The Cowboys: There is something bittersweet about the Cowboys. It symbolizes the end of an era, the era of the western movie. It pays homage to its greatest star who symbolized it more than any other, John Wayne.
John Wayne's dominance at the box office was coming to an end. The movie itself has an air about it that something is dying, of looking back on a bygone era or time and of of a new generation replacing it... and what was dying was actually the western movie as a popular type of American movie. John Wayne's character Will Anderson was dead by the end of The Cowboys. It's symbolic that Will Anderson the character as well as John Wayne the actor had his glory days behind him. A generation that that would do things differently and who mostly had never seen one of John Wayne's early black and white western movies was now in the saddle. Western movies were becoming an anomaly by 1972 as were mega stars such as John Wayne.
It's also symbolic that we hear John Wayne cursing on screen in the Cowboys, ending the more innocent time in movies when this was unacceptable and certainly not in westerns. It's a sad milestone.
********* MILD SPOILERS AHEAD *******
The Cowboys is a story about a man who ends up with only a bunch of boys instead of grown men to help him on his cattle drive. He help them become men and contemplates his own life along the way.
John Wayne is better than ever. Fresh off his Oscar win for True Grit, John Wayne was his usual brilliant self. There are some true John Wayne moments in this film that nobody can pull off like he can. One of my favorites is when John Wayne is sitting in the school room while one of the boys is stumbling through trying to read a passage. His character Will Anderson rolls his eyes just a little while never breaking a smile. It's a classic scene and terrific stuff. John Wayne had amazing comic timing.
Alas, the director, Mark Rydell, seemed to force too many of the scenes and situations so that by the end of The Cowboys, everything had a bit of a contrived feel to it along with feeling a bit heavy handed and preachy. The Cowboys is an average movie that was based on a great idea with a great star. Mark Rydell went on to direct one of the best movies ever in my estimation which is on Golden Pond with Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda. I only wish the director had just a bit more experience when he had done The Cowboys with Wayne. This mediocre movie would have been golden in the hands of a John Huston or John Ford.
The score, by John Williams is said to be marvelous on the movie packaging. I couldn't disagree more and I found it very bland. Once again, a person involved in this film, John William, went on to do much better stuff. I just saw Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone with a John Williams score. Now that was a marvelous score!
All in all, The Cowboys is worth watching to see John Wayne in one of his twilight performances. Not one of Wayne's best, but an interesting part of his movie career. I gave it a 7 out of 10, or a C -.
Another film from fairly late in John Wayne's film anthology that I would recommend more highly is The Comancheros from 1961. That one is a crowd pleaser.
John Wayne's dominance at the box office was coming to an end. The movie itself has an air about it that something is dying, of looking back on a bygone era or time and of of a new generation replacing it... and what was dying was actually the western movie as a popular type of American movie. John Wayne's character Will Anderson was dead by the end of The Cowboys. It's symbolic that Will Anderson the character as well as John Wayne the actor had his glory days behind him. A generation that that would do things differently and who mostly had never seen one of John Wayne's early black and white western movies was now in the saddle. Western movies were becoming an anomaly by 1972 as were mega stars such as John Wayne.
It's also symbolic that we hear John Wayne cursing on screen in the Cowboys, ending the more innocent time in movies when this was unacceptable and certainly not in westerns. It's a sad milestone.
********* MILD SPOILERS AHEAD *******
The Cowboys is a story about a man who ends up with only a bunch of boys instead of grown men to help him on his cattle drive. He help them become men and contemplates his own life along the way.
John Wayne is better than ever. Fresh off his Oscar win for True Grit, John Wayne was his usual brilliant self. There are some true John Wayne moments in this film that nobody can pull off like he can. One of my favorites is when John Wayne is sitting in the school room while one of the boys is stumbling through trying to read a passage. His character Will Anderson rolls his eyes just a little while never breaking a smile. It's a classic scene and terrific stuff. John Wayne had amazing comic timing.
Alas, the director, Mark Rydell, seemed to force too many of the scenes and situations so that by the end of The Cowboys, everything had a bit of a contrived feel to it along with feeling a bit heavy handed and preachy. The Cowboys is an average movie that was based on a great idea with a great star. Mark Rydell went on to direct one of the best movies ever in my estimation which is on Golden Pond with Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda. I only wish the director had just a bit more experience when he had done The Cowboys with Wayne. This mediocre movie would have been golden in the hands of a John Huston or John Ford.
The score, by John Williams is said to be marvelous on the movie packaging. I couldn't disagree more and I found it very bland. Once again, a person involved in this film, John William, went on to do much better stuff. I just saw Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone with a John Williams score. Now that was a marvelous score!
All in all, The Cowboys is worth watching to see John Wayne in one of his twilight performances. Not one of Wayne's best, but an interesting part of his movie career. I gave it a 7 out of 10, or a C -.
Another film from fairly late in John Wayne's film anthology that I would recommend more highly is The Comancheros from 1961. That one is a crowd pleaser.