The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)

Young farmboy who always wanted to be a cowhand talks a tough trail boss into hiring him on a cattle drive.

Director:

Dick Richards

Writers:

Dick Richards (story), Eric Bercovici (screenplay)

Stars:

Gary Grimes, Billy Green Bush, Luke Askew

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gary Grimes	...	Ben Mockridge
Billy Green Bush	...	Frank Culpepper (as Billy 'Green' Bush)
Luke Askew	...	Luke
Bo Hopkins	...	Dixie Brick
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Russ
Wayne Sutherlin	...	Missoula
John McLiam	...	Thorton Pierce
Matt Clark	...	Pete
Raymond Guth	...	Cook
Anthony James	...	Nathaniel
Charles Martin Smith	...	Tim Slater (as Charlie Martin Smith)
Larry Finley	...	Mr. Slater
Bob Morgan	...	Old John
Jan Burrell	...	Mrs. Mockridge
Hal Needham	...	Burgess

Storyline

Teenager Ben Mockridge feels life in a Wild West farm town has nothing better to offer than horse-cart racing with other hicks, so he naively begs cattle company owner Frank Culpepper to engage him as the youngest cowboy for a long cattle trail to a fort. His mother barely notices. Ben doesn't even seem to get it when he's told to report as 'little Mary' to the old cook, whose words, "Cowboy is something you do only if you have nothing better." gradually become clear. Instead of an exciting heroic macho life, it's endless hard work, dumb chores and embarrassment, even getting literally caught with his pants down, robbed of his horse, and witnessing unpunished crimes...

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Plot Keywords:

coming of age | new mexico territory | cow | minister | crying | 

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Taglines:

The boy from "Summer of 42" becomes a man on the cattle drive of 1866.

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

9 July 1972 (UK)

Also Known As:

We Pointed 'Em North

Filming Locations:

Sonoita, Arizona, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The pistol Ben (Gary Grimes) shows off to Tim (Charles Martin Smith) at the beginning of the movie and later kills his first man with during the saloon shootout, is a model 1858 Remington Army.

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Goofs

Soon after the drive begins, Ben is telling the cook why he wants to be a cowboy. The camera is in the wagon, behind them, and the sun is about to set behind a mountain. The cook says "Kid, cowboying is something you do when you can't do nothing else." Immediately thereafter, there is a camera change to a shot showing the wagon approaching the same mountain, but the sun is much higher in the sky. Maybe an hour before sunset.

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Quotes

Ben Mockridge: How come they keep calling me 'Little Mary'?
Cook, Culpepper Outfit: That's your name, kid. What's the matter? Don't you like it?
Ben Mockridge: No, I don't. It's a girl's name.
Cook, Culpepper Outfit: Well, that's what they call the cook's helper... Little Mary. Christ, I wish you was a girl.

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Connections

Referenced in Lovelace (2013)

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Soundtracks

Amazing Grace
(uncredited)
Traditional
Lyrics by John Newton

User Reviews

A western classic!!!!

This is easily one of the best westerns made. So overlooked and no real good reason why. It was so well done and the cast is some of the best western actors you can get!!!! Everybody connected with the making of this film did an outstanding job and Billy Green Bush was the stand out performance as the trail boss. The realism was unmistakeable! A very well done film and highly reccomended to all. This film MUST be released onto DVD soon!