The Cowboys

Rating:
Summary: Who else could turn boys into cowboys but John Wayne?
Review: If you stop and think about it John Wayne actually made several westerns that took surprising twists. In "The Searchers," Wayne played Ethan Edwards, who spends the entire film tracking the neice who had been taken by Scar's band of raiders so that he can put a bullet in her brain, only to end up taking her home. But for his legion of fans, "The Cowboys" had to be the biggest surprise of all.

As rancher Wil Andersen, Wayne finds that his hands have left him to join a gold rush and he has no one to help him get his herd of cattle to market before winter. His only option are a group of young school boys, a hot headed young gun man named Cimarron (A Martinez), and an old cook named Jedediah Nightlinger (Roscoe Lee Browne). With hardly any training, Anderson and his "cowboys" hit the trail. But not only do they have to do deal with hundreds of heads of cattle, rattlesnakes, and the elements, there are also a gang of man led by Asa Watts (Bruce Dern) following them as well.

I think that Bruce Dern had a pretty good career after this 1972 film, which was in doubt at that time because his character shoots down John Wayne in cold blood, which was definitely not considered a smart career move at the time. Wayne warned Dern he would be hated and the young actor actually received death threats. A movie in which John Wayne actually dies is always something of a shock for movie goers (e.g., "Sands of Iwo Jima"), but usually that tragic fate is saved for the very end of the film and in "The Cowboys" there is still the entire final act of the story left to be told. The one thing you have to admit is that no other actor being killed off in the middle of a western could shock you more than the Duke.

Of the young cast of the film, Robert Carradine is the one name that sticks out the most as having made a career of acting. A few of the boys were cast in the short lived television series based on the movie but just as many did this one film and never acted again. However, the choice performances in "The Cowboys" come from the older cast members, with Brown's eloquent Mr. Nightlinger having a choice encounter with Colleen Dewhurst, who plays a madam escorting her stable of pretty young women to their next town of business. Of course, the young girls are interested in the young boys, but as she wisely declares, "The first time should be in the back of a buggy with a girl that they think they're in love with." Then there is his charming refusal, "I have the inclination, the maturity, and the where-with-all; but unfortunately, I don't have the time."

Of course Wayne's character slowly comes around to the idea that these young cowboys can actually get the job done, but the film requires them to complete their final rite of passage without him. This 1972 western provides Wayne with the final great fist fight of his career that say him make 174 films from 1926 when he was an uncredited Yale football player in "Brown of Harvard" to 1976 when he starred in his eloquent final film "The Shootist." When Andersen begins his final fight his tells his opponent: "I've broke my back once, and my hip twice. And on my worst day I could still beat the hell out of you." Yes, Bruce Dern must be a pretty good actor to survive shooting John Wayne in the back.

Rating:
Summary: THE COWBOYS
Review: For anybody who can't believe a bunch of boys..COWBOYS...could do what they did.Some reviews say it's to far out..Well..don't forget BILLY THE KID..he was a young teen who became a killer.What these boys did..was getting back at the murderers of their boss who probably was more like a father to them..along with the help of a man..ROSCOE LEE BROWN(the cook).Don't lose site of the century & times..it's the way it was then.Now in the 21CENTURY of course..it's a lot different.Remember in the 1800's we still didn't have all the laws we now have.And as far as the DUKE goes..he was great.In movies for 50yrs.in some cases,sure he was known as playing himself.I ask you to name any actor today who could do that for 50 yrs.& still be on top of the box office.He just played the roles that came to him..to act.Actors today make 2-movies every other year just for the big bucks.The DUKE did it..because he enjoy making movies & having his fans like him.Tom Cruise is a great actor...BUT 50 yrs.from now..or even less..forget it..they still will be taking about JOHN WAYNE instead on tom cruise..WHO?

Rating:
Summary: horrible movie
Review: This movie is an incredible let down, I do not want to spoil it, but I do not know how any John Wayne fan can put up with anything besides the Duke himself in this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Wayne at his Wayne-iest
Review: If you only watch ten westerns in your life, this should be one of them. John Wayne is in his latter-years glory as a rancher bereft of ranch hands and forced to hire local schoolboys for his cattle drive. All the elements of a semi-Freudian coming of age story are here, along with all the classic old west movie standards. A great supporting cast includes Slim Pickens as the local store keeper and Bruce Dern as, what else, the disaffected ne'er-do-well villain.

Well-paced, and well stocked with youthful talent (you might be surprised as you recognize some of the boy actors) by director Mark Rydell, the movie also has a top-notch John Williams soundtrack.

True afficionadoes will recognize most of the location shots as being from the famed Movie Ranch near Cerillos, New Mexico. Lots of blue sky and great shots of the Rio Grande, Sandia and Jemez Mountains, and the Santa-Fe area high country top off the film nicely.

Rating:
Summary: Breaking of boys, making of men
Review:

After his cowboys catch the gold fever and desert him for the mining camps, old Wil Andersen hires on school boys, ranging in age from 9 to 15, to drive his cattle to market. While they follow the trail, psycho Bruce Dern and his band of very bad men trail them.
THE COWBOYS is an unusual western. From all accounts the life of a cowboy was rough, dirty, and dangerous. It takes some belief suspension to buy the premise that a dozen or so schoolboys could drive cattle. I did buy the premise, finally, thanks in large part to the strong performances by John Wayne as Andersen and Roscoe Lee Browne as camp cook Jedediah Nightlinger. Two-thirds of the way into it this movie throws a big surprise and the movie switches from a coming of age to a revenge tale. If I had a hard time accepting the competency of the boys as cattle herders, I found it impossible to believe that they'd have a chance against Dern and his dirty dozen. That last plot switch lost me.
THE COWBOYS is an alright western that I might have liked a lot if it had taken a different tack in the last act. The dvd also includes a nine-minute `making of' featurette, made in 1972 or thereabouts.




Rating:
Summary: A True John Wayne Must Have Classic
Review: Whoever did the editorial above for Amazon obviously has no experience with John Wayne. There is much more to this movie than a dire fate after a short period of time. John Wayne embodies the true spirit of the hard core rancher in the old west. It was many a times that towns were emptied of their men for one reason or another.

In this movie John Wayne needs to move his cattle and does the unthinkable by hiring "boys" to do the work. These boys think they're all grown up until they come face to face with The Duke and a real cattle drive. He teaches them life lessons and how to be men. During the cattle drive he meets and unfortunate fate and wait till you see the end.

I don't know about you but this heartbreaking, funny, and honest movie will never fail to put a tear in my eye or a flame in my heart for one of the only men who can stir men and women alike. John Wayne.

Rating:
Summary: One of John Wayne's Best Movies
Review: Even though many of the actual filming locations were in Colorado and New Mexico, the Cowboys is an excellent western that captures the true spirit of the open range in the Montana-South Dakota region of the late 1800's. Despite the fact that John Wayne won his Academy Award as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit, his performance as Wil Anderson in The Cowboys is probably his best role. Many people may like other John Wayne movies more, but The Cowboys helped him break away from the tired, typical co-stars who were so prevalent in his earlier westerns. Credit must also be given to Bruce Dern who was very good as bad guy Asa Watts, and composer John Williams for his stirring theme music. Along with The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Cowboys is one of John Wayne's finest films.

Rating:
Summary: "What's it like to be scared?"
Review: Goodness, how my perception of this film has changed over the years. When I first saw this pimple-faced shoot-'em-up in the theater, I was mesmerized, and I was part of the crowd that took to its feet and cheered when Bruce Dern got what was coming to him. Over the years, as fatherhood and an expanding waistline greeted me, I would come across this motion picture and find myself wincing somewhat. A Montana cattle drive, led by an aging rancher and a cook with a Shakespearean delivery, and a dozen or so boys not even old enough to shave as cowhands--yeah, right.

But this is John Wayne, and this is his senior citizen landmark film, THE COWBOYS. The movie enjoyed resounding box office success, pleased the Duke's legions of fans, and even spawned an awful, short-lived TV series. As rancher Wil Anderson, Wayne is his usual tough 'n gruff, crusty and cantakerous hombre; yet the Duke also reveals a kinder and gentler side as he becomes a father figure to his peach-fuzzed employees. Yet as well as Wayne is in this role, the movie is so inherently flawed--first by the premise of young boys actually driving a herd of cattle, followed by these same boys going on a cold-blooded, avenging killing spree--I find myself growing more and more uncomfortable with each subsequent viewing.

Guess I'm getting mellow in my old age.

Bruce Dern is a perfectly hateable villain; Roscoe Lee Browne a wonderfully laughable and unbelievable chuckwagon cook who looks like he was plucked from the pages of 'Othello.' Of the ensemble of 'Cowboys' young Robert Carradine is most noteworthy--and much more memorable via his 'Revenge of the Nerd' roles. Yet, despite its flaws, THE COWBOYS is vintage John Wayne action and revenge, even though the violence is jarring and unsettling.
--D. Mikels

Rating:
Summary: The Duke...A Tough, Gruff, and... Touching Performance!
Review: This review refers to the WB DVD edition of THE COWBOYS.

From 1971,THE COWBOYS finds our guy,The Duke, as an aging rancher who must hire 11 young boys to help him on a 400 mile cattle drive. He's tough and gruff, but really has a way with the kids,(only The Duke can cure a boy's stuttering in less than 2 minutes!), and soon finds himself acting as both trail boss and father to the group. The drive is rough for all and has the added suspense of some bad hombres led by Bruce Dern who are out to rustle The Duke's cattle.

Wayne, who by this time, just awed us with his on screen presence, turns in a touching performance and if it was up to me, would have recieved an Oscar for this role. Dern is the baddest of the bad as he goes after our hero. The film is not short on talent, Directed by Mark Rydell, it includes Roscoe Lee Brown, a young A. Martinez, and a small but meaty part for the wonderful Colleen Dewhurst. A nice widescreen presentation, the picture and color were good but seemed just a little dated to me.The sound remastered in DD 5.1 is fabulous. There's a great documentary included. The Breaking of Boys and The Making Of Men, talks about how the boys were selected, and how they trained for their parts. There are 13 (count em ..13) trailers of Wayne films from the 30's through the 70's, informative production notes, and has languages and subtitles in English and French.

Collector's of Wayne may find it more economical to purchase the John Wayne Collection set. Included with this fabulous film are two greats directed by John Ford, THE SEARCHERS, and STAGECOACH. Spanning 30 years of his career, it's a wonderful selection.

Saddle up and enjoy the ride...
Happy Trails.....Laurie



Rating:
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