The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972) Poster

User Reviews

Review this title
54 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
8/10
Wish I'd Seen This as a Young Man
Bob-452 October 2006
Had I seen "The Culpepper Cattle Company" when it was released (I was 23), my life would have been a lot different; at least, if I'd understood and accepted the message. For, "The Culpepper Cattle Company" is about as bleak and realistic as any movie ever made. Gary Grimes plays a teenager with romantic, adventuresome ideas about cowboys. He learns, tragically, something completely different, after working for a short time on a cattle drive. Grimes doesn't just learn the usual lessons; that is, the work is exhausting, dirty, always dangerous and frequently unrewarding. He learns that most causes and people are treacherous, deceitful, selfish and certainly not worth dieing or killing for. Grimes also learns a lot about himself; some of which he probably didn't want to know.

There are a lot of fine performances in "The Culpepper Cattle Company," but Geoffrey Lewis makes the strongest impression. Lewis has such crazy blue eyes, it's no surprising producer Sergio Leone tapped him for head villain in "My name is Nobody" and Eastwood did the same for "High Plains Drifter." Here, Lewis plays a man who, under different circumstances, was probably quite decent. Now, he's just mean spirited and dangerous.

"The Culpepper Cattle Company" also boasts excellent production design, gritty photography and classic, memorable score by the beloved Jerry Goldsmith. Just don't expect to leave this movie feeling upbeat, inspired or even sad. You're more likely to feel slightly depressed. That being said, I give "The Culpepper Cattle Company" an "8".
25 out of 28 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Authentic looking but violent
matchettja26 September 2009
"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.
8 out of 8 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
very well done and largely unheralded
bjguilfoyle30 January 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I first saw this film in the 70s, and ranked it as one of the best westerns I'd ever seen. Watching it again 25 years later, it's as good as ever. The performances are great across the board, and the story, characters, and photography have a hard edge that gives the whole thing an air of authenticity. This is how I imagine the real west must have been: a tough life, with quick and often violent justice and retribution. It hardly ever shows up on TV, which I can't understand.

The performances of Geoffrey Lewis and Billy Green Bush are spot-on. I couldn't believe this was one of Lewis' first movies; he portrays the semi-psychotic Russ Caldwell perfectly.

As mentioned in other reviews, the climax is slightly flawed, abrupt and stretches credibility a bit, but it's still effective. I would have liked one more final scene with the Kid and Frank, though.
11 out of 12 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Interesting story about a young who wishes to be a cowhand and he gets it , but with unexpected consequences
ma-cortes6 November 2014
This first-rate Western draws its riveting tale and power from the interaction of finely drawn roles as well as adventure and action . Good and enjoyable western with a great casting and a sensational starring , teenager Gary Grimes , in a coming-of-age story . This exciting film packs Western action , go riding , thrills , emotion , shoot-outs and results to be quite entertaining . It contains a magnificent main cast as Gary Grimes , Billy Green Bush facing off bandits and a tough land baron ; in addition , a top-drawer support cast as Luke Askew , Bo Hopkins , Geoffrey Lewis , Royal Dano , Gregory Sierra , Matt Clark , Jerry Gatlin , Anthony James and film debut of Charles Martin Smith . This is a nice flick containing a little bit of charming humor about naively adolescent , friendship , violence in Sam Peckinpah style and sense of comradeship among people . It's a sympathetic western , with a beautiful cinematography , glamorous scenery and great soundtrack . It deals with a young adolescent farmboy named Ben Mockridge (Gary Grimes) who always wanted to be a cowhand talks a two-fisted trail boss (Billy Green Bush)into hiring him on a cattle drive . Soon after, though, the teen finds out existence on the range is neither what he expected nor what he's been wishing . As Ben Mockridge feels life in a Wild West farm town has nothing better to offer , as he only enjoys horse-cart racing with his friends , so he begs cattle company owner Frank Culpepper to engage him as youngest cowboy for a long cattle trail and his mummy barely notices . He then is hired for the dangerous journey that turns out to be worst than expected , suffering hard-working activities , stampede , robbing , gun-play and many other things .

Formidable Western full of action , fascinating drama , cattle round-up , crossfire and fabulous performances . It's a wonderful adventure film format "western" itinerant, filled with entertaining events , danger and life lessons . This exciting film packs good feeling as friendship , faithfulness , companionship and violent as well as touching scenes on the final . The screenplay is plain and simple, with a conventional plot , but ultimately gets overcome . Gorgeous outdoors with decent production design by Carl Anderson and Walter Scott who takes a secondary role . Filmmaker gets to remain the Western emotion , moving scenes and suspense until the ending . The young starring player Gary Grimes (Summer of 42, Class of 44)is phenomenal , his role as an ingenuous teenager is top-notch , he performed similar character as a naive cowboy in other films (The Spikes gang and Marshal Cahill) ; however , he virtually disappeared without much trace and nowadays is retreated and working as a teacher . And there shows off Charles Martin Smith at the beginning of the movie , both of whom played together in ¨The Spikes gang ¨as two young gunfighters , Charles will have too much success on the future as a prestigious secondary (Starman, Untouchables) and a good filmmaker .

Cool cinematographer Ralph Woolsey prowls his camera splendidly through some wonderfully seedy , deserted and rocky settings . Evocative and atmospheric musical score by the great Jerry Goldsmith. This agreeable Western was well directed by Dick Richards , recreating compellingly this thrilling story ; being debut of Richards and whose best movie resulted to be ¨Farewell my lovely¨ . Furthermore , before entering the film industry , Dick Richards was a contributing photographer for Life magazine , subsequently turning into filmmaking . Dick is a good craftsman who has directed a few films but of great quality , such as this ¨The Culpepper Cattle¨ , ¨Death valley¨ , ¨Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins ¨ and ¨March or die¨ which along with ¨The Culpepper Cattle Co¨ were both financed by the great producer of blockbusters Jerry Bruckheimer . Besides , Dick found the script for 'Tootsie' and co-produced it with Sydney Pollack . Rating : above average , essential and indispensable watching for Western genre fans .
6 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Revealing Anti-Western
dougdoepke21 December 2015
This is an unduly neglected work that sank quickly into audience oblivion - the Vietnam seventies were not a good time for Westerns. True to the iconoclasm of the period, the producers set out to debunk the mystique of the cattle drive, and in the process take a big swipe at that arch-romancer of the Old West, John Ford. They only half-succeed. Put simply, their stab at realism is undone by too much gunplay, too much blood, and way too much conventional violence. Staples of the ordinary Western, their presence here only serves to reinforce the usual clichés. Much better when the story-telling cowboy refuses Geoffrey Lewis's challenge by quitting the drive, saying a gunfight over trifling matters makes no sense. That's certainly no cliché. The role reversal at movie's end is stunning, given what Hollywood has led us to expect. Nevertheless, it works by bringing out a latent code of honor that at times can guide even the most brutal among us. Here Ford is trumped by Kurosawa. There are many fine touches in the movie. Billy "Green" Bush is totally convincing as the ruthless trail boss; Gary Grimes, appropriately callow; and the four gunsels, alternately abusive and sullen, while Geoffrey Lewis's cold-eyed stare bespeaks a lifetime of casual cruelty. Not the best of anti-Westerns, but deserves consideration.
5 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Such a great cast in this one.
Hey_Sweden17 January 2014
"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.
3 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Culpepper Cattle Co
angelup30200227 November 2006
My son and I just watched Culpepper Cattle Co.

and I was wondering if you or anyone might know who sings Amazing Grace on the movie? They sing it towards the end when they are putting their dead in the ground. Whom ever sings it has a wonderful singing voice. I would love to know who is singing the song in the movie. I have heard this song a lot but never as good as i heard it on the movie. Im hoping you can tell me or maybe someone who knows can tell me. My son and myself thought the movie was good and would love to see it again sometime. My son loves western movies and thats about all he will watch. He really enjoyed this movie.I think if your into westerns then you would enjoy this one. it's a 1972 movie and a very good movie to watch. thank you for your time, Im hoping someone can answer my question.
4 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
On My List of "Top 10" Westerns
aimless-4627 March 2005
Although a small movie, "The Culpepper Cattle Company" is arguably one of the top ten westerns of all time. It takes a fairly basic but relevant coming of age story and sets it in the American West. But the "been there-done that" stuff gives way to something that has extremely heavy Peckinpah influences. Like "The Wild Bunch" (and Bo Hopkins gets to reprise his Clarence "Crazy" Lee role) this becomes a violent anti-violence film with blurred lines between "good guy" and "bad guy". As with Peckinpah's "Straw Dogs", moral ambiguity is the theme and it is not until near the end that the four drovers, pressed to finally take a moral stand, redeem themselves with a final act of personal responsibility.

In addition to a good characterization from Hopkins, Geoffry Lewis plays the wrapped a little too tight "Russ" with an over-the-top Gary Oldman-like flare, and Luke Askew does a masterful job as the drover who provides early clues that these are four guys who have had to subordinate their basic goodness in order to survive in this environment. Billy Green Bush plays "Frank Culpepper" who remains focused on business to the exclusion of any lost causes. Bush played the likable "Elton" in "Five Easy Pieces" who was responsible for the classic Nicholson line: "don't tell me about the good life Elton, the good life makes me want to puke".

Also exceptional is the cinematography and the production design. Back in the ancient 1970's, only the high budget pictures had production designers. The others had to rely on the cinematographer to make sure the art director, the set designer, and the make-up/costume people were all on the same page; so that the picture had a consistent look. Ralph Woolsey was one of the better cinematographers at keeping all these elements under control.

It became popular after Robert Altman's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" (1971) to replace the well-scrubbed Roy Rogers look and portray the west as dirty, dusty, gritty, unshaven, and tattered. Woolsey eagerly embraced this realism in 1972 and gave us two of the grimiest features we are likely to see; the excellent "Culpepper Cattle Company" and the somewhat lame "Dirty Little Billy".

The shootout scene in the saloon (midway into the film) is more climatic than the final scene. Not until "The Unforgiven" has there been so much action-so fast-on such a tiny set; yet Woolsey captured it all and the post-production people assembled it into a neat and logically sequenced package. So you can follow the whole thing with very little confusion.
42 out of 47 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Fun in the old west
rimnod7 October 2004
I caught this movie on TV last week---seems like I have not seen it for at least the last ten years. It doesn't seem to be run much. However, it's a western worth watching.

I note that many of the posters here pay tribute to it's "realistic" qualities----- It does come from a bit of a different angle than the traditional Hollywood western. But it was made in the early seventies --so some change was due by that late date.

I especially like Green Bush as Culpepper. A fine natural performance---he almost had to be playing himself up to a point. I also liked Patrick Campbell who played the otherworldly Brother Ephraim. I have to agree with one other of the previous posters that the end of the movie was a bit contrived ----I mean how many gunfights in the old west between at least a dozen participants end with every single man (except the kid) on both sides dead at the scene?----Just a bit too bloody for purposes of realism.

The ending is in effect an echo of TheSeven Samurai--with the warriors charging in to defend the weak and helpless----the only thing is that at least Kurasawa had enough sense to leave a few guys standing at the end of his pic. All in all--CCC is first rate and holds up well even after 30 years.
4 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
True look at the Old West
TonyMan26 November 1998
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.
33 out of 37 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
Dispels romantic notions of the wild west
zaphod7182811 June 2011
Watch this film. It will dispel any romantic notions you might have about cowboys in the wild west. It portrays them as the ignorant wretches that they were. It is equally unkind to religious zealots and capitalists.

The film is relatively slow moving, but that is likely a successful attempt to capture the boredom of the life of the cowboy. The sense of isolation in an unforgiving, vast expanse of territory is also brought out well.

From a human/ensemble perspective, this film fails to convince. Personally, I did not bond at all with the set of characters whom I was obviously supposed to. The acting is somewhat better than mediocre. An exception is Anthony James, who evoked in me quite an infuriating response, but who has a minor role.
4 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
"The only thing I like about this job is going into town, and getting out of town"
brujay-124 August 2006
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.
15 out of 17 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
Shades of Peckinpah
Leofwine_draca3 June 2018
Warning: Spoilers
THE CULPEPPER CATTLE CO. is a little-known and little-appreciated western in the Sam Peckinpah mould. It's also a coming-of-age drama about a young cowhand (Gary Crimes) who joins up with a gang of men who go on various scrapes and adventures and often find themselves outside of the law. An ensemble cast work hard to convey their characters here, with the inimitable Geoffrey Lewis standing out as a typical hard case. The dense storytelling is punctuated by the occasional burst of realistic violence, and things build to an appropriately satisfying climax. It makes for solid viewing.
2 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
How the west wasn't
hebertjj1 November 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I've heard all the "Western Classic" comments but I would call it a Seventies Classic view of the old west. Unlike some real Western classics like "The Searchers", "Rio Bravo", "Open Range" and others, this film left me with a bad taste in my mouth both because of characters and the so called realism. It seems like every character in this movie had either a major flaw that made them unbelievable in their role. A kid with a widow mom that regularly races the wagon and team? How long is that going to go on before he's got a wreaked wagon, a dead horse, and financial ruin? Taking off for Colorodo without even a slicker or a bedroll? A trail boss that lets his men get close to a shootout between themselves and lets a green kid take the night watch alone after just losing four men to rustlers? The settlers the men died for don't even have the decency to bury them and then the final straw was the kid throwing his gun away after the burial. Good Grief!!! He's out between home and Colorado, been thru several gun fights and he decides to throw his gun away and head home(?)!!! This is just going too far to make a peace statement for the end of a bloody movie. The wranglers have lost nearly all their guns, five men and horses, and $200; he could at least round up the horses, guns and money and take them back to the drivers.

I could go on and on, but basically, everyone the drivers run into needs to be shot and some of the the drivers could use a good flesh wound themselves. Just because the cowboys are dirty and dusty instead of clean and in fancy shirts, doesn't make it realistic. I really felt lead on after sitting thru this movie.
5 out of 16 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
It's probably the most underrated western of all time
jeffhill14 March 2002
I've only seen "Culpepper Cattle Company" once. That was in a cheap theater in Tokyo in 1973 that showed three different films for the one admission price of 350 yen, which at that time was the dollar equivalent of about $1.50. For the past 30 years I have been waiting for it to come around again, come out on video, or appear on television. One of the co-features in the theater that day was "Bad Company" with Jeff Bridges and John Savage. That is another underrated film which has never returned. What fascinated me about "Culpepper Cattle Company" was its escalation in gritty cussedness. We start out with two wild boys recklessly racing wagons. One of them joins these seemingly foul mouthed, onery lot of cowboys. On the trail a couple of even morally worse characters steal the boys horse. But the cowboys are more intimidating than they are, so they give the horse back. Then, the cowboys encounter a farmer with his hands as back up who are even more threatening than the cowboys, especially since the farmers have the drop on them. These foul mouthed, gritty, onery cowboys are, by comparison, looking better all the time. They even give up their lives so that some pilgrims can settle down in peace. And finally, we see who is absolutely the WORST in depravity. It's the pilgrims who, to add insult to injury, won't lift a hand to bury the cowboys who have given their lives for them since they have this sanctimonious thing against having anything to do with people who engage in violence.
9 out of 13 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Mean mean mean!!! That Culpepper is MEAN!
DJAkin4 October 2003
That is why I liked it. The bearded man FRANK CULPEPPER wants to get his cattle to Colorado NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES!! He has some real cowboys with him and they look SUPER GRUFF!!! The kid is annoying. The cowboys are all very non emotional and dont' care about nothing. There are good killing scenes in this WESTERN. Blood on the Range!!
1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
"Kid, cowboying is something you do when you can't do nothing else."
classicsoncall12 May 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Well now, this was one slow moving Western, wasn't it? About the same pace as herding cattle seven or eight miles a day across the open prairie. I guess that was the point, as just about every scene and event in the picture was meant to support my summary line above. The cowboy's life was dull and dreary, and the day to day grind of swallowing bucketfuls of dust was only exceeded by forcing down some slop the camp cook put together at the end of each day. So much for the glamor and romance of the Old West.

The film makers took an interesting approach here. Not a single major player appeared in this picture, so it was cool to spot some of the better character actors of the day in support of the action. Geoffrey Lewis and Bo Hopkins stood out as hired hands on Culpepper's (Billy Green Bush) cattle drive, and Royal Dano made his mark as the leader of the cattle rustling bunch.

One thing I particularly liked was learning about the old rattlesnake in a glass jar bit. I'd try making a few bucks on that myself if I could round up a rattlesnake and a jar to put him in. I thought of a way to beat it though, you just have to close your eyes when you take the bet.

I'll tell you what really ticked me off though. After Caldwell's (Lewis) men decided to go for broke and face off against the bully rancher at the finale, the leader of the pacifists turned around and said we're outta here. What? After the gunmen gave their lives for a noble cause? That just wasn't right. It appeared young Ben (Gary Grimes) had the wrong takeaway from that lesson. I'd have saddled up and joined old Culpepper to finish what I started.
1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Pretty cool action western.
Boba_Fett113831 July 2006
This is a simple straight-forward action western that is an enjoyable one to watch.

This is not the kind of movie that really has a main plot line or purpose for all that matter. It's a movie that's filled with events, that just happen as they come. It makes the movie a very straight-forward and realistic one, with a typical gritty '70's touch. It also doesn't make the movie predictable in any way. Really not bad for such a formulaic genre, which western is.

Basically the whole movie is about the becoming of a man. The young Ben Mockridge joins the Culpepper cattle company with as intension of becoming a real cowboy. He slowly transits from an inexperienced boy to a man as the story progresses, by drinking, sex and killing. It's interesting to see a western that is told from the point of view of a young boy who does his very best to become a good and touch cowboy and to gain respect from the other older and more experienced cowboy's he rides with.

But really, if you're a bit familiar in the genre there is no way you can regard this movie as a masterpiece. Let's face it, this movie is a rather simple one that does entertaining but never really impresses. The story is also to inconsistent to call this movie a very interesting one to watch. But no, none of this really matters much, since the movie does serve its purpose well. The fact that the movie is straight forward make this movie a pleasant one to watch and it has some nice action as well.

The movie does have some pretty interesting characters in it. Some of the cowboys are some great tough guys who all have their unique great personality. It's sort of too bad that the title character isn't a great one. Frank Culpepper is a pretty weird looking character who is too unpredictable to really like him. The actors are really the best either but all fit their role well. It was quite nice to see a very young Charles Martin Smith in his very first movie role as well.

It's pretty weird and quite surprising that Jerry Bruckheimer was a producer of this movie. It was his first movie and his special touch was still missing here but its still sort of cool to see his name attached to this. The same goes for composer Jerry Goldsmith. I never know he scored western's as well by the way. Not that his score for this movie is much special though. He composed it together with composer Tom Scott, who now only mainly score TV-projects.

The movie its style is typically '70's like, which not only means that its gritty and realistic but its also a technical experimental one. Especially the cinematography is experimental. It has some odd camera-movements that at times also work quite surprising well and effective.

By no means an essential viewing but when you decide to watch it you won't regret it nevertheless. It's a pretty cool simple straightforward western, with some good bold action, which certainly entertains.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
1 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
A western classic!!!!
12Charlie25 July 2003
This is easily one of the best westerns made. So overlooked and no real good reason why. It was so well done and the cast is some of the best western actors you can get!!!! Everybody connected with the making of this film did an outstanding job and Billy Green Bush was the stand out performance as the trail boss. The realism was unmistakeable! A very well done film and highly reccomended to all. This film MUST be released onto DVD soon!
26 out of 33 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Its a really pleasant western
christopher-underwood7 September 2022
It's a really pleasant western that is something a bit different. There are not any big skies except the odd sun set and nothing of the mountains. But instead there are a lot of cattle and a drive in dust. There are not really any stars but many people we recognise them from several films, such as Billy Green Bush and Luke Askew. The young teenager, Gary Grimes had been in a couple of films and the year before he was in Summer of '42 (1971). He joins the Culpepper company as he wanted to be a cowboy and he does. The cattle are impressive and although there is action it is rather realistic and the cowboys all look much the same as any others. At the end there is more action and the gunfight with a lot of going on confusing with the church settlers in the middle remind me of Peckinpah. Nothing thrilling going on but still it is rather splendid.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
A Great Film That Has Jerry Bruckheimer In The Credits !
Theo Robertson21 November 2002
I normally hate westerns but I could watch THE CULPEPPER CATTLE COMPANY over and over again . This a bleak nihilistic extremely well written western that`s also understated . Don`t you get a feeling that Frank Culpepper built his cattle business through illegal activities ? This is never disclosed but the signs are there . Best of all is the characterisation , man there`s some really nasty people here , imagine the school bullies from hell riding about on horses and you`ve got the idea and the cast make the most of their roles , special mention goes to Geoffrey Lewis and Bo Hopkins . The only reason I can think off why IMDB members have given this film a relatively low vote is because they`re turned off by the violence and amorality of this film . Well I guess if you were brought up on the all American values of John Wayne`s wild west THE CULPEPPER CATTLE COMPANY may very well shock you.

Perhaps the most shocking thing is the fact that the associate producer is one Jerry Bruckheimer ! Yes it`s that Jerry Bruckheimer the man who produced shallow popcorn blockbusters like BEVERLY HILLS COP , TOP GUN , ARMAGEDDON and PEARL HARBOR and who is probably the most powerful figure in Hollywood today

But don`t let the name of Bruckheimer put you off this great film , this is every bit as great as THE WILD BUNCH which also featured Bo Hopkins in a similar role
21 out of 31 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
The glamorous life of a cowboy
bkoganbing16 May 2017
The Culpepper Cattle Company finds young Gary Grimes rather bored with life in his small farming community so he goes off to what he imagines from dime novels as the glamorous life of a cowboy. A lot of the same ground was covered in the Glenn Ford/Jack Lemmon western Cowboy done in the 50s.

This film makes that one look glamorous. He signs on with Billy Green Bush's trail drive and one thing is certain, Grimes just does not have the right stuff. He also finds that cowboying is dirty, dusty work day after day which can be filled with danger from the elements or from your fellow man.

One thing is certain, there ain't no law out there so to speak so one makes one's own. In the end actually trying to act like movie cowboy heroes gets a lot of people killed.

Such familiar folks on the drive as Bo Hopkins, Geoffrey Lewis, and Luke Askew are among the trail hands. There's one really nasty and psychotic villain in John McLiam who emerges in the last third of the film.

In the near future Grimes would be featured in a John Wayne western, Cahill, US Marshal. But The Culpepper Cattle Company is about as far away from a Wayne film as you can get.

But it's a sleeper of a good western.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
this is the west that really was
partee-boyee30 June 2006
Long before Clint Eastwood made "Unforgiven", "The Culpepper Cattle Company" was THE standout film for a glimpse into the lives of people trying to survive in a tough, unsympathetic old West. Gary Grimes played the part of a youngster itching to become a man on the drive. Like the audience members, Grimes is full of romantic vision, which is almost immediately dashed when he gets himself hired by Frank Culpepper (Billy Green Bush). What happens thereafter is that Grimes and the audience must cope with the fact that (in those days) there was no law, and often no justice. The meek suffered, and the sentimental get run over by the ruthless and bitter.

The quality of the camera work and the sparse sets create the sense of stepping into a time bottle. The story and characterizations are utterly believable and often haunting. Make no mistake, this is the west that was, and credit goes to the film's makers for this sleeper of a classic.
12 out of 17 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
The depressed Old West...
moonspinner559 February 2008
Tenderfoot western with young Gary Grimes as an overeager greenhorn who begs salty cattle boss Billy "Green" Bush for a job on his cattle drive; seems he wants to get away from Ma and life on the farm, but also to be a real cowboy (apparently an occupation you take up "when you can't do nothin' else."). Didn't we cover this territory already with Jack Lemmon and Glenn Ford in 1958? Director Dick Richards made some good movies in the 1970s, but his debut here lacks substance (it deliberately lacks heart). Grimes is so open-mouthed innocent and vacuous, he can't do anything right; assigned to watch over the horses, it's predictable he'll end up horseless (after running afoul of horse thieves, naturally). The dusty, muddy cinematography from two DPs, Lawrence Edward Williams and Ralph Woolsey, is appropriate and vivid, causing some to label this a 'realistic' western. Unfortunately, the minute the actors start speaking, the film loses vitality, conviction and interest. *1/2 from ****
3 out of 16 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
When Little Mary Became A Man.
hitchcockthelegend8 April 2015
The Culpepper Cattle Co. is a splinter of the Western genre that was tagged as revisionist. Often the makers of such Oaters went for a more grizzled look at the West, even demythologising the Hollywood Westerns that had proved so popular for decades. Directed by Dick Richards, The Culpepper Cattle Co. is one such picture.

Young Ben Mockridge (Gary Grimes) wants to be a cowboy, to work on the drives and hone his gun play skills. When trail drive boss Frank Culpepper (Billy Green Bush) is in town, Ben begs him for work and is thrilled to be hired as the cook's Little Mary. What he isn't so thrilled about is actually what it's really like out there on a drive...

And so it comes to pass, young Ben is at the bottom of the cowboy ladder and Richards and his writing team ensure there is no glamour to be found. The drive is beset with thievery and rustling, killings, stampedes, inner fighting and very hard work for very little pay. The men on the trail all look the same, they dress the same, they smell the same, they are all worked hard and understand the same weary banter.

What camaraderie there is is kept to a minimum, they are a team in a working sense, but their loyalty only comes to the fore when they are tasked with fighting and killing' enemies. The bars are not all bright and sparkly, with a well suited man playing a piano, no these are dingy holes with dirty glasses. No bordello babes either, just a hapless lassie loaned out for services by a barkeep who has in his own mind some tenuous right to have her in his keep.

This is purposely downbeat, with the photography by Lawrence Edward Williams and Ralph Woolsey emphasising this fact by stripping back the colours for authenticity. While Jerry Goldsmith and Ralph Woolsey's musical score is deftly restrained, perfectly so. The story moves to its final conclusion, a confrontation that excites and depresses equally so, for even in the whirl of bullets and thundering hooves, the realisation dawns on Ben, and us, that nothing changes the life of the cowboys out there on the drives. It's live, work and die. Cowboyin is something you do when you can't do nothing else - Indeed! 9/10
7 out of 9 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
An error has occured. Please try again.

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed