best film: For Cooper it’s a two-horse race between Morocco and High Noon. These two masterpieces are 22 years apart (1930 and 1952) and couldn’t be more different (one is an adventure romance from Von Sternberg and the other a lean western from Fred Zinneman). Gun to my head I’m going with Morocco for that fabulous ending as a tie-breaker.
best performance: High Noon. It’s easier to pick Morocco as his best film knowing I’d have time here to talk about his best performance which is clearly High Noon. Cooper played a bit of a buffoon (or at least a hick) through much of his career and was great at it (Morocco, his work with Capra, Hawks) but here he’s terse, dedicated, and desperate without showing it quality in his work and Marshall Will Kane was no buffoon. Zinneman’s ticking clock throughout the film is worn so well on Cooper’s face and hidden pain.
stylistic innovations/traits: If you close your eyes and hear 22 films in the archives, 2 oscar wins and 5 total nominations you might think that actor deserves to be in the top 50 and from a filmography standpoint you may be right. However, I think of Cooper more as an actor who gave solid performances in some amazing films than a truly great actor. He’s a poor man’s Jimmy Stewart—can play a soldier, baseball player, western sheriff who was from the sticks or fly-over country (where I’m from) very well (it’s not surprising his Mr. Deeds and John Doe have so much in common with Stewart’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington all coming from Capra). He was the biggest star in the world in WW2 playing the title character in Howard Hawks’ Sergeant York. There’s true depth in his filmography and he’s rock solid in the two Hemingway adaptations (For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell to Arms). Cooper died at age 60 and was still going strong. My guess is he would’ve finished with 30 archiveable films.
directors worked with: Capra (2) and Hawks (2) and these are key. Als though Sam Wood (2) and William Wyler (2) and then once a piece with Lubitsch, Von Sternberg, Aldrich, Wilder and Anthony Mann (again the Stewart connection/comparison).
Top 5 Performances:
- High Noon
- Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
- Sergeant York
- For Whom the Bell Tolls
- Meet John Doe
Archiveable films
| 1930- Morocco |
| 1932- A Farewell To Arms |
| 1932- If I Had a Million |
| 1933- Design For Living |
| 1935- Peter Ibbetson |
| 1936- Mr. Deeds Goes to Town |
| 1940- The Westerner |
| 1941- Meet John Doe |
| 1941- Sergeant York |
| 1941- Ball of Fire |
| 1942- The Pride of the Yankees |
| 1943- For Whom the Bell Tolls |
| 1949- The Fountainhead |
| 1952- High Noon |
| 1954- Vera Cruz |
| 1956- Friendly Persuasion |
| 1957- Love in the Afternoon |
| 1958- The Man of the West |
| 1959- The Hanging Tree |
Gary Cooper was also in Wellman’s Wings in 1927.
@RujK- Thank you. I have this already on my end- it just hasn’t been reflected in the update yet. But thanks for sending just in case.
1. High Noon
2. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
3. Sergeant York
4. Morocco
5. Ball of Fire
Such a great actor
@Ross Rivero- Quite right- thank you for catching my error here. Should be fixed