up shedding tears of humiliation: Jack Lord!
MUST SEE WESTERN CLASSIC March 13, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A classic western and one of Mann's greatest films [film noir or western, and perhaps best thought of as a film noir stuffed into the mold of the western]. Great script, wide open scenery, widescreen Cinemascope photography, great soundtrack, a 'narly Gary Cooper, and assorted nasty character actors. View it not only as a straight ahead western narrative, but also as a metaphor for any man seeking redemption from a twisted past.
The Tobin gang is Link's "family" [he is literally the link between evil (his past with them) and good (his current domesticated life and hoped for future)], and the story is that of his attempted escape and redemption as he rebels against this family's history of violence and criminality. A redemption that eventually involves the extermination of this family involving multiple fratricides, and for the finale, partricide.
The penultimate shoot out with his "cousin" Claude is is one of the great scenes in the Western film genre. Simply reflect on the classic line after Claude is shot (delivered in a moan dripping with regret): "...it could have been so different...". Perhaps the ultimate statement regarding the individual's attempt to escape his/her past, fate, and, in this case, certainly, a monstrously dysfunctional family of range roving psychopaths.
The "rape" of mad dog "brother" Jack Lord (say it ain't so Dan-O!) is thrown in as a bizarre twist in this festival of Freudian bloodletting - I can only imagine the unsettling feeling that 50's audiences had when viewing the spectacle of this brother on brother trist. It's no wonder the film did not go down well at the time of its release - it is probably the darkest Western made up to this point in time.
Doc Tobin's last line before he shuffles off to big sky country sums up both the ending of the film and the beginning of the end of the Western genre. The Wild Bunch is just a decade away. For a darker vision of the Western World (no teaser here) one would have to go to Oakley Hall's "Warlock", or, Cormac McCarthy's, "Blood Meridian" - both novels, and both highly recommended.
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