The Virginian (1929)

Film: The Virginian (1929)

Stars: Cary Cooper, Walter Huston, Richard Arlen, Mary Brian, Helen Ware

Director: Victor Fleming

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2023 Saturdays with the Stars series, we are looking at the Golden Age western, and the stars who made it one of the most enduring legacies of Classical Hollywood.  This month, our focus is on Gary Cooper: click here to learn more about Mr. Cooper (and why I picked him), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

Gary Cooper's early years in Hollywood in Silent Era pictures were actually more successful than you'd think given how quickly he took off in the Sound Era.  This is partially because he was savvier & knew his value right away.  It's rare when you read about a star of this era that ended up being a big deal turning down a contract (usually that's something you lived to regret), but he did, turning down Samuel Goldwyn and signing a long-term contract with Paramount for more money, which was smart.  Cooper would star in big hits of the Silent Era like Lilac Time and Wings, the latter the first film to win the Best Picture Oscar.  But really,  while he was developing a fan base (mostly of women starstruck by how gorgeous the young Cooper was), it wasn't until The Virginian, his first sound film, that Cooper's star persona as the noble lawman was established, and that he graduated to being one of the biggest names in pictures of the early Sound Era, specifically in Westerns.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie has two men, the Virginian (Cooper) and Steve (Arlen), who are long-time friends who help run a ranch and are soon rivals for the affections of a local school teacher named Molly Stark Wood (Brian).  They enjoy playing pranks together, including one where they swap the babies at a christening to confusing (and admittedly funny consequences).  But Steve is working a side hustle for Trampas (Huston), a local cattle hustler that eventually gets him into enough trouble that he's caught stealing cattle, which is a trick that Trampas plays on his nemesis the Virginian because he knows the punishment will be Steve being hanged by the Virginian (which he is).  Initially this causes issues in his relationship with Molly, but she forgives him, agreeing to marry him...though of course we have to have one last showdown between Trampas & the Virginian to end the picture (the good guy wins).

That might sound like a standard-issue western plot, and it is, but it's worth remembering that this film (and the book it's based on) kind of created this plot.  Owen Wister's The Virginian is considered by most literary historians to be the first fictional western novel ever written, and is foundational to the genre.  This was actually the third remake of the story (the first was from 1914 and directed by Cecil B. DeMille).  It works well, honestly.  The cinematography & editing are both solid, and you can see how westerns for the next decade would borrow from this (until Stagecoach would perfect the cliches this movie wrought).  I liked some of the supporting characters the best.  Huston is great as a nasty villain, and Helen Ware is strong in a small part as a knowing old woman, giving Molly a lecture about how provincial she's being about the ways of the West, many of which she's using as an excuse not to fall for the Virginian.

Cooper is good in the part, though I will say he doesn't add a lot to it.  We're going to struggle a little bit with Cooper this month because he's such an introspective actor that I sometimes find him to be lazy onscreen, as if he's letting his jarring handsomeness, dulcet baritone, and lanky frame carry most of the work.  Cooper looks great, his eyes caked in mascara that only makes him appear prettier, and I liked his line reading of the film's most famous quote ("if you're going to call me that...smile"), but I don't feel like he creates enough myth about a figure that's supposed to be unknown.  We have a lot more Cooper this month, but my hope is that at least one movie becomes "definitive" for me about him that isn't one I've already seen.