MovieChat Forums > The Cowboys (1972) Discussion > Just another John Wayne western!

Just another John Wayne western!

posted 14 years ago by gwjedi
11 replies | jump to latest

I've seen way too many people on here claim that this is just another film where John Wayne plays the same old character. I like John Wayne films. I like almost every single one I've seen. This one is very set apart though. If ever someone says John Wayne wasn't a good actor, I refer them to this movie. Because that's all he does is act. It's not one of those movies where he walks around with his rifle out all day and shoots the bad guys up. I mean he really acted in this one and thats why this is one of my favorites. I can see that he is similar to his other roles in that he's a tough guy in the west. But I would say his rols in this is very different than say John T. Chance in Rio Bravo. And the fact that he never had to pull a gun in this "Typical John Wayne western," speaks wonders to me. Just wondering if anyone agrees with me.

[–] Case36 14 years ago

Epic scene where he's fighting fist to fist with "Long Hair" because he kicks his ass. When Mr. Andersen walks away "Long Hair" shoots him and it takes like 6 shots to kill him.

Mr. Andersen's pride and the way he carries himself reminds me of my grandfather. The attitude "GO TO HELL" just makes me think of him.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tbonesays 14 years ago

I liked this film a bunch. Sometimes it feels like cheatin to like the Duke's later works because they are more like modern movies and don't require the viewer to accept the older style. But there's enough of a play between young and old here to more than make up for it.

Quick editorial; if the critics thought the film was too violent or had bad models for youth in 1972, they must have had a rough time at the theatre in the next 39 years.

[–] spookyrat1 12 years ago

"It's not one of those movies where he walks around with his rifle out all day and shoots the bad guys up. I mean he really acted in this one and thats why this is one of my favorites."

I totally agree with you. I don't think he actually draws a gun during the film, much less fires it (despite the gun - toting figure in the posters). He definitely has to extend his acting range in this movie.

My personal favourite scenes are the interludes with Nightlinger and when he is left alone, shovel in hand, by Charlie's graveside. The camera focuses on his face and you can feel the emotional anguish welling up inside him, then pulls slowly back leaving him standing stark against the landscape.

[–] ecarle 12 years ago

"The Cowboys" is probably the most polished and professional movie that Wayne was involved with in the last 15 years of his career (at least.)

He won an Oscar for "True Grit" but that Henry Hathaway production looked a bit cheapjack and backlot in interior scenes. With few exceptions, all of Wayne's movies AFTER "True Grit"(that is to say, his seventies movies) were rather "formula product" done on low budgets and saved by Wayne's gravitas. The Undefeated, Chisum, Cahill US Marhsal, The Train Robbers...good, not great. And not "A pictures."

"The Cowboys" is great. An A picture.

As I recall, "The Cowboys" didn't begin as a typical John Wayne film. Mark Rydell developed it as a "serious A movie" and sought George C. Scott to play Wil Andersen. Wayne was ADDED to the production, and he gave it his all, aided by a sumptious John Williams score, gorgeous cinematography, and a very realistic script(note how old Wayne's wife looks, for instance.) The great lines for Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne and Bruce Dern (AND Slim Pickens) are classic quality.

A few years later, Wayne got his only other "quality" film post "True Grit": "The Shootist," directed by Don Siegel and again, a professional "A" film -- but more constrained and tight and small than the sweeping boys-into-men tale of"The Cowboys."
And again John Wayne wasn't sought for "The Shootist"(his final role, and perfect for him) -- George C. Scott was sought first!

"The Cowboys" and "The Shootist" are the class act John Wayne movies after "True Grit"(and guess what happens to Wayne in each one?) I'd rank a third movie in that period as "very good" -- "Big Jake," with Richard Boone's great villain, Maureen O'Hara's beautiful return and a "Dirty Harryish" violent action plot which was damaged only by TV movie-ish B production values.

The rest of the post "True Grit" Wayne films(including two modern cop films in the Dirty Harry mold, and a sadly wooden True Grit sequel with Kate Hepburn), alas, were "filler" made good by the greatness of John Wayne himself and all he represented on screen.

[–] spookyrat1 12 years ago

Enjoyed reading your observations and thoughts about "The Cowboys".

I thought Wayne's performance was right up there with his better ones in films such as The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

[–] bond_98 12 years ago

People always say that John Wayne just played John Wayne. Well the same could be said about Jack Nicholson. But i would hardly call Nicholson a bad actor. I mean has no one seen Kristen Stewart in Twilight.

[–] thebabe3 10 years ago

Just watching The Cowboys on TCM, and this is his best movie as far as I'm concerned...we always say, even the worst John Wayne movie is good. I loved his movies. There is and has never been anybody like him.

[–] joekiddlouischama 10 years ago

To me, The Cowboys is arguably Wayne's best Western post-1962 ... a very good film: well-written, perfectly cast, and nicely shot.

[–] joekiddlouischama 10 years ago

I've seen way too many people on here claim that this is just another film where John Wayne plays the same old character. I like John Wayne films. I like almost every single one I've seen. This one is very set apart though. If ever someone says John Wayne wasn't a good actor, I refer them to this movie. Because that's all he does is act. It's not one of those movies where he walks around with his rifle out all day and shoots the bad guys up. I mean he really acted in this one and thats why this is one of my favorites. I can see that he is similar to his other roles in that he's a tough guy in the west. But I would say his rols in this is very different than say John T. Chance in Rio Bravo. And the fact that he never had to pull a gun in this "Typical John Wayne western," speaks wonders to me. Just wondering if anyone agrees with me.

The difference comes in the caliber of the writing and narrative. Wayne still constitutes a powerful, looming, intimidating presence in this film with a booming voice and his enormous frame, but he is vulnerable—due to his age and because he is shepherding cow "boys," literally. Thus he must 'manage' the situation rather than blasting through it, leading to hesitations, cautions, and more realistic and fatalistic dynamics. In essence, man and myth merge with greater vulnerability and realism than in most Wayne Westerns.

[–] eddie-fendel 9 years ago

Good film, average film, Wayne was just a great movie star. They'll never be any one quite like him.