The Cowboys

One of my favorite western movies ever was Warners Brothers' 1972 John Wayne hit, The Cowboys. This epic centered around cowboys who were actually just boys. I wasn't much older than they when I enjoyed this film with some buddies of mine at a Saturday matinee, downtown at our one local theater. Featured famous actors included Bruce Dern, Roscoe Lee Brown, Colleen Dewhirst, Slim Pickens, and a very young Robert Carradine, from the famous Carradine family, making his movie debut as one of the boys.  John Williams wrote the incredible score that accompanied this film.

John Wayne played Wil Anderson, an old rancher, whose cowhands abandoned him for a gold rush, leaving just before they were needed to drive 400 head of cattle to a distant stock yard. Desperate and against his better judgement, Anderson visited a one room school house and eventually hired about a dozen little boys to help him get those bovines to market. 

Following are some scenes of the boys in the bunkhouse, ready for bed in their union suits and nightshirts, the night before the adventurous cattle drive. 

Upon an unexpected late night arrival, the boys don't quite know what to make of their new cook, Jebediah Nightlinger, played by Brown. He had been hired to fill the boys' stomachs on the arduous journey ahead. His appearance scares them so, that they scurry for cover and the safety of their beds.

Mr. Nightlinger slowly walks across the bunkhouse room, stops in front of young Slim and makes him move his gear and guitar out of his bunk so he himself can bed-down and sleep in the place the boy had chosen.  

Three of the boys work up the nerve to approach and begin asking him questions. 

None of them have seen a black man before. 

Nightlinger then begins to tell them the story of this life making the hairs on the back of their necks stand up!

Now, you boys hit the hay! We head out at sunup! They scramble to do as they were told!

If you've never seen this Warner Brothers movie or if it's been awhile, do yourself a favor and purchase, rent, or stream this film on any number of platforms. It is excellent! 

Here's the YouTube video bunkhouse scene (copy and paste):

https://youtu.be/JOARPYLOujQ