Rating: 
Summary: CLASSIC "COMING OF AGE" TALE
Review: With marvelous photography, a majestic John William's soundtrack, impressive locations and convincing action scenes, as well as lots handsome horseflesh, this movie could stand on those legs alone. However, THE COWBOYS is a film that spins a classic tale of young men coming of age and old men learning deep lessons. The Duke puts in one of his finest performances-- better perhaps than THE SHOOTIST where he portrays another doomed, old westerner. In an early role by Bruce Dern we see an impressive and terrifying piece of method acting. He embodies the post-Civil War Western badman with Southern origins. He is pure anger, frustration and evil.
This movie is one I hold dear-- I was 6 years old when I first sat in a matinee at the old Fox theater in Bakersfield, CA, rooted to my seat and watching good battling evil, youth coming of age, and beautiful horses galloping across the Montana countryside under clear Rocky Mountain skies.
There is some uneven acting, especially by the 11 boy actors that include Robert Carradine, A. Martinez and others. Some of the lines seem a bit stiff and artificial, and the killing at the end seems to take place without the moral and ethical introspection found in the novel, but all in all this is a fine movie and one that should be seen by any fan of the western genre.
Rating: 
Summary: Roscoe is not a token
Review: Roscoe is not a token. He is a symbol of how the West was an opportunity for a black man to find his place. Many former slaves fought in the Civil War, just like his character, and then went West to start a "free" life. Also, Mr. Nightlinger is the "softer" side of Will Anderson, he helps shape the relationship between Will Andersen and the boys. Without him, Mr. Andersen would come across too harsh and hard. This is an excellent movie, filled with complex relationships and contains themes of coming of age, the Westward development and honor.
Rating:
Summary: The violence near the ending is essential, not gratuitous
Review: This is one of my favorite John Wayne movies. If you haven't seen it, please ignore the negative reviews and get it. You won't be sorry.The things I like about this movie are numerous and contained generously in the other reviews here. What I wanted to comment on is some reviewers slamming this movie for it's violence. One reviewer asks "What if the postcard hue and gentle themes of the previous three quarters of the film had been maintained during the final 30 minutes?" And then he answers himself saying, "It could have been so much better". I disagree. A bucolic ending would have completely ruined this film. Not only is Wayne's death unexpected by the viewer (and a bit troublesome, "He's dead??"), it is THE galvanizing event that transforms the greenhorn boys into men; their unpleasant welcome into the harsh adult world of the 1800's Wild West. It forced them to choose between remaining boys and going home or mustering their resolve to demonstrate they have learned the lessons Wayne was teaching them about being men. In the end, you will cheer when Dern's excellently portrayed bad guy gets his just desserts and you will be touched when the boys-turned-men complete their journey in the memory of their fallen leader.
Rating:
Summary: The Duke's flavor of the west lives on.
Review: This remastered version of the classic movie provides a trip down memory lane. While not the best loved or remembered of John Wayne's movies, it nevertheless delivers a good story of beating the odds and coming of age when life was just a little more tough. I enjoyed Bruce Dern's comical sarcasm, especially.
Rating:
Summary: another great John Wayne movie
Review: The Cowboys is another great John Wayne movie, and after The Searchers, might be my favorite movie he has made. Wayne plays a tough rancher who is forced to use boys on a cattle drive. Wayne plays the role very well, tough and sweet, and has a great cast of boys supporting him (including A Martinez and Robert Carradine). Bruce Dern is the villain, and he does a great job in the role, but then this is the type of role Dern is best in. This is also one of the few instances where John Wayne is killed onscreen, and done so by Dern. The whole scene is one of the best I've seen John Wayne in. It's a great movie, unfortunately there aren't many extras on the dvd. There's a small featurette (less than 10 minutes), a few production notes, and bunch of trailers for John Wayne movies.
Rating: 
Summary: Gentler Wayne film gets lost on the trail
Review: John Wayne's 1972 film "The Cowboys" has always been one of his more interesting twilight westerns. It is blessed with one of the Duke's most gentle portrayals - in this case an aging rancher coming to terms with a past scarred by unyeilding obstinance. It is also one of the few times in his vast career that Wayne worked with filmmakers outside of his long-time clique (Ford, Hawks, Kennedy, McLaglen). The result is a very un-Wayne like film blessed with introspection, spectacular camera work, unique production values and a memorable musical score by a then-young John Williams. Unfortunately, "The Cowboys" gets lost on the trail about three-quarters of the way in. Viewers must then suffer the misery of several violent deaths, attempted child molestation and an out-of-place Bruce Dern giving what must rank as one of the most famous villainous performances in cinema history. The end result should leave a bad taste in the mouths of most viewers, as what was an enjoyable family film with several strong messages about nobility, hard work and discipline, becomes just another violent western. Most viewers already know that Wayne dies near the end of this film at the hands of the sadistic Dern. The symbolism during the now-famous fight scene is obvious. This film was made in 1971-72. The United States was still fighting in the Vietnam war. Protests on college campuses were still rampant across the country. And Wayne's stance about America's involvement was always readily apparent. Anyone who has ever seen a documentary on Wayne's life has seen the at-times painful footage of the Duke traveling to a college campus and being pelted by snowballs from angry students. Bruce Dern, complete with long hair (which is refered to in the film) and an anti-establishment look (long trenchcoat, cowboy hat with the bill turned up), symbolizes an angry generation of American youth. John Wayne stands up to this man, indeed sacrifices himself in order to send a message to the children of this film, and the children of America. The end result is heavy-handed to say the least. In "The Cowboys," John Wayne plays a Montana husband/rancher (one of his only westerns in which he has a wife) whose workers desert him during a gold rush. He then must take on about 10-11 local children to help him on a two-month trail drive to get the cattle to market. Wayne's character, carrying the scars of the deaths of two sons, soon becomes a surrogate father to these children. There is much to like about this film. Slim Pickens and Roscoe Lee Browne provide memorable supporting performances; a camera shot of Wayne standing above the graves of his sons must rank as one of the finest images in this actor's spectacular career; the children's performances are uniformly strong; Wayne's repartee with his wife is genuine and touching; Mark Rydell's direction is strong and thematically consistent with his later work; and of course, the beginning of the trail drive makes several obvious references to a similar classic sequence in "Red River." I have seen "The Cowboys" about 10 times and it is probably telling that I usually stop watching this film near the point when Bruce Dern and his faceless gang ambush Wayne's trail drive. A touching, gentle twilight western suddenly becomes mean-spirited and ugly. And what could have been a great film simply becomes average. As a big fan of John Wayne, I have always considered "The Cowboys" to be an agonizing "What if?" What if the actor and the filmmakers had stuck to their guns? What if the postcard hue and gentle themes of the previous three-quarters of the film had been maintained during the final 30 minutes? It could have been so much better.
Rating:
Summary: Not an oater!
Review: This is not your run of the mill oater or the typical John Wayne bigger than life cow man shoot'em up. A well rounded cast of seasoned pros and up and coming young stars melds into a film that is different that most of the western genre.
Rating:
Summary: This was a GREAT movie!!
Review: Despite the "professional critics" condemnation of the movie as being bad, the average Joe loved this one. Everyone I know who has seen it likes it. This is typical of the Hollywood elite who think they know so much. They typically rate movies as poor that the average guy loves. This is one of them. Thumb your noses at the Hollywood crowd and get this movie. You won't go wrong!!!
Rating:
Summary: Have Wayne Will Travel
Review: The Cowboys is a supurb film. John Wayne reluctantly takes under his wing boys for a cattle drive. Sound formula? Hardly. The boys went in like children and came out like men. You could actually see them 'grow' up. This was the first movie I'd seen A. Martinez in and he did a wonderful job as a surly lad, and have been hooked on him ever since. I was appalled by the reference to Bruce Dern's "rodent" appearance. Talk about harsh! He played a villain you love to hate but as all good villains do, he got his.
I'm sorry to say Rosco Lee Brown only appeared to me, at the risk of being blunt, as a token. He contributed very little to the film except his magnificent voice. Well,let's get a move on. "W'ere burnin' daylight."
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT
Review: I have seen John Wayne and the Cowboys, when it first came out in the theaters and I have tape of it. I think it is a wonderful movie. I am a huge fan of Sean Kelly and Stephen Hudis
and their scenes are excellent. The critics have been hard on this movie. They say there is too much vilence and there isn't a moral to the story. Well yes there is vilence, but the moral to the story is to finish what you started. John Wayne taught them to work hard and if he would have died at the end, then they wouldn't have learned anything.
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