Springfield Rifle (DVD), Warner Archives, Western

In an era when James Stewart had his Winchester 73, Gary Cooper took aim at the box office with a Springfield Rifle, the film that followed his Academy Award -winning* performance in High Noon. Few actors personified the West like the Montana-born screen legend. Here, in a brawling Civil War-era sagebrush saga cowritten by Gunsmoke creator Charles Marquis Warren and directed by action master Andre DeToth, Cooper plays Lex Kearney, a U.S. Army major posing as a Confederate sympathizer. Kearneys ruse unmasks rustlers of Union horses, even though his true allegiance is revealed. Ultimately, the major and his troops are outmanned and outgunned. But with the experimental weapon that makes one man the equal of five, they won't be outfought!