Man Of The West

Mann's last western, and his most disturbing foray into the genre. Working here with Cooper instead of Jimmy Stewart, Mann again tells a tale of Shakespearean proportions in which complicated men struggle against their own worst instincts. The film opens as Link (Cooper), a seemingly guileless Texas bumpkin, leaves his wife and children and boards a train to hire a schoolteacher from Fort Worth. Enlisted by con man Sam Beasley (O'Connell) to scam Link, saloon singer Billie Ellis (London) almost succeeds when the psychotic Tobin gang holds up the train. Stranded, Link leads Billie and Beasley to the Tobins's nearby cabin, where it is revealed that he is a former gan...