In his last great role, Gary Cooper powerfully demonstrates why he will forever be remembered as one of the most original and authentic stars of the screen. Tight-lipped, capable yet vulnerable, Cooper's portrayal of a former outlaw whose past returns to haunt him ranks among his best.
When the train he is on gets robbed, Link Jones (Cooper) finds himself unwillingly reunited with his old gang. Dock Tobin (Lee J. Cobb), the gang's sadistic, half-crazed patriarch, was like a father to Link some twenty years past and welcomes him back. To survive, Link must take up his old ways - his killing ways. What was once his "family" has now become his hell.
Renowned for its breathtakingly violent fist fight between Cooper and bad guy Jack Lord (Hawaii Five-O), director Anthony Mann's strongly allegorical film - generally dismissed in its initial 1954 release - has since gained a reputation as one of the finest achievements from the Western's golden age.
|
