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IMDbPro

The Cowboys

  • 19721972
  • GPGP
  • 2h 14m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
15K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,849
59
The Cowboys (1972)
Home Video Trailer from Warner Bros. Pictures
Play trailer3:08
1 Video
94 Photos
AdventureDramaWestern
Rancher Wil Andersen is forced to hire inexperienced boys as cowhands in order to get his herd to market on time but the rough drive is full of dangers and a gang of cattle rustlers is trail... Read allRancher Wil Andersen is forced to hire inexperienced boys as cowhands in order to get his herd to market on time but the rough drive is full of dangers and a gang of cattle rustlers is trailing them.Rancher Wil Andersen is forced to hire inexperienced boys as cowhands in order to get his herd to market on time but the rough drive is full of dangers and a gang of cattle rustlers is trailing them.
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
15K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,849
59
    • Mark Rydell
    • William Dale Jennings(novel)
    • Irving Ravetch(screenplay)
    • Harriet Frank Jr.(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • John Wayne
    • Roscoe Lee Browne
    • Bruce Dern
    • Mark Rydell
    • William Dale Jennings(novel)
    • Irving Ravetch(screenplay)
    • Harriet Frank Jr.(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • John Wayne
    • Roscoe Lee Browne
    • Bruce Dern
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 108User reviews
    • 52Critic reviews
    • 52Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos1

    The Cowboys
    Trailer 3:08
    Watch The Cowboys

    Photos94

    Robert Carradine, Roscoe Lee Browne, Alfred Barker Jr., Sean Kelly, and A Martinez in The Cowboys (1972)
    John Wayne, Robert Carradine, Roscoe Lee Browne, Alfred Barker Jr., Nicolas Beauvy, Steve Benedict, Norman Howell, Sean Kelly, A Martinez, Clay O'Brien, Sam O'Brien, and Mike Pyeatt in The Cowboys (1972)
    John Wayne in The Cowboys (1972)
    John Wayne in The Cowboys (1972)
    John Wayne in The Cowboys (1972)
    John Wayne in The Cowboys (1972)
    John Wayne, Robert Carradine, Alfred Barker Jr., Nicolas Beauvy, Steve Benedict, Sarah Cunningham, Norman Howell, Stephen R. Hudis, Sean Kelly, Clay O'Brien, Sam O'Brien, and Mike Pyeatt in The Cowboys (1972)
    John Wayne, Robert Carradine, Alfred Barker Jr., Nicolas Beauvy, Steve Benedict, Norman Howell, Sean Kelly, A Martinez, Clay O'Brien, Sam O'Brien, and Mike Pyeatt in The Cowboys (1972)
    John Wayne and Sean Kelly in The Cowboys (1972)
    "The Cowboys," Warner Bros. 1972.
    "The Cowboys," Warner Bros. 1971.
    "The Cowboys," Warner Bros. 1971.

    Top cast

    Edit
    John Wayne
    John Wayne
    • Wil Andersen
    Roscoe Lee Browne
    Roscoe Lee Browne
    • Jebediah Nightlinger
    Bruce Dern
    Bruce Dern
    • Long Hair…
    Colleen Dewhurst
    Colleen Dewhurst
    • Kate
    Alfred Barker Jr.
    Alfred Barker Jr.
    • Fats - Cowboy
    Nicolas Beauvy
    Nicolas Beauvy
    • Dan - Cowboy
    Steve Benedict
    • Steve - Cowboy
    Robert Carradine
    Robert Carradine
    • Slim Honeycutt - Cowboy
    Norman Howell
    Norman Howell
    • Weedy - Cowboy
    • (as Norman Howell Jr.)
    Stephen R. Hudis
    Stephen R. Hudis
    • Charlie Schwartz - Cowboy
    • (as Stephen Hudis)
    Sean Kelly
    • Stuttering Bob - Cowboy
    A Martinez
    A Martinez
    • Cimarron - Cowboy
    Clay O'Brien
    Clay O'Brien
    • Hardy Fimps - Cowboy
    Sam O'Brien
    • Jimmy Phillips - Cowboy
    Mike Pyeatt
    • Homer Weems - Cowboy
    Slim Pickens
    Slim Pickens
    • Anse Peterson
    Lonny Chapman
    Lonny Chapman
    • Homer's Father
    Charles Tyner
    Charles Tyner
    • Stonemason
      • Mark Rydell
      • William Dale Jennings(novel) (screenplay)
      • Irving Ravetch(screenplay)
      • Harriet Frank Jr.(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Roscoe Lee Browne was urged by his friends not to work with the right-wing John Wayne. He ignored them and the two actors refrained from discussing politics during filming.
    • Goofs
      When Andersen sends one of the boys back to find Mr. Nightlinger, he is riding a pale Appaloosa. He rides ahead to talk to another boy, but is now riding a red sorrel.
    • Quotes

      Jebediah Nightlinger: [praying to God before he's about to hanged by Long Hair and his gang] I regret trifling with married women. I'm thoroughly ashamed at cheating at cards. I deplore my occasional departures from the truth. Forgive me for taking your name in vain, my Saturday drunkenness, my Sunday sloth. Above all, forgive me for the men I've killed in anger

      [eyes shifting to Long Hair]

      Jebediah Nightlinger: ... and those I am about to.

    • Alternate versions
      When the film was originally released in the UK it carried a 'AA' rating, preventing an under-14 year old audience from seeing the movie. When the distributors asked the UK censor if this could be changed he suggested removing the scene with the wagon full of prostitutes, thus deleting Colleen Dewhurst's entire role in the film, and in doing so the film was re-certified with an 'A' rating (suitable for all). Additionally cuts were made to tone down some of the more violent scenes including the fight between Wil and Long Hair, the shooting of Wil, and a man being dragged by his horse. Later cinema showings and all video versions restored the Colleen Dewhurst scene but retained the violence cuts (totalling 1 min 30 secs). For the upgraded 12-rated 2005 DVD the film was passed fully uncut.
    • Connections
      Featured in The Breaking of Boys and the Making of Men in 'the Cowboys' (1972)
    • Soundtracks
      The Star Spangled Banner
      (uncredited)

      Music by John Stafford Smith

      Lyrics by Francis Scott Key

      Sung by school children

    User reviews108

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    The Brady Bunch Meets The Wild Bunch
    John Wayne led many a cattle drive, but there's something especially satisfying about this final turn on the trail, alongside ten young boys for what turns out to be a hardnosed yet winning salute to the Duke's legacy of manly comportment.

    "It's not how you're buried, it's how they remember you," Wayne's Wil Andersen tells one of his charges, the half-breed Cimarron (A Martinez), and "The Cowboys" is a two-hour rumination on that theme, of how Andersen, a man whose hard-bitten ways cost him two sons, finds a sort of redemption with these boys who come to help him take his cattle 400 miles to Belle Fourche while the only menfolk are either off panning for gold or else aiming to get their fortune in seedier ways.

    John Wayne in his post-Oscar years didn't have much to prove, and many of his movies from that time play today as little more than agreeable trips to the well. "The Cowboys" is different. Picking up on the rougher theme of post-"Wild Bunch" westerns, it presents a modern sensibility where people swear and bleed profusely when shot or punched. Wayne might seem out of place, yet he finds the right balance here between his characteristic latter-day gruff humorousness and the sterner stuff we remember from his classic turns in "Red River" and "The Searchers".

    The key to Andersen are those dead sons he has buried out in his spread back home. "They went bad on me," is about all he can say on the matter. "Or I went bad on them. I can't figure it out." Seen through that prism, everything Andersen does with his young cowboys makes a lot of sense, right down to the famously grim finale with Bruce Dern, whose memorable "Long Hair" is one of the great Wayne-movie villains.

    But there's a lot of joy in "The Cowboys", too. Another scene early on, just as classic, has Andersen deciding to give the boys a lesson with a wild mare, Crazy Alice, only to get taught a lesson in turn by these surprisingly spry youngsters, who each manage to prove themselves to Wil's wry chagrin.

    "I hope I haven't ridden all the rough off her!" one offers as he hands back the reins.

    "You'll do," Wil replies, about all the affection he gives or they want.

    Then there's Jebediah Nightlinger, the cook and only other adult figure on the scene, who tries less hard than Wil to hide his enjoyment of the situation. Hard as it is to imagine "The Cowboys" without Wayne, it's harder to imagine it without Roscoe Lee Browne, whose every utterance has a quality of burnished bronze.

    Director Mark Rydell finds the right tempo and look for his film, aided by John Williams' stirring score and Robert Surtees' camera work. Every shot has the quality of a glossy Louis L'Amour cover, majestic pines and grassy hills stretching out into infinity.

    About the only thing keeping "The Cowboys" from classic status is an ending which, while satisfying, comes off very pat on reflection. Despite the long time we spend with them, many of the Cowboys themselves lack for individuality, an exception being Robert Carradine, who plays Slim the de facto leader of the kids, and is the real-life son of Wayne's "Stagecoach" co-star John Carradine.

    "The Cowboys" wasn't Wayne's swansong, yet it's a stirring valedictory effort all the same, a chance to see an enduring screen legend at his late and glorious apex, showing a new generation, and generations yet unborn, a thing or two about getting it done.
    helpful•14
    1
    • slokes
    • Jan 29, 2008

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 13, 1972 (United States)
      • United States
      • English
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Castle Rock, Colorado, USA
    • Production company
      • Sanford Productions (III)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 2 hours 14 minutes

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