Movie "The Cowboys"

Twodot · Post by **Twodot** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 1:29 pm

I watched the whole thing for the first time on tee-vee over the weekend.

I'm sure everyone here knows the story line; a bunch of kids on a cattle drive from somewhere around Bozeman, Montana Territory to Belle Fourche, Dakota Territory.

When the credits came around at the end the text was too small and went by too fast for me to read. Anyone know where this movie was filmed? It sure wasn't SE Montana.
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6pt-sika · Post by **6pt-sika** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 2:33 pm

New Mexico , Colorado and Warner Brothers Studio's in Burbank California !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cowboys

bdhold · Post by **bdhold** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 3:08 pm

hands-down my favorite John Wayne movie.

jlk45 · Post by **jlk45** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 3:26 pm

Yeah and the Duke didn't want his character to die in the movie. He kept breathing and wiggling in case the director changed his mind at the last second. Good movie.

Streetstar · Post by **Streetstar** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 3:53 pm

Good movie !

timely you brought it up --- i am experiencing some kind of weird summer "bug" and am really feeling down in the dumps ---- i dont have The Cowboys stacked next to the tv, but i do have a 5 pack of the John Ford/John Wayne movies my wife got me from Sam's set up to watch

feeling ill has some side benefits sometimes

C. Cash · Post by **C. Cash** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 4:22 pm

A great movie...don't like it when small children swear but the overall themes make for a meaningful movie. When I was stationed at Ft. Carson....I used to go down to Royal Gorge area alot and I heard a number of times that parts of the movie had been filmed close by, but don't know how true this was. Looked right.

shooter · Post by **shooter** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 4:31 pm

My favorite western as a kid. I still enjoy it a lot and watch it once in a while. I might have to dig it out while I'm sitting around waiting for this back to heal up.

Blaine · Post by **Blaine** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:55 pm

A good show. I was real proud of those kids and the cook.

L_Kilkenny · Post by **L_Kilkenny** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 6:00 pm

Not like too many westerns are big on facts and historical correctness but that one has to take the cake. Favorite character in the movie equals = Bruce Dern. For a guy that really seems decent in real life he sure plays a good puke.

Twodot · Post by **Twodot** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 6:07 pm

Colo & New Mexico sounds right.
Thanks!
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WinM71 · Post by **WinM71** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 6:10 pm

An interesting thing to do is watch the movie, then read the original book (William Dale Jennings 1971). Very interesting to see the changes they made in the movie. Even better ones to do the "movie-then-book" thing with are True Grit (Charles Portis 1968) and The Shootist (Glendon Swarthout 1975). Both stories were substantially changed; especially The Shootist, which will really surprise you. Bad news is that these books may not show up in too many public libraries any more, but a lot of libraries have "inter-library loan" programs where they can get you the book from another affiliated library. If not, they can often be had cheap on ebay (there's one of The Shootist, for instance, on now for $4.99 shipped and another for $6 shipped). If you're only going to do one, don't miss out on doing it with The Shootist - very enjoyable.

olyinaz · Post by **olyinaz** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 6:18 pm

The two things I remember about that movie is that one of the Carradine boys stared in it, Robert, as one of the kids. And that they tried to make a TV series from it too (with Carradine also).

Other than that, as a kid at the time it came out I wasn't too fond of it (which was normal for anything that I thought was playing to kids).

Oly

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 8:54 pm

In my Not So Humble Opinion The Cowboys was one of Wayne's worst movies. Although the plot was decent, the death of Wayne's character was unnecessary and totally ruined the movie. Bruce Dern did succeed in playing a nasty villan, I'll give him that.

Two levers down from me.

Joe

RIHMFIRE · Post by **RIHMFIRE** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 8:57 pm

to this day I would like to smack the $4iT out of Bruce Dern....
he played an excellent villian indeed

i think the movie would have been a little better with the age of the
kids closer to Carradines age...older teenagers...

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:01 pm

My brother who is a John Wayne fanatic and very knowledgeable about movie stuff told me that The Cowboys all but destroyed Bruce Dern's movie carrier.
If you'll think about it he didn't star in much after that. I guess the movie going public smacked him for you.

Joe

DixieBoy · Post by **DixieBoy** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:24 pm

I saw Bruce Dern interviewed years ago. He said he actually got death threats after The Cowboys hit the big screen !

I love the film. I like the fact that the kids proved themselves up to the job. And shot the beejeezus out of the bad guys.
Can you imagine the ka-ka storm the political correctness police would have if they tried to make that film today ? This one,
The Shootist, and True Grit are my favorite John Wayne films. - DixieBoy

piller · Post by **piller** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:32 pm

I saw an interview with Bruce Dern, too. Maybe the same one. In it, he said that the fight scene caused him a serious back injury. He got a little too into the role, and moved forward when he should have moved backwards. He ran into John Wayne's punch, and that is the one that knocked him into the tree. It broke his back. He was lucky and no nerves were cut. From what I have heard of him, he is a decent enough guy. Too bad it almost ruined his career.

C. Cash · Post by **C. Cash** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:01 pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckskin_Joe

claybob86 · Post by **claybob86** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:14 pm

[quote="RIHMFIRE"]to this day I would like to smack the $4iT out of Bruce Dern....
he played an excellent villian indeed
quote]

Same here!

I sat through that movie 3 times in the theater when it came out!

fordwannabe · Post by **fordwannabe** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:29 pm

Again this may be the same interview but I saw it on Westerns channel and Bruce Dern said for the next 20 years little old ladiies would slug him with their pocketbooks cause he was the "son of a female dog" that shot John Wayne. It apparently didn't do any good to explain it was acting either!!!

.45colt · Post by **.45colt** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:48 pm

Bruce also said in that interview that The Duke tossed him around like a rag doll,even at His Age.

.

DixieBoy · Post by **DixieBoy** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 1:19 am

I can believe it !

They just don't make 'em like John Wayne any more. - DixieBoy

olyinaz · Post by **olyinaz** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 3:45 am

Actors were all into "the method" back in those days so I suppose it's possible that on set Dern acted the part and got treated as such, but I'm just theorizing there. Frankly, I never thought he was a very good actor but his nasaly/whiney voice made him a great villain I thought - you loved to hate him! He worked steadily despite any harm that shooting John Wayne in that 1972 movie may have done him with the public. He's done at least one movie every year from 1966 to the present, and he's appeared in countless TV shows as well.

In the year 1972 he also appeared in "Silent Running", a science-fiction favorite of mine as a kid but I haven't seen it in ages. There is a robot in Star Wars that is a bit of an homage to Silent Running's robots Huey, Dewie and Louie, and R2D2 was inspired by them as well.

Dern is the son of a well connected family. His paternal grandfather was George Henry Dern, a former Utah governor and Secretary of War, and his great-uncle was poet Archibald MacLeish, an American poet, writer, and former Librarian of Congress. His godfather was well-known politician Adlai Stevenson, and his godmother was Eleanor Roosevelt!

Dern is the father of actress Laura Dern (1967), whom he had with his ex-wife Diane Ladd; married 1960–1969. He married his current wife, Andrea Beckett, in 1969. I like Laura Dern in just about everything I've seen her in, and I'm impressed that Dern has been married to the same gal since 1969!

Thus ends the Bruce Dern lesson of the day.

Oly

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 9:04 am

Oly,

"Silent Running" is one of the best science fiction movies ever made. A bit bitter sweet, but Bruce Dern did a great job in it. And those little robots stole the show.
Maybe I'll look up a copy.

Another thing I didn't see brought up is that Bruce Derns character was killed in "The War Wagon" either by Wayne or Kirk Douglas, I can't remember. So they'd acted together more than once.

I haven't seen hardly any of those many many roles you've mentioned. I guess I should go look at IMDB and see what he's starred in.

Joe

bdhold · Post by **bdhold** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 9:11 am

oops, no this is my 2nd favorite John Wayne movie.
His hands-down best is 3 Godfathers.

gak · Post by **gak** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 9:48 am

Nobody does sleeze. smarm and whine better than Bruce Dern! I know he did some, but I can't recall a sympathetic role. He was a staple for the industry in the 60's TV westerns as the conniving, manipulating bad guy.

fordwannabe · Post by **fordwannabe** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:27 am

Yup he did a good bit of TV was watching westerns channel in the garage either lastnight or the night before and there he was on " Marshall Dillon".

stretch · Post by **stretch** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:34 am

I love that movie!

I especially like the cook's character. Roscoe Lee Browne
played it beautifully, too.

Bruce Dern played the quintessential bad guy many, many times.
And he has that nasal whine down to a tee. If one had any sympathy for
his character, or wanted to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, that
whine just completely turns people against the guy!

-Stretch

two bit okie · Post by **two bit okie** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 5:15 pm

The cook had the best line of the whole movie, and a lot of others, "god forgive for the men that I have killed.............. and those that I am about to kill".

BrianSH · Post by **BrianSH** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 8:21 pm

two bit okie wrote:The cook had the best line of the whole movie, and a lot of others, "god forgive for the men that I have killed.............. and those that I am about to kill".

I was wondering how long it would take to mention Roscoe.
He was the son of a Brawny Moor, Now turn out that light! -Brian

oneyeopn · Post by **oneyeopn** » Sat Aug 18, 2012 6:59 am

My most favorite John Wayne movie followed by "True Grit", to this day it will still bring a tear to my eye!

hayabusa · Post by **hayabusa** » Sun Aug 19, 2012 3:45 am

piller, Bruce must have been tough to complete the movie with a broken back!

I watch this movie about once a month.

Hayabusa

gamekeeper · Post by **gamekeeper** » Sun Aug 19, 2012 4:18 am

gak wrote:Nobody does sleeze. smarm and whine better than Bruce Dern! I know he did some, but I can't recall a sympathetic role. He was a staple for the industry in the 60's TV westerns as the conniving, manipulating bad guy.

He played a "good guy" in All The Pretty Horses but I still expected him to turn nasty!

Batman1939 · Post by **Batman1939** » Sun Aug 19, 2012 2:30 pm

two bit okie wrote:The cook had the best line of the whole movie, and a lot of others, "god forgive for the men that I have killed.............. and those that I am about to kill".

The Cowboys was a great movie and I enjoyed it with my young sons when it first came out--they were about the ages of the kids in the movie so it really tickled them when the kids got the bad guys.

You're right "two bit" the cook was a good character and his quote very memorable---and ominous !

piller · Post by **piller** » Sun Aug 19, 2012 8:37 pm

I agree, Dern probably was pretty tough. He did say in the interview that at the time he had been running and working out a lot to stay in shape, and that is probably what kept him from being hospitalized. He said that he was in a brace for the rest of the movie, and that the stuntman got more work than he expected. I think Roscoe Brown was probably the best cook in a western I can remember.

Now, nothing wrong with an actor being a good Badman. Westerns all need bad guys.

DixieBoy · Post by **DixieBoy** » Sun Aug 19, 2012 11:44 pm

Not to steer the thread out of bounds, but since we're talking about what a good badman Bruce Dern played, how about that all time great badman Jack Elam ? Now THAT was a well cast guy too. - DixieBoy

shooter · Post by **shooter** » Mon Aug 20, 2012 2:10 am

I never did enjoy watching Bruce Dern after seeing him in the Cowboys. He is always a villain to me, lol. Like has been said before, every western needs a villain, and Bruce Dern played a good one.

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Mon Aug 20, 2012 11:40 am

There are a lot of JW films I never warmed up to. But his two best were the Cowboys & the Shootist, the two that I really enjoy. Buce Dern always did a good job in his roles.

tman · Post by **tman** » Mon Aug 20, 2012 4:27 pm

Little kids swearing, drinking, killing, but were not allowed to get laid?

Ok movie, Dern stold the show from the Duke.

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Mon Aug 20, 2012 5:01 pm

Actually the kids, or their story, was the story. Just about anybody could have played JWs role, even Jeff Bridges, but then nobody would have paid the entry fees.

olyinaz · Post by **olyinaz** » Mon Aug 20, 2012 5:31 pm

OK, now I have to see this movie again. Egads, it's been probably something like 1978 since I've seen it. You guys are killin' me at the iTunes store!!

Oly