| Distant Drums (1951) Cooper's experienced Indian fighter who leads a small force into the Florida Everglades to put down a Seminole uprising. Filmed on locaton in color, which helps the routine storyline. Directed by Raoul Walsh. |
| Starlift (1951) Trifle about GI's at an air base and the stars who entertain them. Cooper's sketch is a burlesqued bar-room shootout, complete with a quartet singing "Look Out Stranger, I'm a Texas Ranger." |
| High Noon (1952) Cooper, Grace Kelly, Katy Jurado. Directed by Fred Zinnemann. click here for more |
| Springfield
Rifle (1952) Union officer Lex Kearney (Cooper) goes undercover to
capture a gang of renegades who are stealing horses from the army. Directed
by Andre de Toth. photo |
| Return
to Paradise (1953) Fine, underrated film. Coop is drifter living on
South Seas island, wanting only peace and solitude. He's reluctantly drawn
into the fight between the islanders and their tyranical puritan parson.
Beautiful scenery, sensitive performance from Cooper. Costarring Roberta
Haynes. Directed by Mark Robson. photo |
| Blowing
Wild (1953) Oil man Cooper has no end of problems with petroleum
magnate Anthony Quinn and unscrupulous Barbara Stanwyck, with 'good girl'
Ruth Roman waiting in the wings. Mexican scenery and all-star cast can't
really help this one. Directed by Hugo Fregonese. photo |
| Vera
Cruz (1954) Southern gent Ben Train (Cooper) more than holds his
own against shady adventurer Joe Erin (Burt Lancaster) when they join
forces to transport gold during the Mexican revolution. What would seem
to be an unlikely teaming - the flamboyant Lancaster and the quiet Cooper
- is dynamite in this excellent tale of action and intrigue. Directed
by Robert Aldrich. photo |
| Garden of Evil (1954) Soldiers of fortune Cooper and Richard Widmark are hired by Susan Hayward to rescue her husband from a gold mine cave-in. Good action, Cooper's first Cinemascope film. Directed by Henry Hathaway. |
| The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955) WWI Brigadier General Mitchell's attempts to convince the top brass of the importance of air power result in his being courtmartialed as an interfering publicity-seeker. Costarring Charles Bickford, Ralph Bellamy and Rod Steiger. Directed by Otto Preminger. |
| Friendly
Persuasion (1956) Excellent telling of Jessamyn West's story of Indiana
Quaker family and the conflict between their beliefs and the strife of
the Civil War. Cooper's at his very best as the gentle patriarch in a
film that perfectly blends warm humor with tension. Dorothy McGuire, Anthony
Perkins costar. A masterpiece. Directed by William Wyler. photo |
