Review of The Cowboys (1972) by Shane V — 24 Dec 2009

Taking a look at my VHS library with today's review of "The Cowboys.".

Aging cattleman Wil Anderson is faced with a problem. Winter is coming and he needs to get his herd of beef to the market to avoid economic disaster. But all of his hands have left to scavenge at a new gold strike. Feeling quite out of options, Wil is forced to hire the only people he can: the local schoolboys. Along with his hired chef, Jebediah Nightlinger, Wil must turn these boys into cowboys to make it the long trip across the plains. A typical western, somewhat. John Wayne does what he does best and applies it to the stubborn old character of Wil Anderson excellently. It creates a good atmosphere, almost like a senior high for the old west. We see how the boys are forced to mature, and how Wil & Nightlinger are forced to deal with them and eventually almost love them. Just an "okay" for tension in this one. As many westerns do, there is a lack of mood music, forcing the scene to have an atmosphere composed solely by the actors and dialogue. I think the ending is a bold look at how young boys make that final, quite drastic leap from boys to men, when they are forced to *SPOILER* bury their own cattle master. *UN-SPOILER* This can be comparable to a serious version of City Slickers, with the greenhorns being children, rather than city boys, and the lack of a woman. This one shoots from the p.o.v. of the cattle master for the first half, and then from the trainees. Not the best of anything, not even really the par of anything either. Just an okay flick, but just too long to be enjoyed on a free afternoon. Aside from a few good performances from the adults, especially Bruce Dern as the villain, and a few very western-ish quotes, this isn't really required watching at all. If you have to even bring this one up, then go ahead and watch it. I must give "The Cowboys" 6 bail-off sequences out of 10.

"Slap some bacon on a biscuit and let's go! We're burnin' daylight!" -Wil Anderson.

"I'm thirty years older than you are. I had my back broke once and my hip twice. And on my worst day I could beat the hell outta you." -Wil Anderson.

"Well, it's not how you're buried; it's how you're remembered." -Wil Anderson.

"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, and my Sunday sloth. Above all, forgive me for the men I've killed in anger... and those I am about to.".

- Jebediah Nightlinger.