I remember being a young boy and watching this movie. I saw many John Wayne flicks before, but what shook me up was it was the first Duke movie I saw that he died in. I couldn't believe it!
I thought at the time how I admired the boys for leaving home and trusting him to make men out of them. I enjoy getting this movie out oncer every year or two.
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This is definitely among John Wayne's best Westerns and his work in this picture is just absolute top notch. I've just watched it, after more than 25 years since my last viewing, looking for anything "weak" or "wooden" in Wayne's turn as the rancher and tough trail boss, Wil Anderson (and, believe me! The Duke did have his share of inferior pictures and mediocre-to-substandard performances); and you know what? There isn't a false or "weak" or "wooden" note in Wayne's performance throughout the entire picture.
Roscoe Lee Brown and Bruce Dern gave outstanding support, and they deserve a huge bundle of credit for not only their work in this picture, but for how they brought out the best in Wayne's own acting.
That goes double for director Mark Rydell, who, like Wayne, was willing to set aside his own personal political differences and not let them get in the way of professionalism, to guide Wayne and the entire cast and the film's narrative to make it the enduring classic and unforgetable Western it is.
Honorable mention: all of the youngsters playing as the young trail hands, and the terrific chemistry between Wayne and these young boys.
Whatever you do, DO NOT read this sig--ACKKK!!! TOO LATE!!!
This is also one of my favorites. I wish they hadn't killed off JW though. They could have just had him hurt badly and then the boys go ahead and finish the run just as they did and then return to take him home.
And rob John Wayne of one of his tenderest and most touching performances? (Blessing "his boys" as he lay dying.)
Whatever you do, DO NOT read this sig--ACKKK!!! TOO LATE!!!