Simply Perfect

Absolutely brilliant

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

I was watching this revisionist western on TV, a movie from the early nineteen seventies Vietnam Era, for the first time in 45 years, and i had remembered the thread of it pretty well. With it's historic cast of familiar faces if not exactly familiar names the movie paints a gritty more realist view of the western frontier sometime after the civil war though the movie is abstract to it's exact setting. This is an episodic trail movie, with threads of plot rather than having a big story line, other than that it is set during a cattle drive jointed by an idealist naive green horn and it is this character the film centre's on played sympathetically by Gary Grimes more famous for the "Summer Of 42" a big success the previous year, he is again cast to portray innocence and he is very capable in the role. The movie shot in washed out sepia tones painting a lush dreamlike vision of the frontier, dry, dusty, dirty and deadly for many. The music reinforces the film's revisionist anti violence anti hero credentials with laconic soft tones that compliment the soft filtered photography. In the final analysis the movie has nothing very profound to say, yet it is never less than very watchable as it herds it's long horn's to market, it is the journey within not the destination, that matters.

At last a fresh and demystifying western "The Culpepper Cattle Co" suprise me with so many characters can easily develop and fit in a real movie,each single small role has your value to discovery through the picture,a real portrait of old west,no fake romance,no beauty girls,no heroes,just a true and cruel all along the journey,violent as shown in many scenes,a true piece of art came to light better late than never,actually this one was a unknown gem by the mostly who loves this specific and unique genre!!Resume:First watch: 2018 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8.75

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.

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.