The Virginian

The Virginian is a 1929 Western film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Gary Cooper, Walter Huston, and Richard Arlen. Based on the 1902 novel The Virginian by Owen Wister, the film is about a good-natured cowboy who romances the new schoolmarm and has a crisis of conscience when he learns his best friend is involved in cattle rustling. The film is well known for Cooper's line, "If you wanna call me that—smile," in response to a cuss by the antagonist.