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The Cowboys

Tomorrow is John Wayne's 100th birthday, and to honor him, I'd like to talk about my favorite John Wayne movie--The Cowboys (1972).

John Wayne plays Wil Anderson who, with his wife played by Colleen Dewhurst, owns a cattle ranch. It's cattle drive time, but his crew leaves for the lure of the gold rush, and the only one to help is the cook. Anderson pays a visit to the local school house and hires on all the boys who are taller than the line on the chalkboard. Their parents allow them to go, believing the adventure will turn them all into men. The only boy Anderson rejects is a hot blooded young man who shows up to show off his horse-riding skills. Cimarron is played by A Martinez, and my gosh was he cute. And my gosh didn't I have a crush on young Martinez when I was a girl of ten.

Along the trail, the boys, the cook, and Anderson are followed by a band of cattle rustlers lead by the nasty Bruce Dern. Dern is good at being bad, and in The Cowboys, he is very bad.

Roscoe Lee Browne plays Jedediah Nightlinger, the cook with the chuck wagon who is the only other adult accompanying the boys. He is wise and witty and careful with his words. When he is faced with being lynched by the cattle rustlers, he delivers this prayer:
"I regret trifling with married women. I'm thoroughly ashamed at cheating at cards. I deplore my occasional departures from the truth. Forgive me for taking your name in vain, my Saturday drunkenness, my Sunday sloth. Above all, forgive me for the men I've killed in anger... and those I am about to."
In The Cowboys, an aged, overweight, and tired John Wayne is as tough as when he was young and trim. He convincingly plays father, teacher, mentor to a band of children, and they truly do become men. I loved this movie as a young girl and wished I could be out on the trail, and I love it still, although now I am content to imagine from the comfort of my sofa. We're burnin' daylight.

Comments

Sassy Sundry said…
I think I'm allergic to him, but I'll wish him a Happy 100th anyway.
8:12 AM
dive said…
When I was litle, there were only two things that could bring all the neighbourhood kids running indoors to cluster round the tiny black and white telly; one was the shout of "Tom and Jerreeeeee!" and the other was "John Wayne movie".

When I grew up I found him thoroughly reprehensible, especially after the unforgivable excresence that was the Green Berets (who these days would try to glorify the Mai Lai massacre), but as it's his birthday I'll try to remember his early John Ford Westerns.

Happy birthday, Marion.
11:05 AM
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