Watch Cowboy For Free

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Talking to a friend recently about up coming sales soon to be taking place in the post-Holiday season,I was surprised to hear that HMV were planning to hold a 25% off sale in the next week or so.With having heard for a number of months about HMV being on pretty "shaky" ground,I decided that this would be the best time for me to cash in the £2 which I had gathered in credit on their loyalty card.Walking past the aisles filled with clunky,cheap plastic looking headphones,I originally hoped to pick up Walter Hill's Southern Comfort,but quickly found out that this batch of southern hospitality was no where in sight in the store.Being in the mood of watching a Western very soon,I was pleased to find,in amongst the vastly overpriced other titles ( £10 for a 1 disc edition of The Searchers!) a Western co-starring an actor from the TV show Bewitched!,which,with a little bit of help from my money off points,I could pick up for a wallet breaking £2.The plot:Feeling down after being ordered by his boss to empty the room where his secret love's family has been staying, (who give Frank Harris a special bonus,by telling him that he can not go near their daughter again,after Maria Vidal's dad finds out that Harris has secretly been writing poetry to her) due to one of the most wealthiest cowboys coming to stay in the hotel with his gang,Frank Harris decides to take the first opportunity that arrives,when he discovers that "wealthy" cowboy Tom Reece is planning to leave the hotel after one night,due to having lost all his cash gambling with his buddies. Convincing Tom to stay at the hotel,Frank gives Harris every penny of his savings,so that he can rebuild his reputation at the gambling table.Going back to the table with a new sense of vigour,Reece quickly wipes the floor with his opponents and regains all of the cash that he had previously lost.Thanking Harris for his generously,Tom decides to meet Frank the next day,so that he can give him back his savings,and also give him a "personal" thank you,by including all of the extra cash that he won the previous night with Harris's money.To Tom's complete surprise,Frank tells him that he does not want any of the money to be given back,but to instead be given something that money could never buy:become one of Reece's cowboys.Astonished by getting an offer of his turned down for the first time ever,Reece grudgingly agrees to Harris becoming a cowboy,when his gang tells him,that if Frank is willing to show this much daring to get into the saddle,he should be a perfect fit for their huge upcoming task of safely transferring cattle across a vast distance.Originally expecting to find his new job as a cowboy to be one filled with camaraderie and thrilling adventures,Harris soon finds out that there is a much darker side to being a cowboy than he ever could have expected.View on the film:Opening with a dazzling,stylised title sequence by Saul Bass,director Delmer Daves uses Tecnicolour in the first half to brilliantly put the viewer in the bright red cheeks world of Frank Harris,where every object in the hotel is covered in spilling colours and the opportunity to become a cowboy is connected to a strong sense of wonderment and awe of discovering "the great outdoors" for the first time.Showing the excitement in Franks life,Daves contrasts the shining colours in the first half by giving the film an atmospheric,moody downcast appearance,which shows that Franks dreams are far from the bitter reality,which instead of being filled with shootouts and riding into sunsets,has Harris starting to relies that he is only part of a machine,and also witnessing death at the most unexpected moments.Along with expertly creating two contrasting atmospheres,Daves also makes each of the movies excellent action scenes ones that feel very realistic,with a particular highlight of the film being a scene which involves playing a "game" with a bull,that is intensely shoot close so as to make the viewer feel that the bull could kill the "player" at any moment.Whilst his work on this adaptation of Frank Harris's autobiography would sadly be kept hidden for years,due to being blacklisted at the time (which led to fellow writer/actor Edmund H. North "fronting" as the writer of the movie) the screenplay by Dalton Trumbo gradually shows Harris's changing personality in an expertly handled subtle manner.Making Franks initially encounters with Reece ones that feature a light Comedy touch,Trumbo shows the wide open arm way that Harris's initially treats Frank and his fellow cowboys to harden,as Harris finds all his fantasy crushed,to instead be replaced by a world packed with bitter,mean and cold hearted people.Although the wonderful supporting cast (which includes a charming Dick York and a cute,future Mrs Marlan Brando Anna Kashfi) are disappointingly given half sketch roles,Jack Lemon and Glenn Ford both give mesmerising performances,with Lemon showing the smirk which had hidden behind Harris's innocent smile,and Ford showing Reece's sudden fear that Frank might be transforming into him.

Cowboy (1958) Glenn Ford, Jack Lemon, Brian Donlevy, King Donovan, Richard Jaeckel, Dick York, Victor Mendoza. A young starry eyed bell boy Harris/Lemon in a fancy Chicago hotel idolizes the violent and hard living trail hands who storm into the hotel where he works. The "boss" gets to drinking and gambling and ends up borrowing money from the young man, who gets a sworn promise that he now owns half of the assets of Ford/Reese. When Harris shows up at the rail yard ready to go with them back to Texas, Reese gets nasty and tells him to get lost. But Harris is stubborn and Reese relents. His Ramrod, Mendoza says "he must be telling the truth or you would have killed him by now." A favorite western. Parts are cliché, but so many details of life on the trail are shown as hard and unsentimental of humans or animals, that it is difficult to watch at times. Ford at his hard-as-rock best, and Lemon as his befuddled but good guy best too; some great scenes together. The cattle drive is a classic theme and this one is on a par with Red River and the Wayne/Clift pairing, IMHO. Always a pleasure when the pros are in charge. 9/10

Jack Lemmon, a hotel desk clerk, yearns for the life of a cowboy, listening to his pardners sing lonely prairie songs, with his horse by his side, and lazily lying under the stars, dreaming. Record abruptly stops. Glenn Ford says it's no picnic but can't talk him out of it. Their partnership started, because Jack had $3,800.00 savings to invest and Glenn wanted funds for gambling. Glenn took it. But of course. Money! But Glenn didn't know Jack! With him, came more than just another mouth to feed. From one escapade and scrape, they came to dislike each other intensely. Glenn Ford can get this expression, like he'd just as soon kill ya than look at ya. And Jack, who's not cast usually in westerns, gave right back to him. As you can tell, I liked this film very much. It didn't rose-color or make light of the lifestyle of the cowboy. Brian Donlevy, Dick York (Bewitched's Darrin #1), Richard Jaeckel, and Strother Martin give solid support. This film is very respectful of its subject matter and at the same time entertains with three-dimensional characters. Jack's character, Frank Harris, wrote the book, from which this film is based. The heart and wild spirit of the cowboy who roams and lives hard are all here in this film for you to find.

This is one of these weird movies you just need to watch and ignore that you really can't believe anything you see. After all, the film, when you think about it, makes very little sense. But, it is quite unusual and entertaining--something not often seen in this genre. So, overall, it's worth seeing.The film begins in Chicago. A mild-mannered guy (Jack Lemmon) is working at a hotel when a group of rough cowboys checks in to the place. Despite being VERY different from these rough guys, Lemmon begs the cowboy's boss (Glenn Ford) to take him on the cattle drive. This is because Lemmon is infatuated with a girl and if he travels with the cattle drive, he can see the lady on the way. Reluctantly, Ford agrees and it's soon very obvious that this city boy is way out of his element. Ford is tough and uncaring--and Lemmon is appalled by this lack of humanity. However, through the course of the film, Ford relaxes a bit and learns from Lemmon and Lemmon becomes a nasty guy--much like Ford. This conversion really was VERY tough to believe, but the plot was different.I think Lemmon was wrong for the part. While you could believe him as a city boy, seeing him as a rough and tumble cowboy later in the film never convinced me--and was pretty funny. This change was formula--but not believable. Still, as I said above, the film was different--and I love a western that is not just another carbon copy of the last.By the way, although in a MUCH smaller role, it also seemed silly to have Dick York (the first Darren from "Bewitched") playing one of the cowboys! This, too, didn't work.