The Cowboys (1972) on Netflix
GP19722h 14mAdventureDramaWestern
Rancher Wil Andersen has a herd to get to market and no hands to drive it, since his men left Montana for the gold fields. He hires the local schoolboys.
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- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb7.4/1017,643 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes75%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1878 Montana, aging rancher Wil Andersen must move a herd to market, but his hands have gone to the gold rush. Few men are left in Bozeman, so Anse Peterson, a friend of his, proposes the town's schoolboys. They come to the ranch to volunteer, and Andersen tests their riding. The eldest, Cimarron, fights Slim, the next eldest; Andersen takes the boys on but fires Cimarron after he pulls a knife. Their guns go into a locked box on the chuck wagon, and the boys practice roping, branding and herding. A band of men seeking work arouses his suspicion: their leader, Asa Watts, is caught in a lie and refused. Cook Jebediah Nightlinger arrives, completing the crew.
Cast
- Sean Kellyas Cowboy Stuttering Bob
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Cowboys (1972)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- John Wayne did not hesitate to appear in The Cowboys despite the fact that, as he put it, "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".
SPOILER
In a 2015 interview Bruce Dern said that for years he received hate mail because of the scene, and that Wayne had told him before the film's release, "When this picture comes out, and audiences see you kill me, they're going to hate you for this."- Robert Carradine made his feature film debut in The Cowboys, as did fellow child actor Stephen Hudis, so the production launched two screen careers at once.
- David Dortort, best known for Bonanza, produced a television version of The Cowboys, but at the last moment ABC cut the runtime from one hour to thirty minutes, which given the large cast made it difficult to tell stories effectively; only 13 episodes were filmed before cancellation.
- 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 young men and initiates them into manhood by instructing them the "right" skills and values.
