The Cowboys (1972)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Mark Rydell

Writers:

William Dale Jennings (novel)
Irving Ravetch (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

13 January 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Tagline:

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

Plot:

When his cattle drivers abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a...

Plot Keywords:

Cattle | Rancher | Hangover | Gold Rush | Rustling

Awards:

1 win

Cast

John Wayne	...	Wil Andersen
Roscoe Lee Browne	...	Jebediah Nightlinger
Bruce Dern	...	Long Hair
Colleen Dewhurst	...	Kate
Alfred Barker Jr.	...	Fats - Cowboy
Nicolas Beauvy	...	Dan - Cowboy
Steve Benedict	...	Steve - Cowboy
Robert Carradine	...	Slim Honeycutt - Cowboy
Norman Howell	...	Weedy - Cowboy (as Norman Howell Jr.)
Stephen R. Hudis	...	Charlie Schwartz - Cowboy (as Stephen Hudis)
Sean Kelly	...	Stuttering Bob - Cowboy
A Martinez	...	Cimarron - Cowboy
Clay O'Brien	...	Hardy Fimps - Cowboy
Sam O'Brien	...	Jimmy Phillips - Cowboy
Mike Pyeatt	...	Homer Weems - Cowboy

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:M | Canada:PG (video rating) | West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 (video re-rating) (2005) (uncut) | UK:A (original rating) (cut) | UK:PG (video rating) (1987) (cut) | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Bonanza Creek Ranch - 15 Bonanza Creek Lane, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Sanford Productions (III)

Trivia:

Richard Farnsworth plays a member of Asa Watts's gang, one of the first roles in which his face is actually seen on screen. Farnsworth had been a stuntman and extra since the 1930s.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Mr. Anderson is tying up Crazy Alice for the cowboys to ride, the horse changes from a dark-maned horse to one with a lighter brown mane.

Quotes:

Wil Andersen: Sometimes it's hard to understand the drift of things. This was a good boy. He'd have been a good man. He didn't get his chance. Death can come for ya any place, any time. It's never welcomed. But if you've done all you can do, and it's your best, in a way I guess you're ready for it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Duplicity/Knowing/I Love You, Man (#1.4)" (2009)

"Big mouth doesn't make a big man."

Wil Andersen (John Wayne) is an aging rancher who traveled 30 miles that day and didn't find a single hand that could throw in with him…

Anse Petersen (Slim Pickens) suggests to his best friend to hire local teenagers as cowboys for his 400-mile cattle drive… So, in the morning the children came very early to put in for the job… Obviously, nobody of them has been on a cattle drive…

For a cook, Wil hires a black man, Jedediah Nightlinger (Roscoe Lee Browne), who asked to be paid $125 knowing he should be got flooded out, stampeded out, frozen out or scalped by wild Red Indians…

However, a group of rustlers led by Asa Watts (Bruce Dern), the man with the long hair, came looking for work… But they were lying … They were after Andersen's 1,500 head of cattle…

One day, Andersen knew that Watts and his gang have been paralleling him for the herd… He also knew as soon as it's dark they'll be coming in… He doesn't know how rough they'll get… But right now they think they're one man and a bunch of kids…

When Jedediah falls behind with a broken wheel on the chuck wagon, Asa makes his move for the herd, engaging Wil in vicious fight…

There is a funny scene when two of the children meet on the trail a traveling bordello madam led by Colleen Dewhurst… And a touching scene where all the boys steal a whiskey bottle and have a little party, discussing the various attributes of their cooker, and his pretty independent character…

Filled with exciting adventure, gentle amusement, visually stunning photography, but most importantly how to want to see these children growing up so quickly, "The Cowboys" stands simply as one of John Wayne's best Westerns…