WesternAdventureDramaAction

The Cowboys

- All they wanted was their chance to be men... and he gave it to them.

When his cattlemen abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his cowboys in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job under Andersen's tutelage, however, neither he nor the boys know that a gang of cattle thieves is stalking them.

Release Date : 1972-01-13

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Sanford Productions (III)Warner Bros. Pictures

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Wil Andersen

Original Name : John Wayne

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jebediah Nightlinger

Original Name : Roscoe Lee Browne

Gender : Male

Character Name : Long Hair

Original Name : Bruce Dern

Gender : Male

Character Name : Kate

Original Name : Colleen Dewhurst

Gender : Female

Character Name : Cowboy Fats

Original Name : Alfred Barker Jr.

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cowboy Dan

Original Name : Nicolas Beauvy

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cowboy Steve

Original Name : Steve Benedict

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cowboy Slim Honeycutt

Original Name : Robert Carradine

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cowboy Weedy

Original Name : Norman Howell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cowboy Charlie Schwartz

Original Name : Stephen R. Hudis

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cowboy Stuttering Bob

Original Name : Sean Kelly

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cowboy Cimarron

Original Name : A Martinez

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cowboy Hardy Fimps

Original Name : Clay O'Brien

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cowboy Jimmy Phillips

Original Name : Sam O'Brien

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cowboy Homer Weems

Original Name : Mike Pyeatt

Gender : Male

Character Name : Anse

Original Name : Slim Pickens

Gender : Male

Character Name : Homer's Father

Original Name : Lonny Chapman

Gender : Male

Character Name : Stonemason

Original Name : Charles Tyner

Gender : Male

Character Name : Annie Andersen

Original Name : Sarah Cunningham

Gender : Female

Character Name : Ellen Price

Original Name : Allyn Ann McLerie

Gender : Female

Character Name : Phoebe

Original Name : Maggie Costain

Gender : Male

Character Name : Smiley

Original Name : Matt Clark

Gender : Male

Character Name : Howdy

Original Name : Jerry Gatlin

Gender : Male

Character Name : Okay

Original Name : Walter Scott

Gender : Male

Character Name : Henry Williams

Original Name : Richard Farnsworth

Gender : Male

Character Name : Red Tucker

Original Name : Wallace Brooks

Gender : Male

Character Name : Elizabeth

Original Name : Charise Cullin

Gender : Male

Character Name : Rosemary

Original Name : Collette Poeppel

Gender : Male

Character Name : Charlie's Mother

Original Name : Rita Hudis

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bob's Mother

Original Name : Margaret Kelly

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ben

Original Name : Larry Randles

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jake

Original Name : Larry Finley

Gender : Male

Character Name : Pete

Original Name : Jim Burk

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jim's Father

Original Name : Norman Howell Sr.

Gender : Male

Character Name : Rustler

Original Name : Fred Brookfield

Gender : Male

Character Name : Rustler

Original Name : Tap Canutt

Gender : Male

Character Name : Rustler

Original Name : Chuck Courtney

Gender : Male

Character Name : Rustler

Original Name : Gary Epper

Gender : Male

Character Name : Rustler

Original Name : Tony Epper

Gender : Male

Character Name : Rustler

Original Name : Kent Hays

Gender : Male

Character Name : Rustler

Original Name : J.R. Randall

Gender : Male

Character Name : Rustler

Original Name : Henry Wills

Gender : Male

Character Name : Rustler

Original Name : Joe Yrigoyen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ralphie (uncredited)

Original Name : Ralph Volkie

Gender : Male

Character Name : Towns Person (uncredited)

Original Name : Ivan Brutsche

Gender : Male

Reviews

John Chard

@John Chard

2024-05-16

The Breaking of Boys and the Making of Men. The Cowboys is directed by Mark Rydell and adapted from the novel written by William Dale Jennings; who co-writes the screenplay with Irving Ravetch & Harriet Frank Jr. It stars John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, Bruce Dern and Colleen Dewhurst. John Williams scores the music and Robert Surtees is the cinematographer. Plot sees Wayne as tough cattleman Wil Andersen, who after finding all his cowhands have fled to find their fortune elsewhere, is forced to use a bunch of green teenagers to get his beef to market. It's a journey of some distinction, for Wil, the boys and the villains who lurk on the edges of the frame. If ever there was a John Wayne picture that was in need of serious critical reevaluation, both as a measure of his acting ability-and quality in film narrative, then The Cowboys is the one. It's a film that has been known to upset the liberal minded, where the ideology at its core has been lambasted as being objectionable in the least. Yet looking at it closely, away from the humour that does exist within, it finds the Duke at his most vulnerable, therefore believable, and at its centre it's a coming of age tale told with cynical coldness. During this cattle drive innocence will be lost, Andersen is tough and a disciplinarian, yet he's always a benevolent father figure. Wil himself hit the cattle drive trail at 13, he knows the pains and perils of such a task. He also knows that boys need to become men, especially out here in the wilderness. I'd be disappointed in a piece of Western genre cinema if it glossed over this fact. And The Cowboys doesn't, it has a sting in its tail, the trick is that the boys are not judged by how Wil taught them, but defined by a turn of events that calls on them to "man" up. The actions of another being the catalyst for childhood's ending. Robert Surtees' photography paints a beautiful picture, it's pastoral, broad and appealing, but crucially it doesn't make it poetic. These young lads are entering the unknown, each section of God's great land is beautiful to us, but dangerous to them. It's an overlooked point that critics of the film ignore, that of Wil Andersen not leading these boys on a romantic trip thru the colourful terrain. It's not romantic, it's dangerous, and it's credit to Surtees that he achieves both sides of the coin; beauty and peril in the same frame. The young actors are, expectedly, a mixed bunch, but there's nothing here to be overtly negative about. Roscoe Lee Browne is terrific, his shift from wry observationalist to "Mother Hen" is handled with great skill, and Bruce Dern is memorable in more ways than one. The complaints come from not enough screen time for Colleen Dewhurst, who playing a bordello madame positively threatens to send the film's rating thru the roof (and the male viewers temperature's), while the running time is simply too long-too episodic-and quite frankly, unnecessary. The Cowboys is not a perceived John Wayne macho based fantasy movie, it has meaning, depth, bravery and a first class performance from the Duke himself. 8/10