This is absolutely one of the best of the best. John Wayne plays Wil Anderson, a rancher forced to use young boys to get his herd to market when his men desert him in search of gold. There are many wonderful messages in this film about duty, honor, and responsibility. They are messages our nation and our young people are in great need of right now. This movie contains many memorable and haunting scenes, but none more so then when Wayne is forced into a confrontation with Bruce Dern to protect the young boys he has on the cattle drive. He gives his life, and teaches them the meaning of strength, honor, and courage. I could not disagree more with Leonard Maltin's review the message is not to seek violent revenge; the boys simply "finish the job" they were hired to do and take the money from the sale of the herd back to Wil Anderson's wife. This film captures the greatness of Wayne's legacy, and why he is so adored by millions of Americans who hold duty and courage dear. If I had to recommend only one John Wayne film to someone who had never seen one, this would be it. Truly unforgettable!
From 1971,THE COWBOYS finds our guy,The Duke, as an aging rancher who must hire 11 young boys to help him on a 400 mile cattle drive. He's tough and gruff, but really has a way with the kids,(only The Duke can cure a boy's stuttering in less than 2 minutes!), and soon finds himself acting as both trail boss and father to the group. The drive is rough for all and has the added suspense of some bad hombres led by Bruce Dern who are out to rustle The Duke's cattle.
Wayne, who by this time, just awed us with his on screen presence, turns in a touching performance and if it was up to me, would have recieved an Oscar for this role. Dern is the baddest of the bad as he goes after our hero. The film is not short on talent, Directed by Mark Rydell, it includes Roscoe Lee Brown, a young A. Martinez, and a small but meaty part for the wonderful Colleen Dewhurst. A nice widescreen presentation, the picture and color were good but seemed just a little dated to me.The sound remastered in DD 5.1 is fabulous. There's a great documentary included. The Breaking of Boys and The Making Of Men, talks about how the boys were selected, and how they trained for their parts. There are 13 (count em ..13) trailers of Wayne films from the 30's through the 70's, informative production notes, and has languages and subtitles in English and French.
Collector's of Wayne may find it more economical to purchase the John Wayne Collection set. Included with this fabulous film are two greats directed by John Ford, THE SEARCHERS, and STAGECOACH. Spanning 30 years of his career, it's a wonderful selection.
Saddle up and enjoy the ride...
Happy Trails.....Laurie
Oldies but Goodies with The Duke:
Shadow of the Eagle
His Private Secretary
John WayneAn aging Wil Andersen (John Wayne) takes a bunch of near-adolescent boys on a last summer cattle drive and along the way they become his boys and he becomes their "father" (or perhaps grandfather). It is vintage John Wayne, as he plys the young boys into young men of courage and responsibility. Wayne had lost both of his natural sons to reasons never fully explained, and he muses whether "they went bad on him or if he went bad on them". The cattle drive is his chance to redeem himself as a father figure.
The group of cowboys is a humorous gathering of personalities. One chuckles seeing them learn the ropes of breaking horses and roping steers. The boys see this as a chance to earn some much needed money, and of course to "come of age", turning from boys into young men.
Wayne's cattle group is confronted by cattle theives led by the the evil intentioned Asa Watts (played brilliantly by Bruce Dern). The climax of the movie is when Wayne confronts Dern in a mano-a-mano fist fight. Dern's character is a slimy long-haired flea-infested sleeze, and when they face off for their battle, Wayne says as only Wayne can say: "I've broke my back once, and my hip twice. And on my worst day I could still beat the hell out of you." It is a spirited battle and it appears as though Wayne will best the much younger Dern, but Dern, sensing defeat, pulls a gun and shoots Wayne, emptying his gun one slow shot at a time, shooting Wayne as he has his back turned. It is a tortuous moment for Wayne fans, as the hero dies a slow horrible death, and it appears as though evil will triumph. But quite unexpectedly, the boys turn the tables on the outlaws and wrest back the heard, finally killing the hated Dern.
The musical score is magnificent, and I recommend it as purchase in and of itself. The main score is music that defines the western music motif.
This is one of Wayne's better movies. People of all ages will enjoy it, but the killing scene of Wayne is quite graphic and may scare younger viewers. I'd recommend that parents keep their littlest ones from viewing the violent scene between Wayne and Dern. Many a boy became a John Wayne fan in watching this movie.
Jim "Konedog" Koenig, Lifelong John Wayne fan.
Read Best Reviews of The Cowboys (2007) Here
These comments will appear under my wife's name, but it's just because I don't know how to correct it, so my name appears. I had to comment on one reviewer who doubted the reality of the fact that boys function in this Western like they did. I grew up on a very large farm/ranch in the West. My father taught me how to shoot a .22 pistol when I was in the to protect the family from snakes that slithered and those who wandered in from the Interstate looking for trouble. I never had to use it. Part of the lesson was never touching it unless there was a life-threatening emergency. My dad also taught me now to ride a horse when I was very young, and by the time I was in the herding cattle was not a problem. I replaced a hired hand on the ranch when I was in the And my father assumed those roles at an earlier age. His father, as an eighth grader, went to Denver alone on a train with a load of the family's sheep. My grandfather sold them and returned home without a problem. He did what my great grandfather expected of him. So what do I think of one reviewer's doubts about boys functioning like they do in the film? The answer to that question is obvious. This film is fantastic. And according to my own experience and family stories about myself, my father, my grandfather and his brothers, the film's message that cowboys began their work at an early age makes sense. During this time, boys learned responsibility at an early time in their lives. For those who know anything about history, think about the young soldiers who fought and unfortunately died in the Civil War. Just because our present mind set views things differently, doesn't mean that the past held the same stereotypes to be true. This film is a classic, because it shows boys becoming men as they faced a difficult taskmaster, hard work, large responsibilities and adult decisions.Want The Cowboys (2007) Discount?
No, this movie does not contain the distilled wisdom of the ages, but those who compare the movie against the accepted child-rearing practices of the present day are letting their post-modern self-righteousness flare to the point where they may need to take a "time out." It is unlikely that 12-year-olds would participate in a cattle drive, granted, but it was entirely acceptable for 16or 17-year-olds to "do a man's work and make a man's wage" in those days. It was also a time when John Wayne's widow could not have filed an insurance claim for the stolen herd, or applied for Federal disaster relief, and the movie makes it clear that this herd represented the difference between a reasonable retirement and "working out her days as someone's fry cook." Justice was often swift and harsh in the Old West because real people suffered real consequences from the effects of crime. Therefore it was NOT a sense of vengence, as one reviewer asserts, that drove the later scenes, it was a sense of justice. And while the ages of the "cowboys" in the film are a little too young, the film accurately reflects what used to be "coming of age" in frontier America: A boy became a man when he accepted a man's responsibilities and did a man's work.Save 47% Off
No comments:
Post a Comment