The Virginian (1929)

A good-natured cowboy who is romancing the new schoolmarm has a crisis of conscience when he discovers his best friend is engaged in cattle rustling.

Director:

Victor Fleming

Writers:

Owen Wister (by), Kirk La Shelle (by)

Stars:

Gary Cooper, Walter Huston, Mary Brian

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Gary Cooper	...	The Virginian
Walter Huston	...	Trampas
Mary Brian	...	Molly Stark Wood
Richard Arlen	...	Steve
Helen Ware	...	Mrs. Taylor
Chester Conklin	...	Uncle Hughey
Eugene Pallette	...	'Honey' Wiggin
Victor Potel	...	Nebrasky
E.H. Calvert	...	Judge Henry

Storyline

Molly Wood arrives in a small western town to be the new schoolmarm. The Virginian, foreman on a local ranch, and Steve, his best fiend, soon become rivals for her affection. Steve falls in with bad guys led by Trampas, and the Virginian catches him cattle rustling. As foreman, he must give the order to hang his friend. Trampas gets away, but returns in time for the obligatory climactic shootout in the streets.

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Plot Keywords:

cowboy | taming of the shrew | cowboy horse relationship | male male relationship | christening prank | 

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Taglines:

AS BIG AS ALL OUTDOORS! (Print Ad- Deseret News, ((Salt Lake City, Utah)) 5 November 1929)

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Genres:

Romance | Western

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

Assuming its copyright has not lapsed already, this film and all others produced in 1929 enter the U.S. public domain in 2025.

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Goofs

Although the story spans the late 1870's through the early 1880's, Molly refers to her grandfather being killed in the Cherry Valley Massacre. As that took place in 1778, at least 100 years earlier, that seems highly unlikely.

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Quotes

Steven 'Steve': The only thing I don't like about this stealin' business is the hard work.
Trampas: [laughs] Hard work but easy pickin's.

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Alternate Versions

This movie was also issued in a silent version, with film length of 2257.65 meters.

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Connections

Spin-off The Virginian (1962)

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Soundtracks

Pop! Goes the Weasel
(uncredited)
A 17th-century English children's song
Played at the dance

User Reviews

Dedicated To His Friend Theodore Roosevelt

Although I particularly like the 1946 version of this classic western story with Joel McCrea, this 1929 version of The Virginian has a lot to recommend it, not the least of which is Gary Cooper in the title role.

From the first silent version of the story that Cecil B. DeMille directed until a 2000 made for television film that starred Bill Pullman as the cowboy who's only known by the state he originally hails from, this is the story that set the standard for the western novel that has come down to this day. Owen Wister (1860-1938) was a classmate and close friend of Theodore Roosevelt and when the book came out in 1902 it was dedicated to the new president who was in his second term of office.

Both Wister and Roosevelt were easterners who had gone west at critical portions of their lives and made careful note of the mores and customs of the people living there. Roosevelt went to the Dakota territory and Wister was in the new state of Wyoming just in time to view the famous Johnson County range war. It certainly was a period where certain folks did make up their own version of the law out in Wyoming and in this Wyoming setting of The Virginian as law and order was usually days if not weeks away, lynching lawbreakers was an accepted if not honored practice.

And that's what happens in The Virginian as Gary Cooper catches old friend Steve played by Richard Arlen rustling cattle of the Box H ranch where he is foreman. It's unfortunate that he did not catch gang leader Trampas played by Walter Huston, but the incident sets the scene for the inevitable western showdown.

There was western literature before The Virginian, popularized by writers like Ned Buntline. They were called 'penny dreadfuls' as a commentary of their cost and worth. Usually they took real western characters and made up these fantastic unreal stories about them. Real western historians in fact are still trying to separate truth from myth about all these people because of these stories.

Wister was a careful chronicler of what he saw and what he saw set the standard for later writers like Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour, Luke Short, etc. All the western clichés we've grown to expect in films got their start right here.

The Virginian set the standard in literature and film for a whole genre of entertainment. Any version of the story should not be missed.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 November 1929 (USA)

Also Known As:

El virginiano

Filming Locations:

Lone Pine, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$425,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min 85 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1