Of Reel Cowboys & Real Cowboys – Dec. 1971

Back in December 1971, John Wayne (a favorite on this blog) was promoting his upcoming movie The Cowboys in the media. The movie, directed by a young director named Mark Rydell and due for a January 1972 release, was to be a different type of movie for the Duke. 

Why was it different? Well, for one thing, it wouldn’t have any of his old buddies in it (like Ben Johnson or Bruce Cabot). The plot was a little different than the usual John Wayne movies; in this one he enlists a bunch of young boys for a cattle drive, serving as a sort of surrogate father to them.

But mainly it was different because he gets killed in it.

I remember seeing the movie with my family at Amherst Theater and getting pretty teary-eyed when the Duke was shot to pieces by Bruce Dern. I still think it was just an attention-getting gimmick.

Below is an article about the Duke and his interaction with the director of the film. It appeared in the Journal on December 15, 1971.

That same month on December 26, 1971, an article appeared in the Journal about a real cowboy named Jack Hart – a 99-year old cowpoke who was born in Oklahoma in 1872. In the article, he looks back at his life on the range in the waning days of the Old West, as well as on the rodeo circuit. He also offers several interesting observations about guns, Indians and horses, and claims to have known Teddy Roosevelt.

The story kind of reminds me of the one in which an elderly man claimed to be Jesse James in 1948.