kcterrell-25046 A rag-tag group of young teenagers volunteer to help John Wayne get his 1500 head of cattle to market, 400 miles away, and Wayne is stuck in a jam because all of his hired hands get the gold fever and run off. Faced with bills and the habit of driving his cattle every summer, Wayne takes on the role of drive master, mentor, teacher, and father to the lot of them. And the inexperienced teens prove resourceful and reliable, maturing quickly on the dusty trail. OK, none of the young actors in the film went on to any big Hollywood success. But, their limited acting skills actually added to the schtick of the set-up.Trailed and eventually ambushed by rustlers, the kids lose Wayne and their herd in a flurry of bullets that put the Duke in the grave. An endearing drive cook, Roscoe Lee Brown (cudos) steps up as the step-father of the crew, and the boys go after the rustlers to retrieve the herd in memory of Wayne.A good story, solid writing, and on-site cinematography make the movie, with Wayne's performance, of course. Direction is subpar, especially with the typical Hollywood intentional gaffs. The rustler gang consists of nine men, but after the boys ambush and kill four of them, there are suddenly ten members of the gang coming after them. It's annoying that directors want the viewer absorbed into the visual tale, but also to forgive the inconsistencies and the details. At some points along the drive, it looks like Wayne is really driving 1500 head. At other times, it looks like the entire herd is about 80 cattle, and at other times, it appears to consist of maybe 200 head. This kind of laziness in direction only serves to distract the viewer.All in all, a deserving film, with a young Bruce Dern playing a really, really bad outlaw. A typical Western prop character that you can really hate if you are into the action.A worthwhile two hours spent with a good film despite some flaws.

dancc **Possible Spoilers** (Come on, it's over 40 years old, what are you waiting for?)I'll start by admitting that I am a John Wayne fan. I'll also say I'm not a fan of his politics. I don't say that to start an argument, I say it so it's clear I like him as an actor, not as a symbol.Now that that's out of the way I have to say that I consider THE COWBOYS to be one of his best performances (it's on a par with THE SEARCHERS & THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE). THE COWBOYS shows Wayne at his most emotionally accessible. He's still playing the stoic westerner, but we see him with his wife (who loves him, but clearly knows he's a pigheaded bastard) & we see him playing his age. Not like in TRUE GRIT where he played "old", but simply playing his actual age (65, which in1876, was pretty damn old). And he clearly had a genuine rapport with young men he was working with.I also have to say that to some degree this film turns the "John Wayne" ethos on it's head. I know a lot of people think this film shows The Duke turning the kids into little versions of himself. But I think the most important moment in the film is when the kids finally bring the cattle into Belle Fourche. They've killed the rustlers who killed their leader (& father figure). And they've accomplished what they promised to do. But none of them look pleased with themselves. They aren't riding tall in the saddle. They are beaten down, worn out, & depressed. They've "done what a mans gotta do", but it hasn't made them happy or proud. Quite the opposite. They have clearly lost something in the acts of violence they have done, no matter how necessary some of them may have been. A lot of people use the cliché "coming of age" when referring to this film. I think the better cliché would be "loss of innocence". I also want to respond to a reviewer (who was writing in 2003, but, what the hell) who said he thought Roscoe Lee Browne was "better" than John Wayne in the film. I am an actor myself & I bow before the altar of Mr. Browne. I would kill (well, let's not get crazy here) a close acquaintance just for his voice. (He did an episode of BARNEY MILLER that I highly recommend to everyone). And he is absolutely wonderful in THE COWBOYS. But I think he & Wayne owe each other a thanks for making each other better. The chemistry between the two of them is unbelievable. If you want to chalk it up to their political differences, feel free. Frankly, to me, it just looks like a couple actors having a great time working with each other. Apparently, the scene where Browne tosses the knife at Wayne's hand when he's reaching for a piece of pie was improvised (Wayne didn't know it was going to happen). But Duke ran with it, & it's a great moment.I've already written too much. To anyone who has not seen this film, watch it. Set all your presumptions aside, & watch it on it's own terms. I think you'll love it

npdeo18 It was a great pleasure to see Duke enacting such a role than the usual roles of a cowboy. The supporting cast by Roscoe Lee Browne as a part of the crew and the schoolboys to drive the cattle drive were amazing and fun to watch. The way John Wayne guided those schoolboys were worth watching and funny as well especially the stutter scene. Meanwhile the role enacted by Bruce Dern as criminal/bandit is definitely praise worthy and it was encouraging to see him in a duel with the Duke. It would have been great to see him enacting the role of Bond Villain. At the same time of the scenes were quite emotional especially the scene before Duke's death was quite emotional and touching. Overall the film along with The Shootist is one of the best films of John Wayne in his career end. Even if a remake is made no one would be able to match up Duke in this role.

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.