The Culpepper Cattle Co.

Surely one of the best westerns of all-time, & has to be THE most authentic western ever made, I cannot think of another to match it. Carefully crafted screenplay, told it how it really was, the characters brilliantly played by everyone involved. But it's authenticity is what makes it so fascinating a film to watch, it literally transports you back in time, a real history lesson. Some great iconic one liners, 'Don't stand behind me, boy!' & 'Why put a name to something you might have to eat!?' Geoffrey Lewis, Billy Green Bush & Gary Grimes were riveting in their portrayals. Lewis's hard-man character, so sinister, you really did think, 'This guy is a psycho!!' Bush played the trail weary boss with such attitude it made you acutely aware the hardships & dangers these men faced for so little reward. Grime's naive young character was played to perfection. A great piece of American history, & I have to say, the violence is not overdone, nor is there too much of it, compared to many other western films. If this film is not stored somewhere in a State Library, well, it should be!

Others have summarized this film quite well. I would only add that it's unique in being the only good film I can readily remember that consists of nothing but supporting players. Not a star among 'em. Billy Bush Green, Geoffrey Lewis, Luke Askew, Bo Hopkins and many others are indelibly played, e.g., the stuttering barkeep who keeps a "genuine former virgin" in the back room; the Mexican cantina owner who keeps a rattlesnake in a jar and wins money from customers by betting they can't hold their hand against the glass when the snake strikes; the preacher who declares of the land his followers stop at as the "place God has chosen for us" until the shooting starts and he decides to move because "God was only testing us."

Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette it ain't. Catch it if you can.

"The Culpepper Cattle Company" really looks and feels authentic, as if you are actually witnessing a cattle drive in the year 1866 being led by trail boss and cattle owner Frank Culpepper (Billy Green Bush). That's because, for one thing, a lot of dust gets kicked up and nobody is clean. And the cowboys talk as though they are real cowboys. They complain about the dust, and the food, and the work, and the low wages, and just about everything else. At night, they tell tall stories around the campfire, mostly about the women they've been with. Pete (Matt Clark), the best storyteller, spins a yarn about all the naked Parisian women you could see on the second floor through the glass ceiling. Hilarious.

Two other interesting characters in the drive include the trigger-happy, touchy Russ (Geoffrey Lewis) and Dixie Brick (Bo Hopkins), who gets his kicks from seeing guys get shot. Those two engage in this crazy hysterical laugh before the final shootout.

All of this is seen through the eyes of young Ben (Gary Grimes) who hires on as a little Mary (cook's helper). He wants nothing more than to be a cowboy but soon finds out things are not quite as he imagined. When he tells the cook how much he wants to be a cowboy, he gets told that cowboying is something you do when you can't do anything else. After he asks Luke (Luke Askew) what his horse's name is, he gets told that you don't have to name something you might have to eat.

Expect a lot of violence. This was made in 1972, a couple of years after "The Wild Bunch" had set the standard for the wholesale slaughter of men.

I feel this is possibly the best Western I have ever seen. It portrays gritty people with simple outlooks to life. I believe this must truly show what the west was like - simple, rough, dirty, bad fitting clothes, etc. I was raised on Disney movies and when you compare this to them you get a real feel for what happens when a kid decides to chase a dream in the world of adults. My favorite line is when the kid tells one of the cowboys that being a cowboy is the greatest job in the world. The guy responds, " Kid, being a cowboy is what you do when you can't do anything else".

I suggest this as required viewing for anyone with an interest in the Old West.

"The Culpepper Cattle Co." is a good, solid coming-of-age story set in the Old West, done in the gritty post-Peckinpah style that lets us know that the characters in this tale are leading hard lives. It also becomes a tale of redemption as men neither "good" nor "bad" finally decide to take a stand and do something honourable. Director Dick Richards ("Farewell, My Lovely"), who also gets story credit, gets excellent performances out of a cast that includes many top character actors. Some viewers may not be able to stomach how violent things eventually get, but there are many fine moments along the way. There's no filler here, just simple and effective story telling, enhanced by the work of two credited cinematographers (Ralph Woolsey and Lawrence Edward Williams) and two credited composers (Tom Scott and the legendary Jerry Goldsmith).

Gary Grimes of "Summer of '42" fame stars as Ben Mockridge, who more than anything yearns to be a cowboy and gets the chance to work on a cattle drive supervised by tough, business-oriented Frank Culpepper (Billy Green Bush, "Five Easy Pieces"). As Culpepper and his company press on, they must deal with a cattle rustler (Royal Dano), a horse thief (Gregory Sierra), a trapper (Paul Harper), and personality conflicts, with hot tempered Russ Caldwell (an effectively wired Geoffrey Lewis) making trouble on more than one occasion. The biggest obstacle will turn out to be miserly land owner Thorton Pierce (a memorably hateful John McLiam), who's not inclined to be very understanding.

Ben's journey to becoming a man is a reasonably compelling one, and Grimes is fine in the role, but the show is stolen by his older co-stars. Also among them are Luke Askew ("Cool Hand Luke"), Bo Hopkins ("The Wild Bunch"), Wayne Sutherlin ("The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid"), and Matt Clark and Anthony James from "In the Heat of the Night". Also look for appearances by Charles Martin Smith, Hal Needham, Arthur Malet, and Dennis Fimple.

Well done overall, with some very sobering sequences and the occasional comedic touch; the action is intense and the violence, admittedly, is fairly shocking. It's enjoyable stuff deserving of a rediscovery.

Seven out of 10.