Trailer
Plot summary
Link Jones, once an outlaw, lives in Good Hope, whose people saved money for a schoolteacher. He rides to Crosscut, Texas and takes a train to Fort Worth with the savings. A gambler, Sam Beasley, speaks with him. Sam introduces Billie Ellis, a saloon singer. When the train stops for wood, three horsemen try to rob it; the guard drives them off. Link is knocked out. The train leaves, a passenger escapes with Link's bag, and Link, Sam and Billie are stranded far from any town. Link leads them to a farm where he once lived.
Cast
- Joe Dominguezas Mexican Man (uncredited)
Show all 20 cast
- Ann Kundeas Train Passenger (uncredited)
- Tina Menardas Juanita (uncredited)
- Glen Waltersas Train Passenger (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Man of the West (1958)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- James Stewart, who had worked with director Anthony Mann on eight movies, five of them westerns, eagerly wanted the role. Stewart was extremely upset when Mann did not give him the script, felt betrayed and had no interest in working with him again, although Mann thought him unfit for the part.
- The Legion of Decency placed Man of the West in Class B, morally objectionable in part for all, explaining that "the highly moral nature of this story is substantially marred by excessive brutality and unnecessary suggestiveness".
- Despite playing the uncle of the main character, Cobb was ten years younger than Cooper, and make-up was applied to make him look older. John Dehner, who played Link's cousin Claude, was fourteen years younger than Cooper and it was readily apparent.
- Gary Cooper did his own horse-riding scenes for the film despite the physical pain he suffered from a car accident years earlier.
