Man of the West (1958) review

Link (Gary Cooper), a "man with a past," rides on a train with a sizeable amount of money to hire a school teacher for his small town, but the train gets robbed and he gets knocked out - later, he ends up at the house he 'grew up in' and becomes reacquainted with his old mentor Dock (Lee J. Cobb), who wants him to go back to being a thief and killer.  I'm not quite getting the praise for this: it's choppy, the acting is well below average (Cobb really gets hammy) and it's riddled with clichés, like one of the characters who sacrifices himself to save Link's life (jumping in front of a bullet) and the 'lunatic' outlaws who have nothing on their minds but drinkin' and rapin'.  The fight scenes are kind of stiff (this could be due to Cooper's age and frail health), and Cobb's final tumble down the hill (after, of course, that perfect kill shot from Link that never misses) unfortunately made me laugh.  Moral of the story: never travel hours to hire anyone, let alone a teacher.