MovieChat Forums > Man of the West (1958) Discussion > Julie London's forced striptease

Julie London's forced striptease


I well remember seeing this western on its first release in 1959 here in the UK.
The two scenes which really shocked me as a young teenager were the forced stripping scene involving the lovely Julie London and the equally nasty fight scene which shortly follows where Cooper punches the living daylights out of the greasy scurvy Jack Lord (yes that nice man from Hawii Five O). Then he starts to rip his clothes off in payback for what he had earlier put Julie London through. I think he gets him down to his longjohns with the villain all the while screaming and cursing in rage and humiliation.
I didn't see the film again for many years - then some years ago I caught up with it once again. And incredibly enough - despite all the nastiness that had occurred generally in movies since 1959 - I still found those scenes as grungy and nasty as when I saw the movie the first time round.
I think the unsettling thing about the forced stripping scene is that Ms London has a great looking body. So just about every redblooded male in the audience would like to see her in the all together. So then they feel in a moral dilemma - they know quite well that what the villain is forcing her to do is morally reprensible but at the same time they have a guilty wish for the villain to carry on forcing Ms London to strip so they can have a good gawp at her as well!
These scenes and the movie as a whole still seem strong meat for a PG rated film. Email [email protected]

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I'm watching this film right now. I love the western genre, but this is the first time seeing this little gem. What a treat. Mann is a brilliant director and the forced strip scene is froth with tension and anticipation.

All the players were in top form and I though Jack Lord was especially menacing. And the scene where he was beaten and stripped by Cooper was chilling, with Lord rendering the moment of his final humiliation with acute pathos.

Mann makes it look easy -- the mark of a great director.

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Those two scenes are highly brutal and difficult to watch in this truly disturbing and troubling film. And I must commend you for being honest regarding the disturbing bit about the forced striptease of Julie London. Equally effective to me is the scene after that, where she talks about the fact that she can't remember taking off all those clothes. I think there's something true there in the way women feel when they face themselves in these situations.


"Ça va by me, madame...Ça va by me!" - The Red Shoes

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While Man Of The West is now recognized as a masterpiece, it was dumped in second-string grind houses by UA when it opened in the Fall of 1958. UA didn't know what to do with the film, it was too dark, too grim, too violent. It was the first Gary Cooper movie not to open at a first-string Times Square theater. It opened on a double bill around the country. It was a box office flop.

Eastwood has said Unforgiven is a loose reworking of Man Of The West.

Cooper and Anthony Mann became friends and admirers and were in the early discussion stage of doing a western version of King Lear. Cooper's cancer intervened and it never happened. Too bad ...

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I watched Man Of The West for the first time a couple of months ago, when TCM aired it for Gary Cooper's birthday. But I didn't fully appreciate it, until re-watching it this week. [It was part of TCM's feature on Anthony Mann's films.] What I find riveting about the striptease scene is Coaley holding the knife to Link's neck; how you see the pressure of it slowly drawing blood as it pierces his throat.

As for the film bombing when it was first released, I read a modern review that asked if it might've been more successful had Jimmy Stewart starred [considering his string of successful westerns with Mann].



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Jimmy Stewart wanted the part badly, after the string of Anthony Mann westerns in the early to mid '50s. When Mann chose Cooper instead, Stewart never spoke to Mann again. I had the pleasure of speaking to Stewart in the early '70s and this came from the man (no pun intended!) himself.

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When Mann chose Cooper instead, Stewart never spoke to Mann again.


But weren't Stewart and Cooper good friends?

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[deleted]

I agree, the two stripping scenes were almost hard to watch. I felt almost sick during Julie's strip, not knowing how far it'd go, or what the men were going to do to her, and watching the knife slowly sinking into Coop's neck. You could just feel the fear & the tension for this woman, being in that room full of bad men! It was also interesting that it was pointed out the moral dilemma about knowing it was wrong to force her, and yet wanting to see her at the same time. That was what struck me watching too, was watching Coop's character during this - he was helpless and you could plainly see that and how he wanted to help, and yet, his eyes seem to be curiously watching her too.....

And I hated the guy that makes her strip, and yet when Coop was fighting him & ripping his clothes, I still wanted it to stop. Especially in older films, the fight scenes are so fake & forced, yet this to me seemed so authentic - the anger & lust for revenge seemed very real and it's cool how the whole movie invoked such strong emotions for the viewer, at least for this one anyways.

I do love Jimmy Stewart, but I never thought too much of his westerns - I just couldn't buy him in those roles, as good of an actor as he was. There's been criticism on these boards saying Coop wasn't right or they didn't believe him in the role, but I beg to differ. His age, and the hard look he'd get across his face, made me believe he could've been a man w/ a past, and it was easy to see why Julie London's character would fall in love w/ him. I guess I've seen too many of Jimmy's early sweet roles to believe him to be an old cowboy w/ a past. I think Gary Cooper was 100% perfect for this.

"Are you going to your grave with unlived lives in your veins?" ~ The Good Girl

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I almost started hating Cooper's character for not doing anything at start. Before he got the knife on his neck.
He just sat there and watched like the rest.

But then after, with that fight, he made me not hate him anymore.

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I know what you mean. But I think the whole time he is back with that gang, his character is always hyper-aware of his surroundings. He is without a gun, Coley (sp?) is a dangerous dude, and he's sort of the low-man on the totem pole. Sure, Dock favors him from the old days, but the others could care less about him. I think if he really tried to physically defend Billie, it could have ended even worse for both.

But after he kicked the daylights out of Coley, he was alright with me again!

LEND AN EAR, I implore you, this comes from my heart: I'll always adore you, til death do us part.

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Watching Julie London strip, I knew that being 1958 there was no way it was going all the way. Glad Cooper beat the dog crap out of Lord the next day, though.

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I thought it was awesome when Cooper forced Coaley to strip. Coaley did that to the woman for the sheer pleasure of humiliating her, and it was a sheer pleasure to watch Coaley be humiliated. He screamed like a little girl. So did the guy who shot Juanita, after Gary Cooper shot him. Very realistic, actually.

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[deleted]

Ok, everybody.
Relax, its only a movie, I just happened to catch it.

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