The Westerner

The Westerner is a 1940 William Wyler-directed Western starring Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan (who got an unprecedented 3rd Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for this), Forrest Tucker (always good, in my opinion), Chill Wills, Paul Hurst (who was in Gone with the Wind and The Ox Bow Incident), Dana Andrews in his first film (he was also in The Best Years of Our Lives, Laura and The Ox Bow Incident), Charles Halton (who was a character actor whose face is well-known by lovers of old movies) and Tom Tyler (who played The Phantom in the 1940s serial).

I enjoyed this. The acting and characters are wonderful. Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan work great together!

written on-screen after the credits:

After the Civil War, America, in the throes of rebirth, set its face West where the land was free.

First came the cattlemen and with them "Judge" Roy Bean, who took the law into his own hands, administering justice according to his lights. That he left his impress on the history of Texas is tribute to his greatness. Then into his stronghold moved another army, the homesteaders, who ploughed the soil, fenced the fields, to bring security to their wives and children.

War was inevitable, a war out of which grew the Texas of today.

1940 - The Westerner - Gary Cooper; Walter Brennan by cldickjr

Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 100%.