The Westerner (VHS)

Walter Brennan plays self appointed justice (judge Roy Bean) west of the Pecos in a town named Vinagaroon, and is well know in the wild west territory as the hanging judge, even for minor offences. Gary Cooper plays the part of a wandering saddle tramp, who stumbles into Vinagaroon, and is arrested and charged with being a horse thief. Proof of this is the allegedly stolen horse identifying it's owner by nodding it's head when asked if he is his owner. Based on this evidence, and the fact that Gary Cooper was riding the horse, was enough for the judge to proceed with justice.
This old western is so comical, it'll have you laughing at some point. The legality of judge Roy Bean's justice is laughable, as is his so called jurors who are no more than a bunch of druken card playing cow punchers.
This movie gets to a more serious point of when Bean and his band of men destroy farmer's structures and spreads, because he and his men don't believe in growing corn or farming, or fences to keep cattle out. This must have been a ruthless time for cattle owners and for people who came west to try to farm the land.
What is interesting about this movie is that it is partial fact.
If you've ever seen Walter Brennan in some of his later movies, you'd noticed he really gained some weight. In this movie, he is remarkably thin, almost skinny.
Great performances by all actors and actresses, great sceenplay and direction, set in a dusty and dirty location, as the west probably was, and still is in some areas of the west. If you like old black and white westerns, this is a memorable movie to see and own.
In the end, the only thing that spare's Cooper's life from the hanging rope is their affection for the same actress, Lilly Langtree.