The cowboys

Movie
German title	The cowboys
Original title	The cowboys
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1972
length	129 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	Mark Rydell
script	Irving Ravetch Harriet Frank Jr.
production	Mark Rydell
music	John Williams
camera	Robert Surtees
cut	Neil Travis Robert Swink Supervisor
occupation
John Wayne : Wil Andersen Roscoe Lee Browne : Jebediah Nightlinger Bruce Dern : Asa Watts Colleen Dewhurst : Kate Collingwood Robert Carradine : Slim (Charles Honeycutt) Slim Pickens : Anse Petersen Lonny Chapman : priest Charles Tyner : Mr. Jenkins Sarah Cunningham : Annie Andersen A Martinez : Cimarron

The Cowboys is a 1972 American film directed by Mark Rydell and starring John Wayne . It is one of the few John Wayne westerns in which the main character he embodies dies at the end of the film. Other films in which this happens are Pirates in the Caribbean Sea , Alamo , You Were Our Comrade, and The Last Sniper .

action

Just before the annual cattle drive to Belle Fourche, rancher Wil Andersen ran away because a gold rush had broken out nearby. The gnarled old westerner is forced to recruit local schoolboys for the difficult, arduous and dangerous task. Contrary to expectations, the guys initially prove themselves. But they didn't expect a gang of cattle thieves to be on their backs. Andersen is shot and the bandits robbed the herd. Under the leadership of the cook Jebediah, the boys stand up to fight, retake the herd and butcher the bandits. With the proceeds of the sold herd, they finally acquire a tombstone, which they set up in the wilderness in honor of their teacher.

criticism

Joe Hembus notes that the film is John Wayne's "touching commitment to legend, transience and immortality." Phil Hardy calls the film "above average . " The script provides "realistic insights into the course of a cattle drive" , but the end of the film is "unnecessarily melodramatic".

additional

The film was followed in 1974 by a television series of the same title (with Moses Gunn in the role of Jebediah), in which the boys live and work on a widow's ranch . The series was also broadcast on ZDF in 1975 .

Awards

The film won the Western Heritage Award in 1972 .

See also

• List of John Wayne films

Web links

• The cowboys in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• The cowboys in the online film database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Joe Hembus: Western Lexicon - 1272 films from 1894-1975. Carl Hanser Verlag Munich Vienna 2nd edition 1977. ISBN 3-446-12189-7 . P. 102
2. ^ Phil Hardy: The Encyclopedia of Western Movies. Woodbury Press Minneapolis 1984. ISBN 0-8300-0405-X . P. 330