1940 – Walter Brennan
The Westerner
Here we are once again with Walter Brennan. I never really saw him as a big name in Classic Hollywood. But I’m seeing his name pop up year after year in the Best Supporting Actor category. Maybe I have to reconsider him as a recognized name from the late 30s and early 40s. Part of that is that he is never the lead, only a supporting character. Another part is that he doesn’t really have a recognizable face, partly because he seems to change his appearance for each role he takes on.
In The Westerner, he plays the bad guy, Judge Roy Bean. He is a cowboy who is the leader of a cattle-ranching community in the old West. He wears the badge of Judge, and uses it to bully the men of Vinegaroon, TX into doing whatever he wants them to do. He is also the owner of the only saloon in town, and that’s also part of his power. He who controls the alcohol, controls the men. But he has a strange quirk that ends up being his downfall. He is madly obsessed with the English actress, Lillie Langtry, so much so that if men do not honor her, he refuses to allow them into his bar.
Playing the villain was a bit of a different role for Brennan, but of course, he did a good job. He always did. The movies he was nominated for previously saw him as a comical sidekick, or a kind-hearted grandfather. But here, we see him as a drunk, vindictive bully. But oddly enough, he was almost a sympathetic character because of that overwhelming obsession with Lillie Langtry. His desire for her was almost pure and authentic, somehow, and that was all due to Brennon’s acting. In fact, he was good enough to steal scenes from the film’s lead actor, Gary Cooper, and that’s saying something.
I especially liked the climax of the movie when Roy dresses up in his old Confederate Civil War uniform to go see Lillie perform in a neighboring town. While there, he has his final gun battle with Cooper, and is shot and fatally wounded. But cooper, being the hero with the heart of gold, carries him back stage at the theatre, so he can stare at his beloved Lillie as he passes on. And they actually treated the bad guy’s death as a tender moment. Brennan did a great job, as always, and I think he deserved his Oscar win. Impressive that this was his third nomination, and his third win, don’t you think?