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Summary: An Example for Students
Review: While I liked The Cowboys every bit as well as any John Wayne movie (except perhaps The Quiet man and Red River), I was quite disappointed when I saw it the first time. I often used it when teaching high school English as an example of the differences between the movie and the book.When I learned that The Cowboys was coming out as a movie, I read the book. Throughout the story I could imagine how The Duke would portray Wil Anderson in the movie. Heck, I'd seen most of his movies, and I thought I had him cold. Then I saw the movie, and John Wayne screwed it up! He didn't do it like he did in the movie I saw in my head while reading the book. Very few of the scenes in his rather short appearance lived up to my expectations. The Cowboys became my best teaching example of how the visions we see in our heads while reading are often more real and vivid than what appears on the screen. Don't get me wrong. The Cowboys is an excellent movie, and John Wayne's portrayal of Wil Anderson was certainly masterful. It's just that it fell short of my expectations--or were my expectations too high?
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Summary: John Wayne's True Grit comes to light in 11 young cowboys.
Review: John Wayne's truly wonderful career is characterized best in his last 10 years of acting. When John becomes a little to round in the midsection, short tempered, and a scowl that puts you right into the action of the screen is where John Wayne's is best remembered. This is a touching movie that entails the ruggedness of the west, how boys want to grow up too fast and become men, and how men can become role models to young boys powerfully influencing them for the rest of their lives. I have followed the Duke's career for many years and I believe this is truly his best work. It is a movie that can be watched over and over. Iti s easy to relate to the characters in this movie and it is one of the few movies where the 'old man' dies. John Waynes memory truly lives on, not only in this tale but also in the hearts of his fans. See this movie! David Harkin CFP, CLU, ChFC
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Summary: One of the Best Ever!
Review: This is a great movie. John Wayne helps a group of young boys become men. Great movie.
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Summary: 1 Of John Waynes better portrayals
Review: I really enjoyed watching John Wayne play father to all these young boys & teaching them how to ride the trail with a herd of cattle.I felt let down somewhat after John Waynes character died but unlike the movie critics review I do not believe it sends the message that violent revenge is good.I give it 5 stars
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Summary: A classic western, the Duke and the boys do a fantastic job.
Review: I watched this movie when I was a kid - it made a very lasting impression on me so much that at that time I KNEW I wanted to be a cowboy. I am now 36 years old and still sitting in a saddle and chasing cows! I have since bought the movie and have watched MANY times over. There will never be another western actor like John Wayne. I regret two things 1)that I couldn't have lived in the "old west" time period and 2) I didn't have a chance to meet John Wayne. If you want a good western that will tug at your heart strings, then this is it. Saddle Up!!
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Summary: It is not Searchers or Shootist quality, but it was good.
Review: This was a typical Duke film in my opinion except of course the fact that he was shot. Wayne is faced with a problem with no solution. His cattle hands have left him after catching gold fever, and Wayne's last resort is taking on school boys. Wayne proves one point in this film,that you don't neccesarly need men on a cow drive. The movie on the other hand proves another;you do not need an all-star cast to make a good movie like this one. On the down side it proves that the good guy (Wayne) doesn't always finish first.
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Summary: You MUST find the BOOK of this story
Review: I read the book, also called as I recall, "The Cowboys" around 1975. It may or may not have been based on the movie, but it was written more like a book the MOVIE was based on. It fleshed out the characters more (same ones as in movie, by name), and Charlie Nightlinger and Will Anderson (The Duke) were old war buddies (whereas in the movie they do not previously know each other). Also, in the movie , Nightlinger "most tastefully" prevents business from taking place between the boys and the roving "soiled doves", but in the book, he arranges carefully with Colleen Dewhurst (marvelous actress, the madaam of the "doves") so as to have their first experience "done carefully compassionately" (per Nightlinger} for about a buck a boy. First, they all had to bathe in the river, perhaps the only time they did on the trip, and there were great locker room jokes and adolescent insight. Nightlinger was without a doubt the best and most interesting character in the book, and was much more fleshed out than the rest. He, in my opinion, was one of the finest and most under-rated actors black or white or any color, as was Colleen Dewhurst, who was also marvelous in the "Anne of Green Gables" video series. In the movie, Nightlinger is spell-binding, quite literally, as in the bunkhouse tall-tale-telling scene in the beginning where he speaks in grande Stage voice of his father, who "bore a sword of the finest Toledo steel", to the boys, who listened in rapt attention to the first black man they had ever seen. The actor portraying Nightlinger gave the great Duke a run for his money in screen presence, and also posessed a great, deep, cultured and highly-educated-sounding voice. PLEASE find and stock this book, which I read and re-read at least 5 times. It is one of the finest works of Western fiction I have ever read. END END
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Summary: A great "coming-of-age" Western for young and old alike
Review: Director Mark Rydell takes the acting and physical talents of veteran and rookie actors alike and melds them into a great cowboy flick. John Wayne, in one of his last films, is his usual bigger-than-life presence as rancher Wil Andersen who is faced with the need to get his cattle to market but without any help to do it. It just so happens that "gold fever" has struck his part of the West and all of the trail riders have turned into gold miners. The only trail hands left to choose from are the 11 boys who attend the local school. Andersen is faced with the challenge of herding both the cattle and the greenhorn cowboys 400 miles to market. Andersen hires a black cook, Jebidiah Nightlinger, to feed the troupe and, after a few short days of learning the "ropes" of cattle herding, they set off on their mission. Along the way, there are some great scenes, especially the night the boys discover the sour mash that Mr. Nightlinger has hidden in his chuckwagon and the scene where the cowboys meet up with a travelling group of prostitutes. Bruce Dern as the evil rustler, Asa Watts, is outstanding as the movie's villan. Dern has that great way of contorting his face and eyes to create that genuiunely creepy style of acting that he's displayed throughout much of his career. In the scene where he captures one of the young cowboys and pumps him for information about the cattle drive, it appears that the young man really is terrified of Dern. By now, the reader of this review probably knows that (for one of the few times in his acting career) John Wayne dies in "The Cowboys". Without going into a lot of plot-revealing details, let me suffice to say that his death does not go unpunished. The boys deliver the cattle to market and become men along the way. As I was watching the film, it dawned on me about halfway through that "The Duke" would have made a great football coach. Many of his lines even sound like things that a Vince Lombardi or Don Shula would say. He starts out rough, gruff, and distant from the boys as they begin the journey, but eventually becomes more of a father, than an employer, to them by his exit from the film. His pride in their accomplishments along the trail is evident in his last scene. While not a classic Western in the mold of "High Noon" or "Shane", "The Cowboys" is a great movie for young and old alike. John Wayne fans will find that it compares favorably to many of The Duke's movies from the '60s and '70s, such as "Chisum", "El Dorado", and "Rio Bravo". HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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Summary: Makes a lie out of the phrase "John Wayne couldn't act!"
Review: John Wayne had a rennaissance in the early 70's. His academy award from "True Grit" and a renewed appreciation of his work in the 40's and 50's opened up opportunities for him to stretch his acting legs. His work as Wil Anderson in "The Cowboys" is one of his greatest performances. It is a very moving role of a rancher abandoned by all the grown men he needed to drive his cattle to the railhead. He is forced to turn to school boys to get the job done. He is a hard man whose own sons grew up bad on him and died early, violent deaths. Now he has to become the surrogate father to these young boys. He is simply magnificent. Especially touching is the scene where they bury one of the boys who died in a tragic accident, John Wayne was never finer and shows that the man certainly had the ability to add depth and emotion to a character. The man was a great actor!
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Summary: Surprising...Much better than I thought...
Review: I purchased this DVD as part of a package of John Wayne films. I had never seen "The Cowboys" from beginning to end and had always believed the story would be too "corny" -- even though I love "B" and adult westerns. But I was mistaken. "The Cowboys" is one of Wayne's best films, much better than Duke's films I recall from the 1960s. My only disappointment with the film was the fact that Slim Pickens appearance is too brief. It would have been great to have Slim ride along on the cattle drive. Bruce Dern, as expected, is sensational as the villian. His fight with Wayne is well staged and an intergal part of the story. The boys all do an excellent job. The restoration and presentation of the film on DVD is superb. Also, John Williams's score is beauifully reproduced and is a highlight for viewers with home theater systems.
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