The Westerner

A Westerner is a person from the Western world.

The Westerner or Westerner may also refer to:

In arts and entertainment:

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The Westerner (film)

The Westerner is a 1940 American film directed by William Wyler and starring Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, and Doris Davenport. Written by Niven Busch, Stuart N. Lake, and Jo Swerling, the film is about a self-appointed hanging judge in Vinegaroon, Texas who befriends a saddle tramp who opposes the judge's policy against homesteaders. The film is often remembered for one of Walter Brennan's best performances, as Judge Roy Bean, which led to his winning 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.

Plot

In 1882 the town of Vinegaroon, Texas is run by Judge Roy Bean (Walter Brennan) who calls himself "the only law west of the Pecos." Conducting his "trials" from his saloon, Bean makes a nice corrupt living collecting fines and seizing property unlawfully. Those who stand up to him are usually hanged—given what Bean calls "suspended sentences".

The Westerner (TV series)

The Westerner is a highbrow American Western series that aired on NBC from September 30 to December 30, 1960. Created and produced by Sam Peckinpah, who also directed some episodes, the series was a Four Star Television production. The Westerner stars Brian Keith as amiable, unexceptional cowhand/drifter Dave Blassingame, and features John Dehner as rakish Burgundy Smith, who appeared in three episodes.

Synopsis

The pilot for The Westerner appeared on CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater. The musical score was largely the work of Four Star's Herschel Burke Gilbert. For rerun syndication, it was grouped with three other short-lived Western series from the same company, Black Saddle starring Peter Breck, Johnny Ringo starring Don Durant, and Law of the Plainsman starring Michael Ansara, under the umbrella title The Westerners, bracketed with hosting sequences featuring Keenan Wynn.

Blassingame was realistically portrayed as a basically decent, ordinary man who was handy with a gun. Not particularly bright, illiterate and occasionally amoral, he felt no compunction about being seduced by another man's wife or absconding with a long-lost government payroll (abandoning his dog Brown along the way). Brown was played by Spike, who was trained by Frank Weatherwax and is best known for playing the title role in Old Yeller. Brown figured prominently in a number of episodes, appeared in all of them, and was always seen faithfully following Blassingame in the end credits.