Today’s quick review: Man of the West. Link Jones (Gary Cooper), a former bank robber trying to turn over a new leaf, gets an unwelcome taste of his old life when Dock Tobin (Lee J. Cobb), his one-time mentor, robs the train Link is riding in. Left stranded with a singer (Julie London) and a gambler (Arthur O’Connell) as the train gets away, Link bluffs that he has returned to help Dock with his latest score.
Man of the West is a Western crime drama starring Gary Cooper. The story follows Link Jones as he walks a careful line, cooperating with his old gang enough to keep himself and his friends alive while looking for a way out of Dock’s next bank robbery. Man of the West features a tight plot with few extraneous pieces, several solid performances, and a naturally tense premise. The result is a well-scoped movie that accomplishes what it sets out to do.
Man of the West does a good job of managing its tension. Link and his companions are outmatched and outmaneuvered for most of the movie, and he has to rely on Dock’s lingering affection for him to stay alive. Gary Cooper delivers a serious performance that contrasts nicely with the unhinged behavior of Dock and the cold malice of Claude (John Dehner), Dock’s right-hand man. Meanwhile, the plot is a focused series of tests for Link and the others.
Give Man of the West a shot when you are in the mood for a serious Western with hard decisions for its characters. Link Jones is a different kind of Western hero, a quiet man who relies more on cunning than skill to survive. Fans of the crime genre will find the dynamics of the movie familiar, but it retains the down-to-earth quality of the more serious Westerns. Viewers looking for lighter action should steer clear.
For a classic Western with a protagonist who gets by on his wits, try A Fistful of Dollars. For a modern action movie about a reformed criminal blackmailed into returning to the game, try Gone in Sixty Seconds.
[7.1 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051899/). I give it a 7.0 for a tightly written and suitably tense story.