The Virginian | |
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Directed by | Victor Fleming |
Written by |
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Based on | The Virginian (novel) by Owen Wister |
Produced by | B. P. Schulberg Louis D. Lighton |
Starring | |
Cinematography |
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Edited by | William Shea |
Music by | Karl Hajos |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English sound film |
The Virginian is a 1929 American pre-Code Western film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Gary Cooper, Walter Huston, and Richard Arlen. The film was based on the 1902 novel The Virginian by Owen Wister and adapted from the popular 1904 theatrical play Wister had collaborated on with playwright Kirke La Shelle. [1] [ unreliable source? ]
The Virginian is about a good-natured cowboy who romances the new schoolmarm and has a crisis of conscience when he learns his best friend is involved in cattle rustling. The film is considered to be Gary Cooper's breakthrough role and is well known for Cooper's line "If you wanna call me that—smile", in response to an insult by the antagonist. [2]
A man known only as the Virginian is ranch foreman at Box H Ranch near Medicine Bow, Wyoming. At a saloon in Medicine Bow, he and the cattle rustler Trampas vie for the attentions of a barmaid; when Trampas insults him, the Virginian pulls a gun and tells him to smile. Soon afterwards, Molly Wood, a new schoolteacher from Vermont, arrives in town. The Virginian and a drifter named Steve compete for her attentions. She ultimately chooses Steve, but the Virginian gives him a job at the ranch because they were friends in childhood. Unhappy with the Virginian's violent nature, Molly tries to change him but is unsuccessful.
Steve and the Virginian enjoy playing pranks together, switching babies during a baptism; they also make quail calls for secret communications. However, Steve falls in with Trampas' gang. Although warned by the Virginian that no good will come of it, Steve continues with the gang. When they (except Trampas) steal cattle from Box H Ranch, the Virginian is forced to hang all involved, including Steve. The Virginian vows revenge on Trampas for forcing him to do so.
Molly is disgusted by The Virginian's callousness, but after he is shot in the back by Trampas, she decides to treat him, they fall in love, and eventually decide to marry. On their wedding day, Trampas comes back to town for revenge and challenges the Virginian to a shoot-out. The Virginian quickly draws his six-shooter and kills the bandit in the streets. He then marries Molly, and the two prepare to open their own ranch.
The Virginian was based on the 1902 novel of the same name written by Owen Wister and its 1904 stage play adaptation. [3] This was the first sound adaptation of the novel, with two silent film adaptations released in 1914 and 1923. [4] The film was not entirely faithful to the book. [5]
The film was directed by Victor Fleming; it was his first sound film. [6] Gary Cooper, who had appeared in several silent films, was cast as the Virginian; it was his first leading role in a western and his first sound film. [7] [5] He was coached in the Virginian's accent by Randolph Scott. [5]
Production began in late May 1929, with shooting done in Sonora, California [3] and Lone Pine, California. [8] The railroad scenes were filmed on the Sierra Railway at Cooperstown near Oakdale in Stanislaus County, California. [9] There was little studio shooting. [10] To shoot outdoor scenes, the filmmakers used blimped cameras (cameras with internal soundproofing), which were a recent innovation. [11]
The film featured the traditional song "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie", hummed and sung by Richard Arlen. [12]
Rather than synchronize every sound on screen with a shown action, The Virginian treated sound as at times being independent of the action; this allowed for greater symbolism. The film also heavily used natural sounds, such as cattle. [13] This effect was facilitated by the outdoor shooting locations. [10]
The Virginian was released on November 9, 1929, [14] with a theatrical rerelease in 1935. [5] Bruce Eder, writing for Allmovie (a site run by the Rovi Corporation), notes that the film was a significant milestone in Cooper's career. [6] According to the American Film Institute, The Virginian is "one of the first of the studio produced, large-scale, all-dialogue Westerns." [3] However, as the main character has little dialogue, Cooper was typecast as a man of few words, described by film historian Lee Clark Mitchell as a "yup and nope" actor. [15] Cooper later called it his favorite film. [7]
The Virginian has been well received, with a 100% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of March 2012, based on five reviews. [14] The review for Variety noted that the film mixed various aspects of previous Westerns. The review described the scene where The Virginian must send his comrades to certain death "one of the most harrowing and vivid sequences ever before the lenses". [16] Eder praised the characterizations and use of sound, summarizing that the film was "a most worthwhile viewing experience". [6] Film historian Colin Shindler notes that The Virginian, along with Cimarron , was one of the early Westerns to handle sound well. [17] Film critic Emanuel Levy gives the film a B+, noting that Cooper showed moral conflict similar to his role in the later film High Noon (1952). [5]
Due to poor maintenance, the only surviving copies of The Virginian by the 1960s were of poor audio and visual quality; Eder describes them as being "a chore to watch". The alternative for most audiences was to watch the 1946 adaptation. In the 1990s, the film was restored and became more widely available. [6] Another adaptation of the novel, a television series, ran for nine seasons from 1962 to 1971. [4] The film also shaped the view of cowboys as chivalrous, slow-talking yet tough characters. [17]
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
The Big Country is a 1958 American epic Western film directed by William Wyler, starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, and Charles Bickford. The supporting cast features Burl Ives and Chuck Connors. Filmed in Technicolor and Technirama, the picture was based on the serialized magazine novel Ambush at Blanco Canyon by Donald Hamilton and was co-produced by Wyler and Peck. The opening title sequence was created by Saul Bass.
High Noon is a 1952 American Western film produced by Stanley Kramer from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, directed by Fred Zinnemann, and starring Gary Cooper. The plot, which occurs in real time, centers on a town marshal whose sense of duty is tested when he must decide to either face a gang of killers alone, or leave town with his new wife.
Owen Wister was an American writer and historian, considered the "father" of western fiction. He is best remembered for writing The Virginian and a biography of Ulysses S. Grant.
City Slickers is a 1991 American Western comedy film directed by Ron Underwood and starring Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Bruno Kirby and Jack Palance, with supporting roles by Patricia Wettig, Helen Slater and Noble Willingham, and Jake Gyllenhaal making his acting debut.
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury in the title role, along with Doug McClure, Lee J. Cobb, and others. It originally aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971, for a total of 249 episodes. Drury had played the same role in 1958 in an unsuccessful pilot that became an episode of the NBC summer series Decision. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute Western series. Cobb left the series after four seasons, and was replaced over the years by mature character actors John Dehner, Charles Bickford, John McIntire, and Stewart Granger, all portraying different characters. It was set before Wyoming became a state in 1890, as mentioned several times as Wyoming Territory, although other references set it later, around 1898.
The Westerner is a 1940 American Western film directed by William Wyler and starring Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan and Doris Davenport. Written by Niven Busch and Jo Swerling, the film concerns a self-appointed hanging judge in Vinegaroon, Texas, who befriends a saddle tramp who opposes the judge's policy against homesteaders. The film is remembered for Walter Brennan's performance as Judge Roy Bean, for which he won his record-setting third Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. James Basevi and Stuart N. Lake also received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction, Black and White and Best Story, respectively. The supporting cast features Dana Andrews, Chill Wills and Forrest Tucker.
The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains is a 1902 novel by American author Owen Wister (1860–1938), set in Wyoming Territory during the 1880s. Detailing the life of a cowboy on a cattle ranch, the novel was a landmark in the evolution of the western genre, as distinguished from earlier short stories and pulp dime novels. The Virginian paved the way for westerns by authors such as Zane Grey, Max Brand, Louis L'Amour, and others. The novel was adapted from several short stories published in Harper's Magazine and The Saturday Evening Post between Nov 1893 and May 1902.
Mary Brian was an American actress who made the transition from silent films to sound films.
The Most Dangerous Game is a 1932 American pre-Code horror film, directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichel, starring Joel McCrea, Fay Wray and Leslie Banks. The movie is an adaptation of the 1924 short story of the same name by Richard Connell; it is the first film version of the story. In the United Kingdom, the film was released as The Hounds of Zaroff. In the film, Bob Rainsford is stranded on a remote island after a yacht crash. He discovers a luxurious house owned by a big game hunter, Zaroff, who is hosting two other shipwreck survivors, siblings Eve and Martin Trowbridge. Zaroff hints that he has rediscovered the thrill of hunting after pursuing "the most dangerous game." That evening, Eve and Rainsford find a trophy room with human heads mounted on the wall and they realize that Zaroff has been hunting humans. Rainsford refuses to accompany Zaroff hunting, and Zaroff says that Rainsford must become the next prey. Zaroff gives Rainsford a hunting knife and a day to explore the island before he starts to hunt him at midnight. Rainsford devises two traps to use against Zaroff, but both fail. Finally, Zaroff brings out his dogs, shooting at Rainsford as a dog attacks him. Rainsford falls over a cliff with the dog, but later returns and wounds Zaroff and escapes with Eve.
The Virginian is a 1914 American silent Western film based on the 1902 novel The Virginian by Owen Wister. The film was adapted from the successful 1903–04 theatre play The Virginian, on which Wister had collaborated with playwright Kirke La Shelle. The Virginian starred Dustin Farnum in the title role, a role he reprised from the original play. It was directed by Cecil B. DeMille.
The Virginian is a 1946 American Western film directed by Stuart Gilmore and starring Joel McCrea, Brian Donlevy, Sonny Tufts, and Barbara Britton. Based on the 1902 Owen Wister novel of the same name, the film was adapted from the popular 1904 theatrical play Wister had collaborated on with playwright Kirke La Shelle. The Virginian is about an eastern school teacher who comes to Medicine Bow in Wyoming and encounters life on the frontier. The film is a remake of the 1929 movie with Gary Cooper and Walter Huston. There have been several versions of the story, beginning with a 1914 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and including a 1960s television series that bore little relation to the book other than the title. The film was originally distributed by Paramount Pictures, and is currently owned by EMKA.
The Virginian is a 1923 American silent Western film based upon the 1902 Owen Wister novel The Virginian and adapted from the popular 1904 theatrical play which Wister had collaborated on with playwright Kirke La Shelle. The film stars Kenneth Harlan as the Virginian and Russell Simpson as Trampas and was directed by Tom Forman. With the advent of talkies, the film was soon overshadowed by the 1929 motion picture The Virginian with Gary Cooper and Walter Huston.
Along Came Jones is a 1945 American Western comedy film directed by Stuart Heisler and starring Gary Cooper, Loretta Young, William Demarest, and Dan Duryea. The film was adapted by Nunnally Johnson from the 1944 novel Useless Cowboy by Alan Le May. It was the only feature film produced by Cooper during his long film career.
"Git Along, Little Dogies" is a traditional cowboy ballad, also performed under the title "Whoopie Ti Yi Yo." It is cataloged as Roud Folk Song Index No. 827. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
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