I have to admit that I am not a fan of Gary Cooper, but he fits the role of a ' supposedly ' reformed outlaw very well. The film itself is dark as any Film Noir, with violent scenes succeeding each other and I do not feel it has anything in common with ' King Lear ' or redemption that some claim it has. Anthony Mann goes to the limit and I wonder how much he thought of his own Film Noirs while making it. As for the story there is a hold up on a train and it is the gang that Cooper once belonged to who attack it. Julie London is on the train as well and both she and Cooper are taken to a hideout run by an over acting Lee J. Cobb. After a long and ranting scene with him the nastiness really begins. Viewers should know there are two forced scenes of the unwanted removal of clothes, one for titillation, one for revenge. Cooper remains mute in one a knife to his throat, and in the other he is the enforcer and mutely enjoys the violation of a human body until he gets down to the underwear. I believe the UK censors cut one but not the other. No more spoilers but Cooper is at his laconic best, as if he was forced to speak while having teeth pulled. I give this a six for Julie London's restrained performance and for the occasional good use of Cinemascope. Frankly I think Anthony Mann should have made it in black and white and dispensed with widescreen. Noir is black and there is absolutely no redemption for any of the characters. Mann's bleakest Western and an opening for even more violent Westerns in the 1960's.
Review of Man of the West
