7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 3.9 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Rancher is forced to hire inexperienced boys as cowhands in order to get his herd to market on time.
Starring: John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, Bruce Dern, Colleen Dewhurst, Alfred Barker Jr.Western | 100% |
Drama | 51% |
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital Mono
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
English, English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Every man wants his children to be better than he was. You are.
John Wayne's image has always been, and will always be, that of a rough and tumble American.
He's a man's man if there ever was one,
a
model of toughness, a man of simple, concise, yet pointed and unapologetic words, and a man of
stature
that
immediately commands the utmost respect. Wayne remains, arguably, the most recognized
actor in American
cinematic history and is the face of the Western, a genre that is originally American. In The
Cowboys, a 1972 Western directed by Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond), Wayne plays
an
aging cowboy in what would be one of his final roles before his death seven years later. The film
is
not only an excellent Western and a fitting model of the grace, power, and beauty of the genre,
not
to mention of the command Wayne brings to his roles, but its plot plays well against the aging
Wayne,
telling the story of an old ranch hand hiring a group of schoolboys to aid him in a 400 mile cattle
drive. The story seems symbolic of the passage of time, not only representing the changing
American landscape during the gold rush of the mid-to-late 1800s, but also representative of the
time the
film was made, a time when the Golden Age of the Western -- featuring the likes of John Ford,
Howard
Hawks, Roy Rogers, John Wayne, Gary Cooper, and Gene Autry behind and in front of the camera
had reached its zenith and was giving way to new territory with new styles and new stars (the
Spaghetti Westerns featuring Clint Eastwood, for example). The film is also representative of the
point in time it was made in Wayne's career -- the story of the rugged, old individual forced to
rely on a much younger generation of cowboys to help in his work couldn't have been more
timely.
You know, trail driving is not a Sunday school picnic. You got to figure you're dealing with the dumbest, orneriest critter on God's green Earth. The cow is nothing but trouble tied up in a leather bag -- and the horse ain't much better.
The Cowboys saddles up on Blu-ray with a solid 1080p, 2.40:1-framed transfer. There is noticeable banding in a few places, particularly during the film's first few moments. After the opening credits, viewers are presented with a fairly grainy, scratchy scene, but the image clears up significantly afterwards. Grain is retained in some scenes, and in others is not noticeable. The image is glossy and clear with nice detail in many scenes. An early interior scene in chapter 4, where Anderson goes to the bar, appears a bit dimmer than the open, sunny scenes that preceded it; but although the image looks slightly softer and offers less in the way of solid detail, it still retains the clean look that the picture captures throughout. Detail is often very nice. Look at the corduroy jacket Anderson wears in chapter 7. It's not remarkable, but it still offers a nice texture and depth that provides a bit of realism in the image, as do the old wooden posts the make up a corral that reveals every knot, crack, and scar. While the film takes on a rather dusty, tan colored palette, various additional colors seen in the film do look sharp. The purple shirt Wil Anderson is often seen wearing is reproduced well, for example. Flesh tones appear a bit rosy, and black levels are solid but not completely inky in every dark scene. The Cowboys offers pleasing visuals sure to impress both newcomers to the film and established fans of the film, of Wayne, and of the genre.
The Cowboys presents listeners with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. There is simply nothing like a classic Western theme, and that's exactly what we have here: some good old, down home, rip-roaring cowboy movie music that sounds fine over the opening credits. If you thought John Williams (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) only composed music for big budget, noisy epics, listen to his score for The Cowboys to gain an entirely new perspective on the composer's range and talent. It lacks just a bit of lifelike definition and fidelity that we would likely hear from a lossless reproduction, but it provides a solid few minutes of sonic entertainment nevertheless, and it screams "Western" through and through. The guitar picking heard in chapter 19 is deep and pure, a fitting, simple theme to a brief cattle drive montage that follows it. The soundtrack is mostly front-heavy, focusing on dialogue in most scenes, and the dialogue is slightly muffled and too low in volume in select scenes. It's never unintelligible, but it could probably stand to be slightly more clear. Various sound effects, such as the mooing of cattle on the drive or the beating of hooves into the earth are reproduced to decent effect across the front. The Cowboys doesn't offer the most dynamic soundtrack, but is does provide a decent enough experience that flows well with the film.
The Cowboys rides onto Blu-ray with a few fascinating supplemental features. For starters, viewers are treated to an audio commentary with the film's director, Mark Rydell. Rydell discusses the joy of working with Wayne and the amazing experience that was working with the famed actor and shooting a vast, epic western. The director discusses Wayne's participation in the film, his stunt work despite his various ailments, and his genuine, pleasing personality off-camera. Rydell talks in further detail about the entirety of the primary cast, how they all learned to ride horses for the film, and the pointing out of various difficult-to-shoot scenes. Despite some momentary gaps in the track, Rydell's analysis is laid back and very informative, a joy for anyone who loves The Cowboys. The Cowboys: Together Again (480p, 28:39) features actors Bruce Dern, Roscoe Lee Browne, Robert Carradine, A Martinez, Stephen Hudis, and Norman Howell, Jr., along with director Mark Rydell as they share their memories of the making of the film. Rydell begins the discussion by recounting how the film initially came about, and the actors follow by reminiscing about the experience of working under Rydell. The piece moves along with stories from the experience of working on The Cowboys, and the participants seem genuinely excited for having the opportunity of making the film -- and reuniting years later. The Breaking of Boys and the Making of Men (480p, 8:50) is a vintage featurette that further explores various aspects of the making of the film, focusing primarily on the young men who worked on the film. Amongst them, six were expert riders and two were city boys who only knew how to act. This is a fine piece that shows its age but proves engaging nevertheless. Finally, the film's theatrical trailer (480p, 3:07) concludes the supplemental features.
The Cowboys is a classic Western with plenty of important themes, including human bonding, trust, and respect. It is also a coming-of-age tale that works because the cast -- from the youngest stars to Wayne and Browne -- understand and embrace the film's thinly veiled themes. The more superficial aspects of the film -- the breathtaking cinematography, the rousing score, the action choreography, the writing, and the pacing -- are all top-notch. The Cowboys is an honest, down home film that explores deep themes while entertaining audiences, and is one of John Wayne's finest hours in a career filled with awe-inspiring pictures and roles. Warner Brothers' release of The Cowboys onto Blu-ray is most welcome. The disc features fine picture and decent sound quality, but neither will excite audiences in search of the next high powered, full-throttled Blu-ray. With a few fine extra features to go along with it, however, The Cowboys is a hard disc to say "no" to for fans of the film, Westerns, or The Duke. Recommended.
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