# The Cowboys

The Cowboys is a 1972 American Western film starring John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Bruce Dern, and featuring Colleen Dewhurst and Slim Pickens. It was the feature film debut of Robert Carradine. Based on the 1971 novel of the same name by William Dale Jennings, the screenplay was written by Irving Ravetch, Harriet Frank Jr., and Jennings and was directed by Mark Rydell.

## Plot

In 1878 Montana, aging rancher Wil Andersen needs replacement drovers for a 400-mile (640 km) cattle drive after his ranch hands depart for the gold rush. Anderson rides to Bozeman to hire more hands, but most men there have also left. Anderson's friend Anse Peterson suggests hiring local schoolboys, though Andersen is skeptical they could handle the job.
The next morning, the boys arrive at Andersen's ranch to volunteer for the drive. Andersen then assesses their horseback riding ability. The oldest boy, Cimarron, gets into a fight with Slim, the next-oldest. Andersen hires the boys, though he fires Cimarron after he pulls a knife on Slim during another fight.
Andersen locks up the boys' guns in a box to be kept on the chuck wagon during the drive. While the boys practice roping, branding, and herding livestock, a suspicious band of men arrive asking for work. Andersen catches their leader, Asa Watts, in a lie and declines to hire them.
When Jebediah Nightlinger, a black cook, arrives, Andersen's crew is complete. Once on the trail, Andersen notices Cimarron is following the herd. When Slim slips off his horse while crossing a river, Cimarron saves him from drowning. Andersen lets Cimarron join the drive.
Slowly, the boys become good cowhands, impressing Andersen and Nightlinger. When Dan, who wears glasses, is chasing a stray horse, he stumbles upon Watts and his gang, who are cattle rustlers. Watts reveals they have been trailing the herd. Watts releases Dan but threatens to slit the boy's throat if he says anything to Andersen.
Dan returns to the group, though is too terrified to keep watch by himself. Charlie Schwartz agrees to accompany him. When Dan drops his glasses into the ravine where the cattle are resting, Charlie succeeds in retrieving them but is trampled by the herd. The boys hold a funeral for him before resuming the trek.
When the chuck wagon throws a wheel, Nightlinger and Homer remain behind to make repairs while the crew moves on. Watts and his gang appear and openly parallel the herd. Andersen sends Weedy to tell Nightlinger to rejoin them as quickly as possible. When the rustlers approach, Anderson tells the boys to act timid. Dan tells Andersen he knew Watts was following them but was too scared to tell; Andersen comforts him.
Watts and his men surround the camp. They deliver a battered Weedy and Watts forces Andersen to surrender his gun. Andersen intervenes when Watts taunts Dan and crushes his glasses. A fistfight ensues between Andersen and Watts, with Andersen prevailing. As he walks away, Watts shoots Anderson, mortally wounding him. The boys remain passive as instructed as the rustlers steal the herd.
In the morning, Nightlinger and Homer reach the group and find the boys tending Andersen, who is near death. Andersen instructs Nightlinger to take the boys home and in his final moments says how proud he is of the boys.
After burying Andersen, the boys seize the firearms stored in the chuck wagon, intending to avenge Andersen's death. When they catch up to the rustlers, Nightlinger helps to form a plan. The boys silently kill three outlaws. Nightlinger draws out Watts and the remaining gang into an ambush. Riding in among stampeding horses, the boys kill everyone except Watts, who is pinned under a horse with a broken leg and his foot entangled in a rope. Dan cuts the reins so the horse can get up. Cimarron spooks it, and Watts is dragged to death.
Once the drive reaches Belle Fourche, South Dakota, the boys sell the cattle and hire a stonemason to carve a gravestone with Andersen's name and the inscription, "Beloved Husband and Father", honoring Anderson's paternal role in their lives. The marker is placed in the approximate location of Anderson's grave. The boys head home, accompanied by Nightlinger.

## Cast

* John Wayne as Wil Andersen
* Roscoe Lee Browne as Jebediah Nightlinger, the cook
* Bruce Dern as Asa Watts, aka Long Hair
* Colleen Dewhurst as Kate Collingwood, a traveling madam
* The Cowboys
** Alfred Barker Jr. as Clyde "Fats" Potter
** Nicolas Beauvy as Dan
** Steve Benedict as Steve
** Robert Carradine as Slim Honeycutt
** Norman Howell Jr. as Weedy
** Stephen Hudis as Charlie Schwartz
** Sean Kelly as "Stuttering" Bob Wilson
** A Martinez as Cimarron
** Clay O'Brien as Hardy Fimps
** Sam O'Brien as Jimmy Phillips
** Mike Pyeatt as Homer Weems
* Slim Pickens as Anse Peterson, Wil Andersen's friend
* Lonny Chapman as Homer's Father
* Charles Tyner as Stonemason
* Sarah Cunningham as Annie Andersen, Wil's wife
* Allyn Ann McLerie as Ellen Price, a teacher
* Maggie Costain as Phoebe, a prostitute
* Matt Clark as Smiley, a ranch hand
* Jerry Gatlin as Howdy, a ranch hand
* Walter Scott as Okay, a ranch hand
* Dick Farnsworth as Henry Williams
* Wallace Brooks as Red Tucker
* Charise Cullin as Elizabeth
* Colette Poeppel as Rosemary
* Norman Howell as Jim's Father
* Rita Hudis as Charlie's Mother
* Margaret Kelly as Bob's Mother
* Larry Randles as Ben
* Larry Finley as Jake
* Jim Burk as Pete
* Rustlers
** Fred Brookfield
** Tap Canutt
** Chuck Courtney
** Gary Epper
** Tony Epper
** Kent Hays
** Glenn Randall Jr. (credited as J.R. Randall)
** Henry Wills
** Joe Yrigoyen

## Production

Robert Carradine made his feature film debut in the film, as did fellow child actor Stephen Hudis. The production was filmed at various locations in New Mexico and Colorado, as well as at Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank, California.

## Reception

The Cowboys was a box office hit but with somewhat mixed reviews from critics of the day. As for recent reviews, on Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 80% based on reviews from 15 critics, with an average score of 7.00/10, while on Metacritic it has a score of 52/100 based on reviews from seven critics. The film received praise for its musical score, the original plot, and John Wayne's performance, but several critics debated the film's implication that boys become men or confirm their manhood through acts of violence and vengeance; Jay Cocks of TIME and Pauline Kael of The New Yorker were especially critical of this aspect of the film.
Writing about The Cowboys, film historian Emanuel Levy noted that Wayne frequently appeared in father-like roles throughout his career:
   Aware of his repetitive screen roles as a paternal figure, [Wayne] said the movie was based on a formula that worked in Goodbye Mr. Chips and Sands of Iwo Jima. In all three films, an adult takes a group of youngsters and initiates them into manhood by instructing them the "right" skills and values. Wayne did not hesitate to appear in The Cowboys, despite the fact that "no actor in his right mind, would try to match the antics of eleven kids on screen," but for him it became "the greatest experience of my life."
The film won the Bronze Wrangler Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture at the Western Heritage Awards.

## Television adaptation

In 1974, Warner Bros. developed The Cowboys as a television series for ABC starring Jim Davis, Diana Douglas, and Moses Gunn. David Dortort, best known for Bonanza, The High Chaparral, and The Restless Gun, produced the series. A Martinez, Robert Carradine, Sean Kelly, and Clay O'Brien were all in both the film and the television series, though only Martinez and Carradine played the same character in each project. At the last moment, ABC decided to reduce the show's runtime from one hour to thirty minutes, which, given the show's large cast, made it difficult to tell stories effectively. Only 13 episodes were filmed before the series was cancelled.