MovieChat Forums > Cowboy (1958) Discussion > Waste of time

Waste of time

posted 19 years ago by mtupper1
18 replies | jump to latest

I just watched "Cowboy" this afternoon on AMC and actually regret spending almost 2 hours on it. As I understood it, Jack Lemmon was all about the girl. The father basically laid it out for him that marriage with her would never be, and this crushed Lemmon, so, he joins a cattle drive to figure out a way to make it happen. He goes on the trip top experience cattle life and see the girl in Mexico. If the whole purpose of the movie was to get the girl, why would it end so abruptly and with no further mention of her after their short interlude while in Mexico. Granted, there was character growth where Lemmon and Ford adapt some of each others' personality trais, and we get a small glimpse of open range life, but I really resent the fact that the story dropped the love interest, the point of the film as presented in the first 5 minutes. Am I totally off-base in my opinion?

[–] robertinlosangeles 18 years ago

yes. you're way off base, since you ask. just saw it on TCM. really appreciated it for what it is. don't know who you are (M/F) or where you live or even if you're 1) in the u.s., or 2) if you like westerns, so can't comment further. rather than trash a movie here at IMDB, why not just change the channel?

[–] darkshines99 18 years ago

Hmmm,I was kind of disappointed that the love story didn't lead anywhere! Meh,I only watched it because Jack Lemmon was in it!

[–] MissSugarKane 17 years ago

I only watched it when it was on telly because Jack Lemmon was in it! Dunno why. Maybe my signature can explain. I did like this movie though. Jack was great!

Jack Lemmon: America's Sweetheart
"It's Magic Time"

[–] cowboydesperado-1 16 years ago

gotta disagree with the OP...Lemmon (while not even close to being a good movie cowboy) did well as the city boy learning the ropes, and Glenn Ford, well--he's one of the all-time great film cowboys. The opening credit sequence by the always-excellent Saul Bass, and the music (a well-orchestrated 'Streets of Lradeo'/'Cowboy's Lament') was super (and later used--or something very similar--on the TV series 'The Big Valley)...

vaya con dios...

'We all dream of being a child again - even the worst of us. Perhaps the worst most of all...'

[–] jkerr8 16 years ago

Jack Lemmon's character did not go on the cattle drive to get the girl. That was only extra incentive to follow a long-time dream of his. He told Glenn Ford that he had already spoken to "all the other" trail bosses and been turned down. The fact that he didn't get the girl was, I thought, a realistic turn of events that furthered his character development. Glenn Ford told him at one point to learn from it and move on and Jack Lemmon told him to stuff it. But at the end of the movie, Lemmon made eyes at a different pretty girl in the Chicago hotel lobby, indicating that he had indeed learned his lesson. Getting the Mexican girl would have spoiled the story and been a completely unrealistic outcome.
By the way, the actress playing the Mexican girl had an absolutely horrendous Spanish accent. Which isn't surprising, given that she was born in Wales.

[–] wtl471629 16 years ago

This was actually based on a true event and a book was written by the Jack Lemmon character

[–] Kalamata 16 years ago

the girl born in Wales was Anna Kashvi who was mostly famous for being married at one time to Marlon Brando.

[–] pauliwog1 13 years ago

Many foriegn movie goers have some difficulty with the "Western", it is iconic American. In this western Frank is told by Maria's father than you are not of, or cannot understand our way of life. In that day and time the west was already romanticized in print,so every boy wanted to be a cowboy. Frank took Maria's fathers insult to heart and decided to become one of their people (a cattleman). Frank thought that by becoming not just a cowboy but a herd owner he would be able to court Maria. Much of our film is based on Greek tragedy and can be simplified by studing the basic plays. Many of todays film goers have little education and therefore film has evolved into car chase scenes and horror slasher flicks. Understanding many films deeper meaning requires some desire for knowldge. It can be as simple as reading say, the book this screenplay was based on, or countless hours of viewing the genre these films represent. The chracter Frank ultimatley learns that there is more to life than just his carnal desire and that risk involves the relization that you can not have everything in life that you want as Mari tells him when she meets him out on the mesa. Unfortunately for todays movie fans there were no fast car chase scenes in the old west, so they have difficulty focusing on a film and following dialogue between poking their cell phones like a monkey.

[–] lexyladyjax 12 years ago

I resurrect this Zombie thread for a single reason only: no one's given the real reason Frank gave up on her when he arrived at her father's hacienda, and that's because she was already married to another man. At the time, the Fifties, that was the end of romance in the movies.

Frank had to give up that part of his dream since Maria belonged to another man, lock, stock and barrel. Good guys didn't chase another man's woman (yes, she was his property) so since Frank was a good guy in this film, he gave up the idea of having Maria for his own.

[–] moonspinner55 14 years ago

The screenwriter used Harris' broken heart over losing the girl to show an arc of character--his toughening of temperament and a firm resolve to see the cattle-drive through--in an interesting and realistic way. This wasn't a love story. It was a character study.

[–] jerseyscouts-879-183588 13 years ago

This isn't Sophocles?
It's a 50s Western, nice cast (maybe Donlevy's last flick), easy to follow story line and plot...naive tyro grows up 'taut suite'. The Senorita was nothing more than a device to get Jack on a horse headed South and prove he wasn't a bellhop loser.
Actually, it was also kinda 'edgy', in that at the time Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and Clayton Moore were all on TV weekly, singing to their horses and saving the ranch from Black Bart...this flick along w/subsequent others, kicked that mush to the curb.
Though it has nothing on 'The Cowboys' which is some kinda Western!

[–] Captain_Augustus_McCrae 13 years ago

Honestly, I don't think the OP is a troll trying to stir up sh!t. I DO think he is shallow and has a limited attention span. And yes, his opinion IS "way off base". But thanks for asking, OP.

"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's living!!!"
Augustus McCrae

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] martycthomas 12 years ago

Yes, Sorry, but You're totally wrong about this Movie. The Girl/Woman was nothing more than a Minor Distraction. Jack Lemmon had always wanted to be a Cowboy in a Cattle Drive going cross country. So when the opportunity presented itself He took it. I'm not sure why they even put the Woman into this mix. This Movie aside from that is As Close to Authentic as You can get. They were able to Recreate a Cattle Drive as it was in 1800's in the American Southwest. Before the Barb Wire Fences Chopped it up into Sections(Literally) & the Railroads added enough Spur Lines to make Driving Cattlle no longer Necessary nor Desirable. When You Drive Cattle You have to let them Rest Periodicaly & Eat to Prevent Weight Loss & Even Death. Nobody wants a Skinny Cow when it's headed for Someone's Plate in a Chicago or New York Steak House. Refrigeration then was very limited, huge & only used by the Restaurant & Grocery Industry. Ice Houses were much more Common than any kind of Refrigeration. Refrigerated Cars merely had large amounts of Ice in them. That's why these Animals were Shipped Alive. I give this Movie a 4 to 5 Star Rating because it is Unique & Well Done, with Great Actors. A Classic Western. If anything I have Deduct for the Side Story of the Romance that Never Happened. It was just out of place! Just My Opinion! By the way one of My Trades is Refrigeration, so I'm very Familiar with the History of the Science & Art of the Field. Including Mad Doctor Carrier who had a Giant Machine in the Basement of His Mansion just for Air Conditioning. A lot of People thought He was Crazy, but if You've ever spent a Record Summer in Austin, or Riyadh You know it was a Brilliant Idea!

[–] m-j-mooney 12 years ago

Well, it kind of IS Sophocles - as all good westerns are.

As a lifelong western fan, I was slightly surprised that I was completely unaware of this film until I saw it on British TV last weekend. Jack Lemmon??? Who knew??? And it's based on a "true" (ish) memoir by on other than Frank "My Life and Loves" Harris (one of the great 19th Century dirty books to his credit there).

It had its faults, sure, but I did enjoy it, glad I finally discovered it.

[–] skiddoo 12 years ago

The woman was important to help bracket the action. In the beginning was the beautiful ideal when he was full of romantic notions about life, the universe, and everything. At the end we see much of that has been knocked out of him and he has a more down to earth view of women, et al. In its own way, this is a coming of age film.

It reminds me of Teddy Roosevelt's western adventure after his wife died. He went out a dude and came back a cowboy.

[–] Piperson 12 years ago

I'm with you, Skidoo. I almost skipped this thread because the OP didn't like the movie. But I did and am glad others did too.

I thought Glenn Ford was very magnetic and charming. I wished I could have gone to the opera with him. There was lots of authentic cowboy stuff and I thought that bull with the red horns was a real devil even if his horns weren't real.