Tenderfoot western with young Gary Grimes as an overeager greenhorn who begs salty cattle boss Billy "Green" Bush for a job on his cattle drive; seems he wants to get away from Ma and life on the farm, but also to be a real cowboy (apparently an occupation you take up "when you can't do nothin' else."). Didn't we cover this territory already with Jack Lemmon and Glenn Ford in 1958? Director Dick Richards made some good movies in the 1970s, but his debut here lacks substance (it deliberately lacks heart). Grimes is so open-mouthed innocent and vacuous, he can't do anything right; assigned to watch over the horses, it's predictable he'll end up horseless (after running afoul of horse thieves, naturally). The dusty, muddy cinematography from two DPs, Lawrence Edward Williams and Ralph Woolsey, is appropriate and vivid, causing some to label this a 'realistic' western. Unfortunately, the minute the actors start speaking, the film loses vitality, conviction and interest. *1/2 from ****
Review of The Culpepper Cattle Co.
