The Westerner (1940) on Netflix
Approved19401h 40m
In Vinegarroon, Texas, Judge Roy Bean holds court in his saloon. Drifter Cole Harden, accused of horse theft, talks his way clear of a hanging by claiming he knows Lily Langtry.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb7.2/107,660 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Cole Harden, a drifter, is hauled before Judge Roy Bean in the Texas town of Vinegarroon and accused of stealing a horse. Bean, who declares himself the law west of the Pecos, hears cases in his saloon, and the jury of his own men looks ready to convict. Harden notices how devoted the judge is to Lily Langtry, the English actress, and claims to know her, promising a lock of her hair kept in El Paso. Bean suspends the sentence. The judge comes to like Harden, but the two collide when Harden sides with the homesteaders, the struggling farmers led by Caliphet Mathews and his daughter Jane-Ellen, whom Bean and his cattle-rancher allies want off the land.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Westerner (1940)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Gary Cooper tried to pull out of The Westerner when he learned Walter Brennan would play Judge Roy Bean, fearing his own part would shrink. He stayed only under protest, writing to Samuel Goldwyn: "I couldn't see that it needed Gary Cooper for the part."
- Walter Brennan's Oscar for playing Judge Roy Bean was his third Best Supporting Actor win inside the category's first five years, and the win led the Academy to take voting rights away from the extras' union.
- Screenwriter Niven Busch recalled that Walter Brennan came up with ideas for the script, and that when Busch got stuck he would go to Gary Cooper's dressing room, where Cooper, "a fund of information about the West," would put him right.
