Comments on: Man of the West (1958) http://www.myfiveyearplan.net/archives/145 Stumbling Toward Cinema Since 2006... Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:47:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: John Mulholland http://www.myfiveyearplan.net/archives/145/comment-page-1#comment-15490 John Mulholland Sun, 10 Jun 2007 14:44:42 +0000 http://www.myfiveyearplan.net/archives/145#comment-15490 Terrific piece. Thanks much. Often amazed that it is too often disregarded by those who write 'learnedly' about film. Perhaps, because it doesn't have Stewart, it doesn't fit into the Mann canon as focused on by the auteuristas. It's easier, I suppose, to examine Mann through his Stewart films. But to me, Man Of The West is Mann's masterpiece, far richer and deeper than his Stewart westerns. There are no easy answers in Man Of The West. And the brutal randomness of the killings (the Mexican woman in the bank) is something of a micro-forerunner of the opening Ague Verde shootout in The Wild Bunch. In so many films -- western or otherwise -- when a woman is forced to disrobe, the sequence exists for its own exploitive purpose. But in Man Of The West, there's a wonderful payoff, when Link Jones screams for his beaten foe to take ff his clothes even as he manically rips them off himself. Cooper's performance is also stunning. His expression as he tries to choke Jack Lord -- everything coming from the inside, only his eyes reflecting the horror of what he is doing -- is film acting of the highest order. Reginald Rose once told me that he, Mann and Cooper played around with the idea of the woman being the wife of Link Jones, which would have ratcheted up the horror that much greater. But it was felt that Julie London wouldn't have been up to carrying it off. Wonder why she was necessary to the production? Weirdly, Man Of The West is available in Region 2 on DVD, but not in the USA. Again, thanks for the article. Terrific piece. Thanks much. Often amazed that it is too often disregarded by those who write ‘learnedly’ about film. Perhaps, because it doesn’t have Stewart, it doesn’t fit into the Mann canon as focused on by the auteuristas. It’s easier, I suppose, to examine Mann through his Stewart films. But to me, Man Of The West is Mann’s masterpiece, far richer and deeper than his Stewart westerns.

There are no easy answers in Man Of The West. And the brutal randomness of the killings (the Mexican woman in the bank) is something of a micro-forerunner of the opening Ague Verde shootout in The Wild Bunch.

In so many films — western or otherwise — when a woman is forced to disrobe, the sequence exists for its own exploitive purpose. But in Man Of The West, there’s a wonderful payoff, when Link Jones screams for his beaten foe to take ff his clothes even as he manically rips them off himself.

Cooper’s performance is also stunning. His expression as he tries to choke Jack Lord — everything coming from the inside, only his eyes reflecting the horror of what he is doing — is film acting of the highest order.

Reginald Rose once told me that he, Mann and Cooper played around with the idea of the woman being the wife of Link Jones, which would have ratcheted up the horror that much greater. But it was felt that Julie London wouldn’t have been up to carrying it off. Wonder why she was necessary to the production?

Weirdly, Man Of The West is available in Region 2 on DVD, but not in the USA.

Again, thanks for the article.

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