Cowboy

Frank Harris is a hotel clerk in Chicago who dreams of being a cowboy. Rejected by the father of the woman he loves, he signs himself onto Tom Reece's cattle outfit. What he learns on the trail is that his idea of it was entirely wrong: the work is dull, dangerous and merciless, and protecting the herd comes before protecting the men. But as Frank changes he hardens, and now it is Reece who starts to be uneasy. Delmer Daves takes the western's own myth apart from inside. There is no heroism and no justice, and the romantic landscape has nothing on it but tired men. The two characters trading places is the film's real movement. Glenn Ford plays Reece and Jack Lemmon plays Frank, outside his usual comic register. Who it's for: Viewers interested in post-1950 westerns, films that interrogate the genre's myth, and the Glenn Ford and Jack Lemmon pairing. Who it's not for: There is little action and the pace is flat. The handling of the Mexican characters also carries the limits of its time.