Stewart - Mann A Classic Collaboration

[ken123]

IMHO not as good as the Wayne - Ford joint efforts, but still might darn good. I think my favorite is " Winchester 73 ", with Millard Mitchell, Dan Duryea, Stephen Mcnally, and Shelly winter. The DVD even has Jimmy Stewart doing a commentary.

[mrsl]

I really like the semi-anti hero. Our cowboys heroes were always so much bigger than life, and seeing them as 'real' people with problems and needing help both physically and emotionally adds to the stories for me. I think Jimmy Stewart was a great choice to begin with because he always seemed so helpless, that it was good to see him making a stand finally.

Nothing beats John Ford , but Anthony Mann pulls a good second.

Anne

[SSO Admins]

If we can take "The Searchers" (which is probably the best western that ever has been or will be made) out of the equation, I find it's actually more of a toss-up. I really like the Mann-Stewart westerns a lot, and find them overall more mature viewing than even the Ford-Waynes made a few years earlier.

I think they were also more prescient of what the genre would become during the 1960s.

[MissGoddess]

My favorite is Man of the West (big surprise), but of the Stewart collaborations I am most fond of The Far Country. Perhaps it's the teaming of Stewart and Brennan I find so endearing, or Corrinne Calvet's sweet and comical heroine---or John McIntyre's charming villain. It's the one I can watch over and over.

I can't wait to get Winchester '73 and listen to Jimmy's "commentary". That will be super.

Devil's Doorway is another non-Stewart film by Mann that really tackles the issues of racism head-on, as Robert Taylor portrays a Native American veteran returning from the Civil War only to find the local settlers are "legally" stealing his land.

[nightwalker]

I'd give the nod to THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, I think due mainly to Stewart's performance here as a seemingly ordinary guy with a secret. He also puts up with a lot of guff from the bad guys, particularly Alex Nicol, during the course of the film.

In the scene in which he writhes in pain after Nicol shoots him in the hand, gasping out "You scum!" Stewart really makes you forget he's an actor acting a part. It almost seems as if he was really in pain from a real wound.

And right up there is his performance in THE NAKED SPUR as a man who is so obsessed with bringing in Robert Ryan dead or alive that he's forgotten or lost his humanity. The scene at the end where he tells Janet Leigh exactly what he's going to do with Ryan, then begins weeping is moving and powerful, showing that his humanity isn't quite as lost as he had thought.

Both are winners all the way.

[MissGoddess]

Hi Nightwalker---I also like The Man From Laramie because of the very interesting relationship between Aline MacMahon and Donald Crisp. Their "love story" is more engrossing than Stewart's with...was it Cathy O'Donnell?

[nightwalker]

Hi, Miss G.

Yes, that was Cathy O'Donnell.

Agree that the "love story" between Aline McMahon & Donald Crisp was very interesting & also probably somewhat of a rarity for that time, involving as it did a couple of "senior citizens."

McMahon's simple line "He needs me" at the end, and her delivery of it, was far more moving, touching and involving than much of the grasping, groping & moaning that passes for meaningful relationships in more recent films.

Although it took disaster for it to happen, she is finally going to get what she has wanted for a long, lonely time.

[MissGoddess]

Although it took disaster for it to happen, she is finally going to get what she has wanted for a long, lonely time.

Movingly said. She carried an enduring, deeply loyal love for him even in the face of his mistakes. She convinced me she was exactly the kind of women the pioneers had to be to survive and yet keep their humanity.

[movieman1957]

Overall I like "Winchester '73" the best. (THe DVD has a commentary with Stewart being interviewed.) It is closely followed by "The Man From Laramie." I do find the son "Dave" a bit much to tolerate though.

[MikeBSG]

I watched "Man of the West" last night. I've never liked it as much as the Mann-Stewart films, and last night failed to change my mind. While this has powerful stuff, like the scene in which Coop has to watch the woman strip and then the scene in which he beats up Jack Lord and strips him, this movie fails to hold together as well as the Mann-Stewart films.

Perhaps the movie keeps Coop in his "Mr. Deeds" mode too long at the start of the film. Also, I felt that there was little chemistry between Coop and Julie London. Something about "Man of the West" just doesn't fit together as well as all the elements in "The Far Country" and "The Naked Spur" do.

[Vienna]

Don't shoot me for heresy but I'm not a fan of John Ford,in particular, I don't like the cavalry westerns.
I much prefer the Mann/Stewart westerns. Or Howard Hawks' s Red River or Rio Bravo.or the Boetticher/Scott series.

[Western Guy]

I agree, Vienna. Although I do enjoy most of the Ford-Wayne collaborations, overall I prefer what Anthony Mann and Jimmy Stewart achieved. I think one of the reasons is that Mann brought out a dark side of Jimmy not really revealed to audiences (though, admittedly, Jimmy`s breakdown towards the conclusion of IT`S A WONDERFUL LIFE comes close). John Wayne always was a tough guy. Jimmy was the nice fella who lived next door. But in the classic WINCHESTER `73 when his Lin McAdam goes near psychotic on Dan Duryea in that barroom scene, that begat a new phase in Jimmy`s career. Sure in between the tough-edged roles he could convincingly throw in an Elwood P. Dowd, but overall there was now a smudge attached to Jimmy`s wholesome image that would further be exploited in the latter day Westerns SHENANDOAH and BANDOLERO!

Hey, it didn`t hurt him any. Apparently his percentage deal for WINCHESTER `73 grossed him $600,000, more than double what top box office star Clark Gable earned that year on his MGM contract.

But let us not give Mann all the credit. Jimmy had already proved himself a player with a dark side in Hitchcock`s ROPE and to a lesser extent, opposite Spencer Tracy in MALAYA.

[RedRiver]

James Stewart, my favorite actor, always had an edge. Definitely, his roles in the Mann films brought that darkness to the surface. And as you said, Western Guy, it didn't hurt him. It merely adds a level of depth to an already fascinating performer. But his determination on the senate floor as Mr. Smith is almost scary. What lurks beneath that homey exterior?

CALL NORTHSIDE 777 doesn't actually bring out a menacing side. But there's that unflagging determination again. This is a man on a mission. You DO NOT want to get in his way! No one will be shot for heresy on this message board. John Ford is my favorite director; his westerns top my list. But a preference for another style, a fresh set of themes, merely reflects your own point of view. Mann brought a lot to the genre, as did Hawks, Hathaway and Henry King.

[Western Guy]

Good points, RedRiver, but I believe another element should be addressed: the look of maturity that embedded itself on James Stewart in those Anthony Mann films. He still had that gawkiness of youth apparent in MR. SMITH, though he did give a knockout performance, especially in those final scenes. But I've always maintained Jimmy was one of those actors who really grew into his roles the more that he physically matured. He never would have been as believable mauling Dan Duryea had he resembled Destry, IMO.

[RedRiver]

He would have clobbered him with his parasol!