The Cowboys (Deluxe Edition) | 
| Director: Mark Rydell
Actors: John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, Bruce Dern, Colleen Dewhurst, Alfred Barker Jr.
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $12.98
Buy Used: $4.71
You Save: $8.27 (64%)
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Rating:  120 reviews
Sales Rank: 437
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 135 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: WARD114535D
UPC: 085391145356
EAN: 0085391145356
ASIN: B000O599WQ
Theatrical Release Date: January 13, 1972
Release Date: May 22, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
After his cowhands desert him for a nearby gold rush, aging, leather-tough rancher Will Anderson (John Wayne) resorts to hiring 11 schoolboys to help him on a 400-mile cattle run. Setting off with the boys and an eloquent but equally tough black cook (Roscoe Lee Browne), Anderson must get his cattle to their destination while contending with the wilderness and a psychotic, vengeful ex-con (Bruce Dern) who is out to get him. With an amazingly natural performance by Wayne, this stylized, action-packed Western is exquisitely filmed, emotionally sensitive, and highly entertaining. Director Mark Rydell gets solid performances out of not just Wayne (in one of his later screen roles) and Browne, but the group of youngsters accompanying them on the journey, as well as actors like Slim Pickens and Colleen Dewhurst who play smaller supporting roles. Close attention is also paid to the natural beauty of the mountains, wild mustangs, and other often overlooked standard Western fare.
Amazon.com
Almost in spite of itself, The Cowboys has taken its place among John Wayne's most beloved films. It wasn't always that way: When it was released in January of 1972, the film was widely criticized for appearing to promote the notion that boys become men through violence. From a politically correct perspective, this apparent message is arguably deplorable (and some interpreted the film's young fighters as a reflection of young draftees into the Vietnam war), but there's no denying that The Cowboys remains as invigorating as it ever was, no matter how dubious its thematic implications. Based on a novel by William Dale Jennings, and adapted with Jennings by the married screenwriting team of Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. (whose impressive credits include Hud, Hombre, and Norma Rae), the movie opens with aging ranch owner Wil Anderson (Wayne) desperate for ranch-hands to herd 1,500 head of cattle across 400 miles of dangerous territory. With no better options, he reluctantly hires boys from the local schoolhouse (including Robert Carradine in his screen debut), and an experienced, worldly-wise cook named Nightlinger (played to perfection by Roscoe Lee Browne) joins the cattle drive--the first black man the boys have ever seen. A Hollywood liberal who initially felt at odds with Wayne's right-wing politics, Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond) originally sought George C. Scott for the lead, but studio executives urged him to convince Wayne to take the role. It was a happy outcome for both, as Rydell directs Wayne with an enjoyable mixture of Old West humor and grizzled trail-hardiness, and The Cowboys is a top-drawer production with gorgeous cinematography (on location in Mexico and Colorado) by veteran cameraman Robert Surtees. Colleen Dewhurst appears briefly but memorably as the madam of a traveling troupe of prostitutes (in a scene often cut from earlier TV broadcasts and some home-video releases), and the young A Martinez (who would later star in several TV soap operas and the indie-hit Powwow Highway) makes a strong impression in a prominent supporting role. But the real reason for the film's lasting popularity is the hiss-worthy villainy of Bruce Dern (as "Long Hair," leader of the rustlers), who earned a dubious place in movie history for his character's cheating approach to gunplay. No matter how you interpret its themes of fatherly influence and justified vengeance, The Cowboys (later the basis of a short-lived TV series) is undeniably entertaining, dominated by Wayne's reliable presence and bolstered by a rousing, Copland-esque score by John Williams. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 115 more reviews...
 Excellent from top to bottom April 19, 2009
James Gleason IV
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!
 The Cowboys (Deluxe Edition) March 20, 2009
Sam Bifton (Ohio)
0 out of 8 found this review helpful
Not much to say. When I received the package, there was no DVD inside. Amazon promptly agreed to a refund, but I don't think I'll order another of the same DVD.
 About the blu-ray February 25, 2009
J. A. Torrontegui (Spain)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"The cowboys" shines on blu-ray with the superb image quality that provides the best way to watch the movie's splendid vistas. Don't be put off by the main credit's soft look, due to the optical tricks involved, which degrade the clips used in it.
 "The Cowboys" stands simply as one of John Wayne's best Westerns... February 1, 2009
Roberto Frangie (Leon, Gto. Mexico)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Wil Andersen (John Wayne) is an aging rancher who traveled 30 miles that day and didn't find a single hand that could throw in with him...
Anse Petersen (Slim Pickens) suggests to his best friend to hire local teenagers as cowboys for his 400-mile cattle drive... So, in the morning the children came very early to put in for the job... Obviously, nobody of them has been on a cattle drive...
For a cook, Wil hires a black man, Jedediah Nightlinger (Roscoe Lee Browne), who asked to be paid $125 knowing he should be got flooded out, stampeded out, frozen out or scalped by wild Red Indians...
However, a group of rustlers led by Asa Watts (Bruce Dern), the man with the long hair, came looking for work... But they were lying ... They were after Andersen's 1,500 head of cattle...
One day, Andersen knew that Watts and his gang have been paralleling him for the herd... He also knew as soon as it's dark they'll be coming in... He doesn't know how rough they'll get... But right now they think they're one man and a bunch of kids...
When Jedediah falls behind with a broken wheel on the chuck wagon, Asa makes his move for the herd, engaging Wil in vicious fight...
There is a funny scene when two of the children meet on the trail a traveling bordello madam led by Colleen Dewhurst; and also a touching scene where all the boys steal a whiskey bottle and have a little party, discussing the various attributes of their cooker, and his pretty independent character...
Filled with exciting adventure, gentle amusement, visually stunning photography, but most importantly how to want to see these children growing up so quickly, "The Cowboys" stands simply as one of John Wayne's best Westerns...
One Question! January 21, 2009
Alan Beumann (Somewhere In America)
I'd really like to know why on Earth they didn't use a portrait of John Wayne FROM THIS MOVIE for the cover of the DVD. The illustration here looks to pre-date The Cowboys by a good fifteen years and does the film a disservice.
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