The Virginian (1929)

About The Virginian (1929)

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.

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.

Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article The Virginian (1929 film) (text available under CC BY-SA 4.0).