The Cowboys

Name: The Cowboys
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Western
Released: January 13, 1972
Duration: 134 min
Rating: 52
Cast: Alfred Barker Jr., Bruce Dern, Colleen Dewhurst, John Wayne, Nicolas Beauvy

1972

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Mixed or average reviews based on 7 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Ratings

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7.5

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7.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Ratings

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The Cowboys

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Movie Details & Credits

Warner Bros. | Release Date: January 13, 1972 | PG

Starring: Alfred Barker Jr., Bruce Dern, Colleen Dewhurst, John Wayne, Nicolas Beauvy, Norman Howell, Robert Carradine, Roscoe Lee Browne, Stephen R. Hudis, Steve Benedict

Summary: Rancher Wil Andersen is forced to hire inexperienced boys as cowhands in order to get his herd to market on time but the rough drive is full of dangers and a gang of cattle rustlers is trailing them.

Director: Mark Rydell

Genre(s): Adventure, Drama, Western

Rating: PG

Runtime: 134 min

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Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert

It's the ending, really, that spoils The Cowboys. Otherwise, it's a good-to-fine Western, with a nice, sly performance by Roscoe Lee Browne as the trail cook, and the usual solid Wayne performance. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

The story [from a novel by William Dale Jennings] is long and episodic, and its gentle treatment makes the length something of a hindrance to maximum enjoyment. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Although the film is well performed and beautifully shot by Robert Surtees, its ideology is highly objectionable, celebrating as it does the turning of the boys into hardened killers. Read full review

Empire Kim Newman

After several successful films where he plays the tough-as-nails cowboy, Wayne wasn't about to break the pattern now. Playing the only character he knows, he gives several inspiring speeches to an unlikely group of kids who turn from boys to men. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

Mark Rydell shows some fine touches in his third feature, but the result is an overlong and often-dull movie that had the rare distinction of being one of the few John Wayne westerns that gasped at the box office. Read full review

Vincent Canby

So flecked with minor dishonesties that you come to recognize it as a sort of Formica Western, something that amounts to a parody of the real thing. Read full review

Pauline Kael

Pious muck.

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Ascended333

Dec 17, 2021

This movie is so bad what the hell it’s literally garbage nothing is good i

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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