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

The Culpepper Cattle Company finds young Gary Grimes rather bored with life in his small farming community so he goes off to what he imagines from dime novels as the glamorous life of a cowboy. A lot of the same ground was covered in the Glenn Ford/Jack Lemmon western Cowboy done in the 50s.This film makes that one look glamorous. He signs on with Billy Green Bush's trail drive and one thing is certain, Grimes just does not have the right stuff. He also finds that cowboying is dirty, dusty work day after day which can be filled with danger from the elements or from your fellow man.One thing is certain, there ain't no law out there so to speak so one makes one's own. In the end actually trying to act like movie cowboy heroes gets a lot of people killed.Such familiar folks on the drive as Bo Hopkins, Geoffrey Lewis, and Luke Askew are among the trail hands. There's one really nasty and psychotic villain in John McLiam who emerges in the last third of the film.In the near future Grimes would be featured in a John Wayne western, Cahill, US Marshal. But The Culpepper Cattle Company is about as far away from a Wayne film as you can get.But it's a sleeper of a good western.

One of the Best Unsung Westerns to Ever Fade from Consciousness so Quickly and Decisively. The Reasons for this are Elusive. It's got True Grit and a Cast of Character Actors to Kill for. Directed by Dick Richards, who also made another Forgotten Gem, the Retro-Neo-Noir "Farewell My Lovely" (1974) Starring Robert Mitchum, that is an Equally Forgotten Gem of its Genre.This One is a Beautifully Fulfilled Film with a Smart Minimalist Script of Short Profound Sentences, a Sun-Burnt Landscape shot with a Poetic Lense, and more than enough Stylized Violence to make Sam Peckinpah Proud.Should be on Every Buff's Best Westerns List. It doesn't get much better than this when taking on the Old West with the New Eyes of the 1970's (revisionist). It can Side with Ford, Hawks, Leone, and Peckinpah, and that's Saying Something. Sharply Rendered, Violently Presented, Character Driven Story with Timeless Appeal. It's a Film that Looks and Feels like it could have been made Today. A Must See for Everyone, not the Least is Western Fans and Anyone Interested in the "New Hollywood" of the Post-Code Era.

Having been brought up on a diet of westerns I count this as a little gem. Certainly part of the 70's revisionist set, with great lines like, "cowboyin's what you do when you can't do nuthin' else". Basically a rite of passage movie for Gary Grimes young wannabee cowboy, but with great characters from the 70's like Luke Askew, Geoffrey Lewis and Bo Hopkins.Grimes joins a cattle drive as the cook's helper, tries too hard to be a cowboy and ends up on the wrong side of the boss, Billy Green Bush, and when they come up against a ruthless landowner and some religious settlers it is the young cook's helper that takes a moral stand.Violent and beautifully shot, I recommend it to all lovers of film. Its not often seen on TV and is not available in the UK on DVD.