The Five Films..

No one seems to have looked at this lately, but I'll add my two cents anyway. There is an EIGHTH (!) Stewart-Mann film, Thunder Bay, the only one of the eight I haven't seen. I would rank them thus:

THE MAN FROM LARAMIE -- the last, yes, of the series (though Mann was supposed to have directed "Night Passage" -- a big flop, and this caused a permanent rift between actor and director) -- and a great, great film. Strong plot (many suggestions of "King Lear"), a very evenly balanced excellent cast of supporting players, including two great veterans, Donald Crisp and Aline MacMahon in excellent roles, another vet, Wallace Ford, in a less prominent one (parallel to the fool in "Lear"?), one excellent conflicted villain, Arthur Kennedy, a less interesting villain in Alex Nicol (with, mercifully, less screen time), and a very appealing love interest in Cathy O'Donnell, a radiant actress. Excellent art direction, too. Also, the only one of the series in 'scope, a format that Mann took to with great vigor. The only real flaw is the title song, which (like that for "The Last Frontier," Mann's next western, starring a surprisingly good Victor Mature) is ridiculous.

WINCHESTER '73
BEND IN THE RIVER (excellent support from Jay C. Flippen and, again, Arthur Kennedy)
THE NAKED SPUR I place this slightly lower in that it has two quite unappealing performances -- those of Robert Ryan and Ralph Meeker -- and, though strongly constructed, feels a bit schematic. Excellent support from Janet Leigh, though.
THE FAR COUNTRY, the only one of the westerns which I feel is close to being a failure. It is, in fact, a rather annoying film: lots of stereotypes (Corinne Calvet -- awful -- as ze Franch gerl, Ruth Roman, doing her Ruth Roman bit, and a tingling bell that drives one mad by midway). Walter Brennan is, as always, a big plus, but this movie feels very over-determined

Of the three others (as I said I have not seen Thunder Bay), THE GLENN MILLER STORY has some great swing music and a lot of charm, and STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND some great aerial photography -- and less charm. Both films are saddled with June Allyson, an actress I find very hard to take.

But four (at least) of those five westerns are terrific, and of course you'll want to see the other, anyway -- but imo its reputation is better than it deserves.

The baffling thing is the big reputation of MAN OF THE WEST (1958), with Gary Cooper in what would have been the Stewart role. It seems to me a big bore (though the two stripping scenes -- one of Julie London by Cooper's thug brothers, the other a depantsing of Jack Lord by Cooper in revenge -- are astonishingly violent, and, I suppose, on that basis alone, "interesting" to today's violence-jaded audiences). But Coop is no Stewart, and the almost always unfortunate Lee J. Cobb is the heavy. (He's not too bad in "Exodus," though -- but it's hard to find a bad performance in classic Preminger, isn't it?)