Synopsis
The Westerner (1940) is William Wyler's classic frontier drama, ready to watch online on iFILM. Drifter Cole Harden (Gary Cooper) is caught with a stolen horse and hauled before Roy Bean, the self-appointed "law west of the Pecos," to be hanged.
Harden talks his way off the rope with a lie: he claims to know Lillie Langtry, the stage actress Bean worships from afar and has never met. That bluff buys him time and turns into something riskier once Harden sides with the homesteaders Bean is burning out to please the cattle barons. Cooper is all easy charm, yet the film belongs to Walter Brennan, whose Judge Bean is funny, frightening and oddly touching all at once.
The role handed Brennan his third Best Supporting Actor Oscar, a record no one has topped since. Keep an eye out for a young Dana Andrews making his screen debut in a bit part. Stream The Westerner (1940) online on iFILM.
Starring
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