Man of the West

I recall reading somewhere a long time ago that the avante garde "new wave" French critics were very fond of American gangster films and that a much favoured western they liked was Anthony Mann's "Man of the West". I have just watched the first half of the film tonight and will watch the second half in a few minutes. I don't often agree with the French critics but in this case I do. I think it's a superb Western, though not a traditional kind, no chases, not much riding and there's no real hero; rather, there's a flawed hero, a man who's changed but who knows he was once capable of brutal violence.
To play a part like this requires someone of powerful cinematic presence; a certain kind of star is required. Possibly James Stewart, one of Anthony Mann's favourites ("The Man from Laramie"; "Winchester 73" etc.), might have filled the roll satisfactorilly enough but the choice of Gary Cooper is surely the best there could be. Here he is getting on in age, he moves not too athletically, but he is there, that presence which fills you with the feeling that whatever happens to other less courageous characters, he'll be there to comfort and protect them - if he can.
He is the gentleman among some of the darkest criminals I can think of on the screen with Lee J. Cobb the vilest of them.
While I am fond of Anthony Mann's earlier westerns with James Stewart, I like this one more.
How two critics can differ so profoundly in their judgements is illustrated by David Thomson's take on this film: "Mann's final masterpiece...." and Leslie Halliwell's: "Talkative, set-bound, cliche-ridden star western with minor compensations".