Customer Reviews

The Cowboys

5 star:		(119)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This collection is one of the best buys a John Wayne fan can make. Four classic John Wayne films for a low price and I was stunned by the great picture quality. The Cowboys is where this is most noticeable in my opinion but all the movies look greater than ever. Every movie on the discs comes with bonus features and extras too that are interesting to watch. I ordered this and got it two days after it shipped with standard shipping which was great and unexpected. I was a little worried with such a low price for the collection that something would be wrong somehow with the discs or there would be some catch but I can say in all honesty that you can trust this collection to satisfy your John Wayne needs.

I'm puzzled by the negative reviews (vide supra). If the story's a little thin, then the acting more than makes up for it. John Wayne and Roscoe Lee Browne lead a cattle drive across the West with the aid of the only help they could find, schoolboys. They are trailed by some bad guys. So much for the story. But Wayne and Browne give superb performances, truly, and the boys more than hold up their end. Bruce Dern's a memorable villain who gets his. (Wayne is shot 1 hr., 50 min. into the picture--certainly not "early on"!) I rate this movie 4 stars because, sure, "Stagecoach" and "The Searchers" and the U.S. Cavalry trio rank higher; but 4 stars on the Wayne scale ain't too shabby. One day the world will come around to the realization that John Wayne was one of the greatest screen actors ever to walk through Hollywood.

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!

Classic westerns that I couldn't live without, even though Ted Turner likes them too and plays all of them about a half dozen times a year on his movie network. But the picture quality is better and I can watch any of them whenever I want.

This review refers to the WB DVD edition of THE COWBOYS.

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 Wayne

Great Quality. Who can turn down a good John Wayne Western. It is still nice to see movies without sex, and bad language. My 3 year old watches these movies with me and loves them. Quality family time.

I recently started my John Wayne DVD collection and rely a lot on the reviews provided by previous buyers. I'm not so much looking for reviews of the movies, the plot lines, or the actors. I'm looking for information about the technical quality of the DVD production; is it a quality copy or a bad dub; is the video and sound good or poor; are there worthy extras like scene selection or directors comments. I recently discovered the issue with regions and having the appropriate DVD player by reading these reviews.

In this particular instance, the video and sound quality is good; these seem to be good copies of the original movies; no extras. My only issue is the extra small print on the DVD ring labeling the movie titles. My eyes aren't as good as they used to be. Because the DVD's are double-sided there's no big label or graphics to identify them, just the very small center ring. So, I recommend the DVD set - and a magnifying glass.

First of all, An Overture, Intermission, Entr'Acte, and Exit music. Rare indeed for a picture released in the 70's not to mention indicative of an epic (And in this case, also intimate) tale.

The basic story about a rancher resorting to driving his herd to market helped only by schoolboys is already a twist on familiar territory but that's just the beginning. From Bruce Derns nuanced performance (Many years before other well written Villians such as Die Hard's Alan Rickman) to Wil Andersen and the Cowboys watching a fight between the old bull's "Experience" vs. the younger one's "Muscle" as a metaphor for the entire picture, (As well as John Wayne's place in pictures in 1972 among newish names like Hoffman, Voight [Both of whom Wayne beat out at the Oscars for 1969], and Deniro) to Robert Carradines Slim serenading the cattle by playing Vivaldi on his guitar, Director Mark Rydell set out to (And succeeded in) not making another "John Wayne movie."

Nowhere do we see Harry Carey Jr. or Hank Worden, or Ben Johnson, or even Edward Faulkner (How did this guy end up in so many of the Duke's pictures anyway?).

In 1948's Red River, Wayne's Tom Dunson couldn't imagine being even just a little bit wrong. By the time of The Cowboys Wayne had aged and seasoned like a fine old Oak tree and could now play the subtle shades of a man that was at times deeply stubborn ("Well Mr. Nightlinger, In my (Civil war) regiment, I was known as...Old Iron pants...you might wanna' keep that in mind".) but also, haunted by self doubt regarding his Two sons that had both died in their early Twenties ("They went bad on me...or I went bad on them"). It wasn't a cattle drive so much as it was a second chance for Andersen to be a Father ( as pointed out in one of many wonderful scenes between a rancher and his trail cook).

It's really quite amazing how different The Cowboys was from the Duke's previous pictures. From a Director he had never worked with before (who created not quite a Western revision, but with fresh, new ideas from screenwriters Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. and respect for the star and his fans, more of an homage), to the graphic, bloody special effects make-up that Wayne was not too keen on but endured anyway, to the rare fate that befell Wil Andersen, making this, I think John Waynes best picture of the 70's.

The Cowboys is for anyone who thinks they don't like any John Wayne pictures. It may not change their minds but it might open them.

The Cowboys is, in my opinion, the most subtle, complete and compelling performance of John Wayne's career. As the taciturn ranch owner/cattleman Wil Andersen, he's had to bury his only two sons, admitting that either they went bad or he went bad on them. As his pending cattle drive approaches, his ranch hands desert him in order to strike it rich. Left with the daunting task of moving his cattle across country, he hires on 11 boys, none older than 15 years.

With a supporting cast overflowing with talent, including the school teacher played by Allyn Ann McLerie, the fickle, gold fevered ranch hand played by Matt Clark and of course Andersen's close friend and confidant Anse played by the immortal Slim Pickens, they all have extensive and decades long careers as excellent character actors.

Then there's the main cast. John Wayne is at his iconic best, with a performance as deep and compelling as he ever gave. I find that in many of his early films his performances are interesting to watch, but I personally can never get past the star to see the character. Even in his Oscar turn as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit, he's a bit of a caricature to me. In The Cowboys, however, I believe 100% that he IS Wil Andersen.

Bruce Dern, who is also capable of delivering a performance which can be over the top, is truly evil and threatening in his role as "Long Hair". Check out the scene in which he ambushes a the young cowboy Dan and threatens him to within an inch of his life. Painful to watch, because it seems so true.

Roscoe Lee Browne is heartwarming as both a source of amazement for the boys and as their most staunch defender when it comes to Andersen's treatment of them. He plays a black man in the old west with grace, dignity, style and charisma like nobody else could have, not to mention having the most sonorous black male voice next to James Earl Jones.

Colleen Dewhurst makes a delightfully strong appearance as a madame in the plains in the center of the cattle drive. She is simply unforgettable.

Last but not least, there are the cowboys themselves. Many of them had never acted before, but were chosen for their expertise at riding and roping, most notably Clay O'Brien (Cooper) who was an 11 year old rodeo champ who looks in the film to be no older than 9. For 6 of the boys, this was their first film, and for some of those, their only film. A Martinez, Robert Carradine, Nicolas Bauvy, and Stephen Hudis, Steve Benedict, Norman Howell and Sean Kelly went on to careers as either actors, stunt players or both. Their honesty, presence and believability make this film a coming of age story like no other.

The film deals with many subjects. Honor, bravery, courage, dedication, respect, and love. We see a despondent Wil Andersen contemplating the graves of his sons early in the film and feel his sadness as he acknowledges his failure as a father. Later in the film as he addresses the boys for the last time, it becomes apparent that he has inadvertently been given a "second chance" at being a father and says what I'm sure he wished he had said to his actual sons. We also see early in the movie a battle between two bulls in which Andersen explains the dynamic between the two combatants. The young one has strength while the old one has experience. This scene foreshadows the later battle between Andersen and Long Hair. From Andersen, the boys learn the value of honor, courage, and dedication, while they in turn teach Andersen the meaning of compassion, with a little help from Nightlinger (Browne) as sort of a Jiminy Cricket.

The cinematography is splendid, with grand vistas of the open plain. The wardrobe and props seem to have come straight out of an old trunk found in a time capsule that had been buried long ago. The music elicits excitement, suspense and an entire catalog of other emotions, but that's no surprise as it was composed and conducted by the immortal John Williams, the most prolific and memorable composer in all of film history.

I own this movie and watch it frequently. Coming in at over two hours in length, the movie has not one wasted scene and never slows down. It's hard to believe that it's 131 minutes long, and when it's over, I always find myself wishing there was more.

If you've never seen The Cowboys, watch it and you'll be glad you did. If you have, watch it again and you'll be glad you did!

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.