Wuchak Released in 1972 and directed by Mark Rydell, "The Cowboys" stars John Wayne as an aging rancher who is forced to hire pubescent drovers for a 400-mile cattle drive from Bozeman, Montana, to Belle Fourche, South Dakota, after his ranch hands abandon him for a gold rush. Roscoe Lee Browne plays the wise black cook while Slim Pickens & Colleen Dewhurst have small roles. This is a realistic, almost epic Wayne Western focusing on the long cattle drive and the amateur boys learning to be men. It lacks the fun brawling and unrealistic elements of John's contemporary Westerns of the 60s-70s (e.g. the quick-draw nonsense in "El Dorado"). A Martinez stands out as the outcast Hispanic amongst the kids while Bruce Dern is notable as a menacing ne'er-do-well. The almost shocking confrontation that opens the final act is a highlight and the boys' just strategy is great: KILL 'EM ALL. The film runs 134 minutes and was shot in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Warner Brothers Burbank Studios, California. The screenplay was based on William Dale Jennings's novel. GRADE: A-

zkonedog Most of the time, a movie needs a really solid plot to truly be great. "The Cowboys" is an exception to this rule, however, as the acting of John Wayne, Bruce Dern, and the adolescent cast make this gritty Western stand the test of time.For a basic plot summary, "The Cowboys" sees rancher Wil Andersen (Wayne) deserted by his ranch hands just days before a big scheduled cattle drive. In a bind, Andersen takes on a group of schoolboys to help him bring in the herd. Along the way, key roles also include a Mexican "mistake of nature" teenager named Cimarron (A Martinez), a Negro cook (Roscoe Lee Browne), and a slimy ex-con "Long Hair" (Dern) determined to get the best of Andersen and his rather motley crew.As I mentioned, this film is a bit short on plot in terms of believability. It isn't "gritty" in the sense of portraying stark reality.However, director Mark Rydell more than makes up for this hole by conjuring up some of The Duke's greatest emotive scenes ever caught on camera. The chemistry between Wayne and Dern is unmatched in the history of Duke movies, while his changing relationship with the boys is quite an emotional journey for the viewer.Yet, at the same time, this isn't a purely "dark" movie by any means. It contains quite a bit of humor and levity which perfectly balances out those scenes that are so poignant and utterly humorless.Overall, I can confidently put "The Cowboys" in my list of top Westerns. It has terrific acting, a good mix of camaraderie/emotion, plays on many themes such as boys becoming men, how to deal with evil in its basest form, and the kind of life being a cattle rancher/driver was all about.

utgard14 John Wayne plays a rancher in desperate need of cowboys for a cattle drive after his men quit to try their luck at mining gold. So he's forced to take on a group of schoolboys and teach them the ways of the cowboy. An enjoyable western with a good cast. Duke's terrific and has fine support from Roscoe Lee Browne, Slim Pickens, and Colleen Dewhurst. The younger actors playing the cowboys of the title are all pretty good. Robert Carradine makes his film debut here. Bruce Dern is a particularly nasty villain. Nice music and solid script. It's a little longer than it needs to be but I don't think it wears out its welcome. It's got humor, drama, and action. Not his best but one of the better movies Duke made in the '70s.

Robert J. Maxwell Judging from the title alone -- in its full splendor it's "Jonn Wayne and the Cowboys" -- it sounds like just another one of those routine and mind-numbing attempts to cash in on Wayne's heroic image in the setting of the Old West. He ground out lots of these Sonicburgers in the 70s.In most ways, that's what it is. Wayne must drive his herd of cattle through Montana. The local cowpokes have caught gold fever and left, so Wayne must hire a dozen little boys, the oldest of them being fifteen. The only other adult is the cook Roscoe Lee Brown, who serves as Wayne's conscience.Wayne is a tough taskmaster. When one of the boys dozes in the saddle, Wayne doesn't just wake him up. He pushes him roughly off his horse. ("I pay a day's wages, I expect a day's work.") There are thinly disguised clichés in the script. One boy can't speak without stuttering until Wayne taunts him and insults him and the kid says, "You SOB!", without a stutter, forever cured. (Usually they throw away their crutches.) Supporting players have names like Jeb, Slim, Weedy, and Matt.Wayne attempts nothing new, as he had in, say, "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon," "The Searchers", and "True Grit." He coasts along on his honorable John Wayneness. His wardrobe is the same as in the other efforts of this late period -- leather vest, high neckerchief, the usual hat -- although this time the color of the shirts under the vest is subdued.But there are a couple of surprises. For one thing, he's finally given a plain-looking wife his own age. He's allowed to curse the aging process seriously. A fight with the no-goodnik Bruce Dern is particularly brutal. Instead of a simple clip on the jaw, Wayne must beat hell out of Dern to keep him down, and he takes many bruises in the process. And I can think of some movies in which Wayne is killed in combat or dies some heroic death. Here he gets shot in all his limbs before the mortal wound and it takes him quite a while to die.And, although the ending provides the catharsis that the audience needs, I can't help wondering if it's a good idea to show that one of the lessons the kids learn is that all the bad guys should be slaughtered in the most painful way, whether they're armed or not.By this time, Wayne must have had a lot of control over his material. I'm surprised that he allowed his character to be killed off so viciously. I'm also a little surprised that he repeats, multiple times, the metaphor, "We're burning daylight." It's from Shakespeare, who used it more than once. That should have carried a neon sign -- "Unclean" -- right there. That's not even to mention the pretty tune by Vivaldi played on a guitar.