I cowboys

"The Cowboys" gives a solid performance by John Wayne, with excellent support from Roscoe Lee Browne and especially Bruce Dern.

John Wayne plays his role well as the aging rancher who needs to get his herd on the trail and has trouble finding help. He shows softer moments than is typical for him, and seems almost wistful at times.

The supporting cast of about a dozen boys who end up helping him do a pretty good job as well. When the film gets under way, the boys make you think you are in for a relatively smooth ride, but some of the later scenes get pretty intense.

Browne has the somewhat trite role of a wisdom-dispensing African-American, but he does have some good lines that he does well with. Whereas many films today might downplay the issue of his skin color, "The Cowboys" has fairly realistic reactions from a variety of people to a black man working in the West.

Bruce Dern comes off as one of the creepiest bad guys in a Western. In early scenes his (unnamed) character tries to pass himself off as smooth and sweet-talking, but eventually his true colors show, and he is downright scary. He has an especially frightening confrontation with one of the boys, and a wild-eyed showdown with John Wayne that really cements him as one of the worst bad guys ever played in a Western.

The story is pretty much by the book, with only one big surprise in a fight near the end. It also takes a little while to get going, but by the first scene with the boys in the corral, it hums along.

On the whole, a good Western with some excellent acting.

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

This movie, for all that it's a fairly straight forward, shoot-em-up western, has some unique points that make it extremely artful. The boys were well-cast (though A. Martinez seemed to struggle in a role that was not fully developed), and those difficult psychological moments which were so important to the book translated to the screen without too much trouble. As is always the case, the book is able to take more time to expand upon the characters more thoroughly; if the movie left you a bit dry, visit the library to find the rest of the story!

The reasons I watch this show repeatedly are two of my favorite fellows: Roscoe Lee Browne and John Williams. Roscoe Lee Browne is able to sell lines that simply wouldn't work coming from somebody else (his dialogue with Coleen Dewhurst is priceless), and he is the unique feature that makes this film work. He graciously shares the screen with his co-actors as necessary, but he easily walks off with the movie nonetheless. John Williams' fantastic score could stand alone; though it is occasionally a little too cheery for the moment (after all, this is a pretty gruesome film, if you really think about it), it covers all the bases of the movie. Youthful innocence, becoming men, sorrow, success -- it's all right there in the score. Don't expect Star Wars music; frequently understated, the music carries a supporting role. As both John Williams and Roscoe Lee Browne displayed here, it is often the supporting actors that make the show a success!

Wayne stars an upright cattle rancher , Wil Andersen ; when his cattle drivers abandon him for the gold fields , he is forced to hire 11 school boys (Sean Kelly , Clay O'Brien , A. Martínez , Robert Carradine film debut , among others) whose ages ranging from 9 to 17 to help him drive his cattle 400 miles to market . As the pre-teenaged boys in New Mexico Territory fight off grownup cattle rustlers under the tutelage of rancher Wil (John Wayne who strides the flick like a dinosaur) and his helper Jebediah Nightlinger (Roscoe Lee Browne) . As they are recruited to work for the cattle rancher , all they wanted was their chance to be men and he gave it to them . But they are pursued and finally attacked by a group of rustlers led by Long Hair (Bruce Dern). With Wil Andersen and ranch-hand Mr. Nightlinger as father figures , as they wet-nursing an entire crew of sub-teenagers on a cattle drive , as the boys learn to become men through hard work , discipline and the usual Western battles with robbers .

Nice and agreeable western with a great cast and a sensational John Wayne against his nemesis magnificently played by Bruce Dern in one of his meatiest roles as the villain . Top-notch Western packs clever plot , thrills , family feeling , slightly stylized action , shoot'em up , and turns out to be pretty entertaining ; in spite of the over-sentimentality inherent in this project produced/directed by Mark Rydell . Besides , it contains good feeling as friendship , faithfulness , companionship , and enjoyable father-adopted sons relationship . And the results make extremely amusing and thundering entertainment . Furthermore , an anti-racism subtext on Roscoe Lee Browne role was written into the script in response to ongoing criticism of John Wayne , it makes this one of Wayne's better Westerns . Wayne's image still remained impervious during the seventies surviving through an overlong career . Wayne unmistakeably a legendary figure of the West and by that time he would go playing good Westerns , as he triumphantly survived his own era with titles as ¨True grit¨ in which he won an Academy Award ,¨Big Jake¨, ¨Train robbers¨ , ¨Rooster Cogburn¨ , his last film ¨The Shootist¨, and ,of course , this ¨The cowboys ¨ . In some ways is a companion movie to posterior ¨Cahill , United States Marshal¨ also involved John with kiddies . The screenplay is plain and simple , with a conventional plot , but ultimately gets overcome . Gorgeous outdoors with decent production design , shot on location in Castle Rock , Durango Colorado , Chama , Galisteo , New Mexico , Sonoita , Elgin , Arizona , and Empire Ranch , Arizona . Colorful and spectacular cinematography in Panavision by Robert L. Surtees . Rousing and emotive musical score by John Williams in his ordinary style . And you'll love both the lightning unexpected finale and the performance of Roscoe Lee Browne as Wayne's friend and food supplier . It inspired the TV series with similar cast as Robert Carradine , A Martínez , Sean Kelly , Clay O'Brien and Moses Gunn as Jebediah Nightlinger .

This well-paced film was compellingly directed by Mark Rydell . Pic contains Rydell's usual themes as familiar feeling , a little bit of charming humor , friendship and and sense of comradeship among people . Mark does the human touch and full of insight that accompanied him during most of his films and the story develops pleasantly in large frames with an interesting plot and fully adjusted to the requirements of the action . Mark Rydell directed a lot of films as ¨Even Money , ¨Crime of the century¨ , ¨Intersection¨, ¨For the boys¨ , ¨Harry and Walter go to N.Y.¨, ¨Cinderella Liberty¨ and ¨The ¨Reivers¨, though his winning years were the 70s and 80s with successes as ¨The rose¨(79) , ¨On Golden pond¨ (81) , ¨The river¨(84) and this ¨The cowboys¨ .

THE COWBOYS is a terrific western with a twist--the "boys" are indeed boys, teen-aged lads fresh out of a country schoolhouse but able to serve as the cowboys JOHN WAYNE needs to drive a herd of cattle 400 miles away to market. Wayne seems to be in the same position he was facing in RED RIVER, wherein finding the right cowboys for the long cattle drive was the main focus of the story.

There's plenty of scenic splendor in vivid Technicolor, a rousing western score by John Williams, and the cast of youngsters all give solidly natural performances under Mark Rydell's direction.

Outstanding work by ROSCOE LEE BROWNE as the black cook on the chuck wagon who knows how to deal with a bunch of rambunctious boys, and with an instinct for knowing when not to trust them with mischief. He plays a key role in the story and he's terrific.

Plenty of other good character roles are filled by BRUCE DERN, as the principal villain whose sadistic scene with a young boy is enough to curl your hair, and COLLEEN DEWHURST as the wise madame on the road with her girls.

The story hooked me from the start, kept me interested all the way through and only veered into tougher territory during the last forty minutes or so with the brutal showdown between Wayne and Dern. And then it moved briskly, taking an unexpected twist toward the last fifteen minutes.

Summing up: An overlooked gem and one of JOHN WAYNE's best movies. He gives a performance of true grit--and so do the boys!!