COWBOY (1958)

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Delmer Daves

SCREENWRITER: Edmund H. North, Dalton Trumbo

FILM STARS: Glenn Ford, Jack Lemmon, Anna Kashfi, Dick York,  King Donovan, Brian Donlevy, Richard Jaeckel, Vaughn Taylor, Frank DeKova, Strother Martin

COUNTRY: USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Clair Huffaker

TYPE: Novelization

PUBLISHER: Gold Medal Book

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1958

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Frank Harris

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1930

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: My Reminiscences as a Cowboy

NOTES

GENRE: Western

WORDS: Directed by the great Delmer Daves (who was a screenwriter himself) this was written by Edmund H. North and Dalton Trumbo (who did not receive a screen credit because he was blacklisted at the time) and then novelized by (novelist and screenwriter) Clair Huffaker. It reads as the film plays but with enough western colour to give it the look of a thoughtful novelization.

Based on Irish-American Frank Harris’ semi-autobiographical novel “My Reminiscences as a Cowboy” it is a (quite realistic) greenhorn goes west and fish out of water story, about the growth of a man taking a herd of cattle from Mexico to Kansas. I’m not sure how much Trumbo contributed to the script (some suggest North just fronted for him) but Edmund H North was no slouch. He had done westerns including the thoughtful “The Proud Ones” (1956) and “Only the Valiant” (1950) but he also wrote the science-fiction classic  “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (1951) and then later worked on the script (and won an Oscar for) “Patton” (1970). Glenn Ford, popular throughout his 50+ year career had an especially golden 15 years between about 1953 – 1968. He was in great form here as the experienced trail boss though it’s not a stretch for him and it isn’t a role much different to  his in “The Sheepman” (1958), “The Violent Men” (1955) or “Jubal” (1956). Jack Lemmon in the 1950s was also on fire, here playing a variation on the (overly) tally Easterner character he played a lot. The supporting cast is populated with western faces like Richard Jaeckel, Frank DeKova, and Strother Martin , stalwarts like Brian Donlevy and King Donovan and in pre-Bewitched large-ish role Dick York.  Lead female Anna Kashfi had a a short career and its better known for her even shorter marriage to Marlon Brando.

Filmed on location  in the US south west the film was intended to be a more realistic look at a cattle drive in the west. I assume it was a reply to the many standard shoot em up westerns which would then, at the same time distinguish it from them (though in some ways it is similar to the excellent 1951 film “Cattle Drive” with Joel McCrea and Dean Stockwell). It was successful which led of course to more standard shoot em up westerns and any number of cattle and cowboy television shows like “Rawhide” and “Bonanza”.

Delmer Daves is, perhaps, one of the most undervalued and underestimated of post war American directors, probably because he worked in genre movies (albeit A-grade ones), especially westerns. There is, in all his films, more than meets the eye. Under the genre conventions and tropes there are 3D characters and thought of time and place that elevates his films. He is aware of social norms and forces and seems to be progressive as progress, represented by civilization, science, and knowledge, is generally seen as a positive force for Daves, who like director John Ford seems to prefer customs and positive societal and familial groups at the expense of individualism. That’s not to suggest there is no action in his films, there is, they are after all genre films, but the characters aren’t just shooting their way through problems and seem to acknowledge that other people exist on the planet. French film maker and critic Bertrand Tavernier once called him the “ethnical romantic”. I like that. His westerns are some of the best of the 50s, “Broken Arrow” (1950), “Drum Beat” (1954), “Jubal” (1956), The Last Wagon (1956), 3:10 to Yuma (1957), Cowboy (1958), “The Badlanders” (1958), “The Hanging Tree (1959).

The book is an entertaining and easy read. The film is wonderful.

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