COWBOY

US, 1958, 92 minutes, Colour.
Glenn Ford, Jack Lemmon, Brian Donlevy, Richard Jaeckel.
Directed by Delmer Daves.

Cowboy is the third in a series of Westerns made by Delmer Daves with Glenn Ford (when he was at the peak of his popularity, making at least fourteen films from 1955-1959). The other two were Jubal (1956) and 3:10 to Yuma (1957). It is a generally well-made film with some excitement, some humour and some comment on the life and traditions of the West.

Cowboy intended to show something of the hard working West as it really was, how legends were possible, not because of the buying, moving and selling of cattle, the tough outdoor life.

The film is based on the memoirs of Frank Harris who changes from noble clerk to cattle king. The film traces his education as a cowboy and as a man, faced by the clashes of personality of real people. Thus it deals with the smaller details of the cowboy life, giving an air of authenticity to the outdoor sequences.

Glenn Ford has a difficult role. He is meant to show the old style cowboy and his harsh side and yet also show something of the commonsense heroism of these men compared with the callow and superficial reactions (whether noble or tough) of the next generation. Jack Lemmon, in his younger days, plays the Harris role well, showing the complexities of what it is to be a cowboy and what it is to be a man.

1. What kind of West did the director try to portray in this film? Was it a mythical heroic west or a realistic West?

2. How much of a hero was Tom Reece? What were his good qualities which the film asked us to admire? what were his main defects?

3. How was Tom Reece a typical man of the West - cattle, tough, wealthy, swank in Chicago, opera, drinking and gambling, yet basically straight up and down and a man of his job and responsibilities?

4. Why was Frank Harris so ambitious to be a cattle man?

5. How did the sequences of Harris' initiation on to the trail give a picture of the realities of the life on the cattle trail? How naive was Harris? How fast did he learn? What role did Reece play in his education?

6. Was the love story of great importance for the film? What part did it play in Harris' education?

7. What was the point of the fooling around with the rattlesnake, the death, Reece's words at the funeral and Harris' reactions?

8. What was the point of the fiesta sequence and the putting of the ring on the bull's horn?

9. Was Harris right in his appeal to the men to help Charlie? Why did Reece's reactions and fighting make him so bitter?

10. Why wasn't Harris grateful when Reece helped him with the cattle?

11. How did Harris turn into another Reece - or did he? Reece said he hadn't become tough but miserable. How true was this?

12. Was Doc an important character in the film? What side of the old West did he represent? Why did he kill himself? What was the reaction on Harris, on Reece? How did his death bring matters to a head?

13. What impact did the Comanche incident make on you? What did it show about the Indian's place in the West?

14. What had Harris learnt by the end of the film? Was he a better man than at the start of the film? Why?