The Cowboys

Details

Release year: 1972

Storyline

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

Top credits

Did you know

• When John Wayne informed Bruce Dern that Dern's character would shoot Wayne's, he told Dern that audiences would hate him for it. Dern responded by saying, "Yeah, but they'll sure love me in Berkeley."

• When asked if he was intimidated by working with John Wayne, Bruce Dern replied, "I might have been. But right at the start, he says to me, 'I want you to do us a favor.' He was including himself, [director] Mark Rydell, and the scriptwriters. He said, 'From now on, consider me to be somebody you can publicly kick the shit out of 24 hours a day on the set. Because I want these little kids [playing the cowboys of the title] to be absolutely terrified of you.' He gave me carte blanche to just treat him like a turd. So I was on him, talking back to him and stuff, for the few days I was there. And he would do things like call out: 'Hey, Mr. Dern, would you get over here?' I thought, hey, John Wayne gives you a 'mister' status. My first day, he's calling me mister. How about that? That's pretty cool."

• Roscoe Lee Browne was urged by his friends not to work with the right-wing John Wayne. He ignored them and the two actors refrained from discussing politics during filming. Instead they shared a love of poetry and sometimes quoted their favorite verses between takes.

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Technical specs

Sound mix

Mono, 70 mm 6-Track, 4-Track Stereo

Aspect ratio

2.20 : 1, 2.39 : 1

Color

Color

FAQ

• In most cuts,when Bruce Dern grabs Roscoe Lee Browne at the end, he uses the N-Word several times. However when he calls him a black bastard, the word "bastard" is cut out. These days, bastard is rarely censored. Why do they not include it in the recent versions?