Tag: Gary Cooper

When I see Gary Cooper I think of one person…and that is Lou Gehrig because he did a great job portraying him in Pride of the Yankees. Gary Cooper plays Sheriff Will Kane in this western on his wedding day. Grace Kelly plays his Quaker’s new wife and she is stunning. Katy Jurado is also great in the role of Helen Ramírez, a beautiful and successful woman. 

There are other excellent Westerns like The Unforgiven, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, The Eastwood Trilogy, The Searchers, and Tombstone…this is right up there with them. It’s very uncluttered and doesn’t have 20 plotlines going on at once…it’s simple but exciting. I’ve watched this movie around 5 times and I always find something I didn’t before.

The Killer Frank Miller is due on the noon train and his first order of business is to kill Kaine, a man who Kane helped send to prison five years ago and swore blood vengeance at the time. The three members of his gang are waiting at the depot. Miller escaped hanging, got a long sentence, and some idiots on the parole board turned him loose.

Cooper is a man’s man in this one…a badass but a laid-back one. He refuses to run away from a fight despite having no help from the town members who say he once saved the town. He visits the bar and The church and gets nothing. He takes them on himself.

The 40s and 50s had some great character actors. One in this movie I always have liked…Thomas Mitchell, was in some Capra films, including It’s A Wonderful Life. You have other actors that you have heard of. Harry Morgan of Dragnet and M*A*S*H. Future movie stars Lloyd Bridges and Lon Chaney Jr.

Give this one a watch…it’s only 85 minutes long and Cooper just oozes goodness in many roles including this one. He is not an anti-hero but a man who stands for what is right no matter the cost. This film explores the best and worst of mankind.

The fictional Tony Soprano : Let me tell ya something. Nowadays, everybody’s gotta go to shrinks, and counselors, and go on “Sally Jessy Raphael” and talk about their problems. What happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type. That was an American. He wasn’t in touch with his feelings. He just did what he had to do.

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