ianlouisiana Review of The Cowboys

The Cowboys (1972)

In which Mr John Wayne shows that he indeed has True Grit

[7/10 · 14 January 2008]

There are very few advantages in getting old.From my own experience I can tell you that growing stubborn,unbending,bloody - minded or any term you use to describe a steely determination not to be distracted from whatever goal you have set for yourself is one of them. Mr Wayne displays that characteristic in "The Cowboys",Mark Rydell's almost sepia vision of the late - flowering Western. As a child I sat through dozens of cattle - drive movies at the Saturday Morning Pictures in the early 1950s.The heat,swirling dust and whooping cowboys were a heady brew and a million miles from the leafy lanes of Surrey.These early cheapies had a profound affect on me and it felt strange to be still gripped by their magic as late on as "City Slickers" which to me was much more a Western than a comedy. Here we have a cattle - drive movie with a hook not unlike - as has been mentioned - "Red River".Mr Wayne recruiting men to take his herd for slaughter.Forced by circumstances to rely on a group of schoolboys Mr Wayne sets out on the trail to give them a number of life lessons. Assisted by the admirable Mr Roscoe Lee Browne he begins the task of turning them into real cowboys. When Mr Wayne is killed bravely taking on a murderous rustler,the boys,aided by Mr Browne,complete the drive and revenge his death. Like "Lord of the flies","The Cowboys" lifts the thin veneer of so - called civilised behaviour from these children and they kill mercilessly and with every appearance of relish.Contemporary audiences may have problems with this,but it was the way things were done.Much the same occurred in "The river of no return" where Robert Mitchum's son gunned down Rory Calhoun by backshooting him without a sign of remorse or any need for subsequent counselling.It was a hard life on the Frontier and only the strongest and most ruthless survived. Mr Wayne - constantly badmouthed by the so - called "liberals" he roundly despised - was simply one of the most formidable and charismatic actors from the Golden Age.I suspect that most Americans would rather it was his face that remains an iconic image of their country than that of Mr Michael Moore.