Just as John Wayne kicked off the bottom of the list at #100 he kicks off the bottom of the second half as well with
The Cowboys which may as well be subtitled
The One Where Bruce Dern Shoots John Wayne in the Back. Directed by Mark Rydell (
On Golden Pond, The Rose) who originally wanted George C. Scott for the main role, but Wayne fought for the part. At the time his conservative politics, including continued support for the Vietnam War, were separating him even further from the younger filmmakers and actors beginning to take over the industry. By both sides deciding to work with the other the result is one of Wayne’s better movies from the end of his career. This time The Duke is a Montana rancher who winds up hiring a pack of inexperienced schoolboys (including Robert Carradine in his film debut) for a big cattle drive after all of his hands head to California for a gold rush. He is suspicious of some older hands who attempt to sign on, led by Bruce Dern, so he dismisses them. His instincts are correct as they are rustlers who shadow them on their perilous journey. It leads to the infamous moment when Dern’s long-haired character shoots the unarmed Wayne in the back, and a finale where the boys, now experienced hands, take the herd back by force.
It was not the first time one Wayne’s characters died in a film, though two of the rare former instances were War movies (
Sands of Iwo Jima and
The Fighting Seabees) and the only two Westerns where he bit it were
The Alamo, which was based on an historical battle where everyone died, and
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance where his death is not on screen and revealed years later. To have his paternal figure not only shot but shot while defenseless and walking away was a big change from the invincible Wayne who remained unbeatable even as he aged. As the story goes Wayne warned Dern that he would be forever hated by his loyal fanbase to which Bruce replied, "Yeah, but they'll sure love me in Berkeley." Dern, who was already an established Western presence himself by then having appeared in many television oaters coming up as well as comedies (
Waterhole #3 and
Support Your Local Sheriff!) and
Hang ‘em High with Eastwood,
Will Penny with Chuck Heston, and
The War Wagon with Wayne and Kirk Douglas, he did receive scorn and even some death threats in the years following the release of the film, presumably from generations closer to Wayne’s age than Dern’s.
Featuring a rousing John Williams score
The Cowboys received only seven votes but an impressive five of them were top tens with a six, a seventh, a ninth, and a pair of tenth place nods.
Directed by Martin Ritt (#88
Hombre) his fourth of six films with Paul Newman is still considered one of the icon’s best performances. Newman plays a good looking cad, the titular
Hud Bannon, the son of Homer Bannon (Melvin Douglas) who is an honest and deeply principled Texas rancher. Hud seems to have few of the principles his father cherishes and spends most of his time drinking and bedding inappropriate women rather than helping with the cattle. Hud’s teenaged nephew Lonnie (Brandon deWilde) also lives on the ranch as does Patricia Neal’s Alma Brown, a trusted housekeeper. The contention between Hud and his father has mainly to do with the death of Hud’s brother, and Lonnie is caught in between the influence of these two powerful figures. For those who found the ten-year-old deWilde’s central performance in
Shane too shrill (you can’t see me, but I am enthusiastically raising my hand) he gives a very good performance ten years later here in a very different kind of Western.
Hud was nominated for seven Oscars including Best Director and Best Actor and it won three for the master James Wong Howe’s gorgeous black & white cinematography, Melvin Douglas as Best Supporting Actor, and Patricia Neal as Best Actress. It was Newman’s third of what would be nine nominations as an actor and he wouldn’t win until his seventh for
The Color of Money twenty-three years later, but the troubled and largely unlikeable yet charming Hud is surely one of his greatest roles.
Hud was on eight ballots – one more than
The Cowboys – including a third, a fourth, and an eighth place as well as three twenty-fourth place votes, oddly enough.
The Sons of Katie Elder, North to Alaska, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Shootist, Red River,
The Cowboys, Two Mules for Sister Sara, and Pale Rider