The Cowboys( 1972)

TV-MAWesternAdventureDramaAction

71%

User
Score

All they wanted was their chance to be men... and he gave it to them.

Overview

When his cattlemen abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his cowboys in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job under Andersen's tutelage, however, neither he nor the boys know that a gang of cattle thieves is stalking them.

Top Billed Cast

John Wayne
Wil Andersen
Roscoe Lee Browne
Jebediah Nightlinger
Bruce Dern
Long Hair
Colleen Dewhurst
Kate
Alfred Barker Jr.
Cowboy Fats
Nicolas Beauvy
Cowboy Dan
Steve Benedict
Cowboy Steve
Robert Carradine
Cowboy Slim Honeycutt
Norman Howell
Cowboy Weedy
Stephen R. Hudis
Cowboy Charlie Schwartz
Sean Kelly
Cowboy Stuttering Bob
A Martinez
Cowboy Cimarron
Clay O'Brien
Cowboy Hardy Fimps
Sam O'Brien
Cowboy Jimmy Phillips
Mike Pyeatt
Cowboy Homer Weems
Slim Pickens
Anse
Lonny Chapman
Homer's Father
Charles Tyner
Stonemason
Sarah Cunningham
Annie Andersen
Allyn Ann McLerie
Ellen Price
Maggie Costain
Phoebe
Matt Clark
Smiley
Jerry Gatlin
Howdy
Walter Scott
Okay
Richard Farnsworth
Henry Williams
Wallace Brooks
Red Tucker
Charise Cullin
Elizabeth
Collette Poeppel
Rosemary
Rita Hudis
Charlie's Mother
Margaret Kelly
Bob's Mother
Larry Randles
Ben
Larry Finley
Jake
Jim Burk
Pete
Norman Howell Sr.
Jim's Father
Fred Brookfield
Rustler
Tap Canutt
Rustler
Chuck Courtney
Rustler
Gary Epper
Rustler
Tony Epper
Rustler
Kent Hays
Rustler
J.R. Randall
Rustler
Henry Wills
Rustler
Joe Yrigoyen
Rustler
Ralph Volkie
Ralphie (uncredited)
Ivan Brutsche
Towns Person (uncredited)

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A review by John Chard

Written by John Chard on Wed May 29 2019

The Breaking of Boys and the Making of Men. The Cowboys is directed by Mark Rydell and adapted from the novel written by William Dale Jennings; who co-writes the screenplay with Irving Ravetch & Harriet Frank Jr. It stars John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, Bruce Dern and Colleen Dewhurst. John Williams scores the music and Robert Surtees is the cinematographer. Plot sees Wayne as tough cattleman Wil Andersen, who after finding all his cowhands have fled to find their fortune elsewhere, is forced to use a bunch of green teenagers to get his beef to market. It's a journey of some distinction, for...