Cowboy

I think that this is one of Glenn Ford's best performances. He plays against type cast as a tough rancher with not much heart. Jack Lemmon provides the heart for the film. The film is realistic in it's portrayal of western life in the ninteenth century and is based on the Writer Frank Harris's real story. Frank Harris was a hotel clerk who wanted to be a cowboy so bad that he gave his own money to buy a piece of the stock from Glen Ford's ranch with the condition that he could ride the trail. Glen Ford loses his money gambling and has to take Harris(Lemmon's) deal in order to buy more cattle. Along the trail Lemmon finds the work hard and the men that he associates with harder. Harris becomes tough but learns a lesson and in the end teaches something to Glen Ford along the way. The only problem with the dvd version is that it is in pan and scan format and it should be in wide screen as this is an epic western that needs the wide screen. I recommend that the viewer who really wants to see this in widescreen request it on turner classic movies as that is the only place where you can see it that way. Enjoy this movie any way you can see it however. It is like a good novel.

Circumstances force a tough trail boss (Ford) to take on a former hotel bellboy (Lemmon) as his partner in a trail drive, on condition that Lemmon can go along on the drive. Along the way he finds out that a cowboy's life isn't as glamorous or romantic as he thought it would be, and a whole lot more dangerous besides. This is a vastly entertaining film, mainly because Lemmon and Ford work so well together. Lemmon knew exactly how far to go in showing boyish enthusiasm and excitement without making it seem childish or juvenile, and he stays right on that fine line here. Ford's character is a weary cattleman who's seen and done it all, and knows what Lemmon is in for, tries to tell him and gets annoyed when he won't listen, and the two complement each other perfectly. A top-notch supporting cast helps things immensely, and Delmer Daves' directs smoothly, interspersing drama and humor in just the right amounts. A very, very enjoyable film.

As one of the other reviewers pointed out, this whole film is based on a few lines of an autobiography where the protagonist Frank Harris joins a group of cattle RUSTLERS for a spell. So in fact that as tough as Glenn Ford and his crew are, at least they're on the right side of the law.

Also Frank Harris is probably best known for the first definitive life of Oscar Wilde. And Harris like Wilde was born in Ireland. Might have been nice if Jack Lemmon had played him with a brogue.

Another reviewer pointed out that Jack Lemmon did not fit into the western film. True enough, but in fact this is the story of a tenderfoot who goes on a cattle drive and has quite the adventure.

Still and all Cowboy is a pretty good realistic western about life on a cattle drive. These drovers aren't any kind of heroic, but they do the job that has to be done. Jack Lemmon's ideas about cowboys are taken from the dime novels of the period. He gets rid of his romantic notions, but fast.

Among the supporting cast Brian Donlevy comes off best as the world weary former town marshal who joins the drive to get away from his job and meets a tragic end.

Cowboy came out in 1958 which was the height of Glenn Ford's career. Ford did some of the best westerns of the 1950s and Cowboy ranks right up there.

Cowboy is directed by Delmer Daves and adapted to screenplay by Edmund H. North and Dalton Trumbo from Frank Harris' book My Reminiscences as a Cowboy. It stars Glenn Ford, Jack Lemmon, Víctor Manuel Mendoza, Anna Kashfi, Dick York, King Donovan, Brian Donlevy and Richard Jaeckel. Music is by George Duning and cinematography by Charles Lawton Junior.

Based on Frank Harris' memoir, the story finds Lemmon as Harris, a Chicago hotel clerk who in an attempt to prove he is a man and impress the girl he loves, wrangles his way onto a cattle drive being led by rough and tough cowpoke Tom Reece (Ford). He soon finds that out there on the range, in amongst the dust, beef and perils of the west, that life is far from glamorous.

Once you buy into Lemmon as a Western character, accepting his transference from utter greenhorn into a man of the drive, it really becomes a very good film. It's a sort of debunking of the cowpoke myths whilst playing out as a character study of two men, who are polar opposites, as they build an understanding and ultimately help each other to grow and learn. Along the way, from Chicago to the Rio Grande, there is fights, death, stampedes and tests of loyalties and manhood. The great Delmer Daves directs it without fuss or filler (how nice that the romantic arc is rightly a side issue and doesn't get in the way) and Lawton's photography brings the sprawling landscapes to life.

Lead cast members are excellent, with Ford once again providing rich characterisation by way of layered acting, and Lemmon rises up to the challenge of genre work outside of what he would be known for. In support Donlevy is his usual excellent self, making what could have been a clichéd character (aging gunfighter wants to leave his past behind) interesting with emotional depth, and Mendoza as the Ramrod is good foil for Ford. There's some quibbles, such as Dick York hard to take seriously, Jaeckel and Strother Martin (uncredited) wasted and some of the humour doesn't come off. But this is a very enjoyable film, one that thrives on having some character depth and actually something worthy to say. 7.5/10

An unusual change-of-pace for Jack Lemmon, excellent as always portraying a hotel clerk in Chicago who invests $3800 in a struggling cattleman's next herd; he hits the trail with the cowboys as a partner and tenderfoot, though rough-hewn cattle-boss Glenn Ford has his doubts. Frank Harris' autobiographical book "My Reminiscences as a Cowboy" becomes a forthright dramatic film about responsibility and endurance, with Lemmon going through the rigors of boot camp--with cowboy boots. Ford works surprisingly well with Lemmon, and when these two--at odds from the start--stare each other down under the cloudy open skies, the tension in their familiarity seems arrived at honestly. Delmer Daves directed, with little sentiment, and the supporting cast of salty old pros is solid. Refreshing for the genre, and exceptionally well-made. *** from ****