Wil Andersen (John Wayne) is an aging rancher who traveled 30 miles that day and didn't find a single hand that could throw in with him
Anse Petersen (Slim Pickens) suggests to his best friend to hire local teenagers as cowboys for his 400-mile cattle drive
So, in the morning the children came very early to put in for the job
Obviously, nobody of them has been on a cattle drive
For a cook, Wil hires a black man, Jedediah Nightlinger (Roscoe Lee Browne), who asked to be paid $125 knowing he should be got flooded out, stampeded out, frozen out or scalped by wild Red Indians
However, a group of rustlers led by Asa Watts (Bruce Dern), the man with the long hair, came looking for work
But they were lying
They were after Andersen's 1,500 head of cattle
One day, Andersen knew that Watts and his gang have been paralleling him for the herd
He also knew as soon as it's dark they'll be coming in
He doesn't know how rough they'll get
But right now they think they're one man and a bunch of kids
When Jedediah falls behind with a broken wheel on the chuck wagon, Asa makes his move for the herd, engaging Wil in vicious fight
There is a funny scene when two of the children meet on the trail a traveling bordello madam led by Colleen Dewhurst
And a touching scene where all the boys steal a whiskey bottle and have a little party, discussing the various attributes of their cooker, and his pretty independent character
Filled with exciting adventure, gentle amusement, visually stunning photography, but most importantly how to want to see these children growing up so quickly, "The Cowboys" stands simply as one of John Wayne's best Westerns