| The Cowboys |
 |
| ABC Network |
| 1974 |
| Drama |
| 30 Minutes |
Set in the 1870s New Mexico Territory, this
was the story of widow Annie Andersen
(Diana Douglas), her ranch foremen Jebediah
Nightlinger (Moses Gunn) and their attempts to
run a homestead with the help of seven young
orphan boys (aged 9-17).
These "cow" boys were originally hired by Will Anderson, the owner
of Longhorn Ranch in Spanish Wells to move his cattle to market in
Dodge City, when he couldn't find any real cowhand to employ.
Unfortunately, Will is killed by rustlers and so, with the help
of Jebediah, the boys fulfill Will's wish sell his
herd.
With money in hand, Jebediah and the boys return home and
inform Will's wife of the tragedy that befell her husband. Under Kate
and Jebediah's guardianship, the seven boys stayed and helped run
the ranch.
The youthful cowpokes that Will Andersen hired included:
- A Martinez as Cimarron
- Robert Carradine as Slim
- Sean Kelly as Jimmy
- Kerry MacLane as Homer
- Clint Howard as Steve
- Mitch Brown as Hardy
- Clay O'Brien as Weedy
Marshal Bill Winter (Jim Davis) was a friend and father-figure.
TRIVIA NOTE:
The series was based on the novel by W. D.
Jennings and the movie The Cowboys (1972)
starring John Wayne.
In the movie version, when a desperado called
Long Hair (Bruce Dern) tries to rustle
Andersen’s cattle, Will speaks his mind: “You
look like the vermin’ bitten son of a bitch you
are.”
When Long Hair begins to taunt a young
boy, Will shouts, “We’ve seen what you can do to
a boy. How are you when they come a little
bigger?” “You’re a pretty old man”, replies Long
Hair. “Yeh, thirty years older than you are. Had
my back broke once, my hip twice and on my worst
day I could eat the Hell out of you.” Andersen
started the fight with a punch to Long Hair’s
face.
Unfortunately, the defeated desperado reaches
for his gun and put five bullets into the man
who had bested him. On his dying bed Will says,
“See the boys get home. Summer’s over.”
After he dies, the young boys finish the cattle
drive but not before dispatching all the
rustlers, including Long Hair (he dangled upside
down off his saddle as his horse dragged him and
his broken leg through the brush and to his
death).
On a segment of TNT production Big Guns Talk:
The Story of the Western (1997) Bruce Dern
remembered that just before he filmed the
killing scene, actor John Wayne leaned into him
and said, “Eww, they’re (the American public)
gonna hate you for what you about to do.”
Obituaries: Moses Gunn: 12/16/1993; Jim Davis:
04/26/1981
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