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 Excellent Story!-Better on Blue Ray Aug 21, 2010
I first saw this movie in 1973 in Sierra Vista, Arizona from an invitation by a boyfriend. We were both about 18 then. The movie theater had the latest in stero sound and the movie screen was huge. Let me say that "The Cowboys was one of best and heart warming movies I had ever seen but the DVD I am sorry to say does not do it justice. The New Mexico and Colorado vistas, the aerial shots on the opening credits just does not exhibit the exiting burst of emotion when this fantatsic movie was transferred to DVD. Also the movie was reduced in size which made the landscape and the action incomprehensible. This movie should only be seen in Blu Ray with stereo surround sound. I will buy the Blue Ray DVD and Blue Ray player. I did like the interviews with Mark Rydell, Bruce Dern, A. Martinez , Roscoe Lee Brown and 2 other cowboys. The still photos were nice. I will only reccomend this movie in Blue Ray and stereo sound if you want the total emotional experience of "John Wayne and The Cowboys"
 The Duke rules on Blu-ray! Jul 03, 2010
You all know the plot by now (or at least you should!), so I won't waste time rehashing it. I recommend the Blu-ray version of this movie for its' superior picture and sound, and also for special features! My favorite is a new featurette called "The Cowboys Remember", where the director (Mark Rydell) and some of the actors (Robert Carradine, Bruce Dern, Roscoe Lee Browne, etc.) reminisce about making the movie. Mark Rydell reveals how he purchased an unpublished novel and turned it into a movie, and how he almost didn't cast John Wayne for the lead! This is a really great movie, so don't pass up the chance to get it on Blu-ray.
4 of 5 found the following review helpful:
"The Cowboys" - another John Wayne masterpiece May 17, 2010
In the wonderful short documentary with director Mark Rydell and Bruce Dern (and three of the original young cowboys, now middle-aged), Dern says he was proud to be part of "the last great Western." With due respect given to "Unforgiven" and "Lonesome Dove," he's not far off. From 1972, this was one of John Wayne's final, fine films - and surely one of his best. As Wil Anderson, he has no choice but to recruit a group of actual "cowBOYS" to lead a cattle drive of 1,500 steer across 400 miles of rough country. Robert Surtees was the cinematographer and one of the greatest in his field - every shot in this picture is a work of art. The music by John Williams is one of his finest scores - indeed it is regularly performed at high schools and colleges across the country, including the Boston Pops. It is uplifting, bittersweet, and rousing all at once. The supporting performances, particularly memorable and timeless ones by Bruce Dern, Roscoe Lee Brown, and Colleen Dewhurst (who praised Wayne in her autobiography as a great actor), and the young cowboys themselves, all so emotionally engaged in their roles that none of it feels like acting, add to the grit and texture of the tale. And then there is John Wayne: timeless, heroic, and, as in the best of his performances, filled with good humor, and a vulnerablity and sensitivity that ignorant critics seem to always miss. He seemed to make it a habit of appearing in several of the greatest films ever made - and this is close to being one of them. Yes, the movie is violent. Yes, the boys forced into becoming killers makes it a strong story. But that is life too. We all wish for an "easy ride" through life - but it never happens. The film's message, beautifully foreshadowed at the beginning of the film with the schoolhouse scenes, which show a well meaning school marm trying to teach the boys genteel and sensitive things, is that life is, as Wil Anderson states in the film, "hard," and these boys, as much as we'd like to see them sheltered, have to learn that sooner rather than later. It's interesting the criticism the film has garnered - which tells you that critics knew it would have staying power because of its many virtues - because SO many of today's films ARE needlessly violent, with no theme, meaning, or story often apparent - and yet these films are regularly extolled for being "real" and somehow justified in their awfulness just because they show scenes of violence or perversion. "The Cowboys" is actually a REAL movie - splendidly filmed, written, scored, and acted - with amazing performances that pit the older star Wayne against the "Method Actors" of his time and he not only holds his own, he towers over them, without ever seeming to. It's a film that has improved with age. It speaks to our own confused era. I was the same age as the "cowboys" in the film when I first saw it. Now, many years later, expecting to find it wanting from my memories, it has only grown in stature - it was made with exquisite craftsmanship and it's there in every frame. Rydell's and the other's memories of John Wayne in the extra featurette, which is a wonderful addition to this DVD - which includes an actual set of 10 black and white postcards, suitable for framing (what a deal!) - may bring you to tears. Wayne almost begged Rydell for the lead part saying, "I'll do a great job for you, if you give me a chance." This is John Wayne speaking here - forthright, sensitive, not full of himself, and one of the greatest actors the film world has ever seen. There is no one even close today - no one. Grab this film and see how it's really done. One last note: this movie also has one other special feature that today's no longer have and which is also missed: an "Overture" of the music's marvelous music before the film begins, which used to let you anticipate the great event you were about to see; then an "Intermission," with more music, and "Exit Music" at the end. Just marvelous. "The Cowboys," along with "True Grit" and "The Shootist," are the three masterpieces of John Wayne's later period. All are worth owning and celebrating.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
The Cowboys May 12, 2010
The Cowboys The Cowboys is an interesting action movie. It was different than most of the John Wayne movies. Hiring boys to move his heard of cattle was great. It's another John Wayne movie I had to have and would recommend it to any John Wayne fan or any fan of western movies.
0 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Shipping problem May 07, 2010
This movie too is a good movie bu the corner of the case was broken on it also. I gave it to my son also.
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