The Virginian

Victor Fleming, Paramount Pictures, 1929. Gary Cooper, Walter Huston, and Richard Arlen in the leads. 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. US 1929/30 title; renewal not checked title-by-title. About 91 minutes; Wikimedia Commons print.