When his ranch hands abandon him to join a gold rush, aging rancher Wil Andersen is forced to find replacement drovers for his upcoming 400-mile (640 km) cattle drive. He rides into deserted Bozeman, Montana, where his friend Anse Peterson suggests hiring local schoolboys. Andersen visits the school, but departs, skeptical that such immature boys could handle the job.
The next morning, the boys show up at Andersen’s ranch to volunteer for the drive. Andersen reluctantly tests their ability to stay on a bucking horse, and as they successively take turns, Cimarron, a boy slightly older than the others, rides up. He subdues the test horse but then gets into a fight with Slim, the next-oldest boy. With no other options and somewhat impressed, Andersen hires all of the boys, though he sends Cimarron away after the older boy pulls a knife on Slim during another fight.
Andersen locks all of the boys’ guns in a box that will be kept on the chuck wagon during the drive, and they practice roping, branding, and herding cattle and horses. While they prepare, a group of mysterious men led by Asa “Long Hair” Watts shows up asking for work, but Andersen catches Watts in a lie about his past and refuses to hire them. The arrival of Jebediah Nightlinger, a black cook, completes Andersen’s crew.
On the trail Andersen notices Cimarron following the herd, which slightly nettles him. When Slim slips off his horse while crossing a river and Cimarron appears and saves him, Andersen decides to let Cimarron join the drive.
Slowly, the boys become good cowhands, impressing both Andersen and Nightlinger. One day Dan, a boy who wears glasses, is chasing a stray horse when he stumbles upon Watts and his gang of cattle rustlers. Watts, who reveals he has been trailing the herd, releases Dan but threatens to slit the boy’s throat if he says anything to Andersen. Dan is reluctant to go on watch that night, but Andersen, who thinks the boy is just afraid of the dark, convinces him to do his duty. Dan drops his glasses off a cliff overlooking the cattle, and Charlie, another one of the boys, falls off his horse and is trampled to death when he goes to get them.
Soon after, the chuck wagon throws a wheel. While the others continue on, Nightlinger and a boy named Homer hang back to handle the repairs. Seeing this, Watts and his gang come out of hiding and begin to openly parallel the herd. Andersen sends another boy named Weedy back to tell Nightlinger to rejoin the herd as soon as possible and then gathers the remaining boys together. So they will not be harmed, he tells them to act like boys rather than the men they are becoming when the rustlers approach that evening. Dan tells Andersen he knew Watts had been following them but was scared to tell, and Andersen comforts the boy.
After dark, Watts and his gang surround Andersen and the boys in their camp. They deliver a battered Weedy, and Watts forces Andersen to surrender his gun and begins to taunt Dan. Andersen finally intervenes when Watts crushes Dan’s glasses, and a brutal fist fight ensues between Andersen and Watts, with Andersen ultimately coming out on top. He tells the boys to get ready to leave and starts to walk away, ignoring Watts’ calls to stop. Watts shoots Andersen in both arms and a leg before shooting him twice more in the torso. The boys remain passive as instructed, and the rustlers steal the herd.
In the morning, Nightlinger and Homer rejoin to the group and find the boys tending to Andersen, who is near death. Andersen instructs Nightlinger to take the boys home and in his final moments tells the boys how proud he is of them.
Following Andersen’s burial, the boys overpower Nightlinger and seize the box of firearms stored in the chuck wagon, planning to avenge Andersen’s death and finish the cattle drive. When they catch up to the rustlers, Nightlinger offers to help the boys make a plan. The boys silently kill three of the outlaws and then use Nightlinger to draw Watts and the rest of his gang into an ambush. Riding in among a stampede of horses, the boys kill all of the rustlers except Watts, whom they find pinned beneath his horse with a foot entangled in a rope. Rather than kill him outright, Dan cuts the reins so the horse can get up and Cimarron spooks it with a shot, sending Watts to be dragged to death.
Once the boys complete the drive to Belle Fourche, South Dakota, and sell the cattle, they have a stonemason carve a gravestone with Andersen’s name and the inscription “Beloved Husband and Father”, a reference to the paternal role Andersen came to hold in their lives. Unable to find exactly where they buried him, they place the marker in the approximate location of his grave and head for home, accompanied by Nightlinger.
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I remember the applause after that scene in the theater when I was a boy
Today, with the audience. Be shocked, or would they still understand?
What a bunch of sick people commenting here. Thats not how speech impediments work. Thats not how anything works. Bullying someone till they are "fixed" is an insane concept that doesn't work and you should be ashamed to even entertain the idea.
What a phony. He had a chance to prove how tough he was and he took a pass.
The Cowboys and Big Jake are my two favorite John Wayne movies.
This is why you're kids don't know if they B boys or girls parents never learned them nothing
Boys are hard I have 3 and 2 daughters they were worse than the boys but my family is all grown and happy married and own familys
That's how my old man taught me. He used the belt, and he didn't stutter.
"Tough Love" from The Duke but it worked!!
Sounds like my ol daddy…..
In Color. Must be the 60's.
In the end, we must leave our children with something besides just love. They must learn to face their adversities, And confront them. After all, victory means nothing without facing Adversity. And our world is turning into a participation award for weaklings.
Pickle. Puffer😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I love this movie.
One of the best movies he ever made.
Mr Hobbgood was just like the duke he was a man i Still mirrow
Thumbs up one of my favorite movies
Yes, he was really hard on him. Funny thing about those old school types, though, when it came to "his" boys. If you, as an "outsider" pulled that trick, he'd have you spitting teeth for a week. And, as seen in the movie later on, God help the silly son-of-a-bitch that went after Mr Will Anderson!!!
Loved this movie ,to bad it ruined Bruce Derns career
This is most definitely one of my all time favorite John Wayne movies 🎬 ever indeed!,👍.