<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $6 million </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $7,500,000 (North American rentals) </Td> </Tr> <P> The Cowboys is a 1972 American western film starring John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, Slim Pickens, Colleen Dewhurst and Bruce Dern . Robert Carradine made his film debut with fellow child actor Stephen Hudis, as cowboys . It was filmed at various locations in New Mexico, Colorado and at Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank, California . Based on the novel by William Dale Jennings, the screenplay was written by Irving Ravetch, Harriet Frank, Jr., and Jennings, and directed by Mark Rydell . </P> <P> When his ranch hands abandon him to join a gold rush, aging rancher Wil Andersen (John Wayne) is forced to find replacement drovers for his upcoming 400 - mile (640 km) long cattle drive . He rides into deserted Bozeman, Montana . There, Anse Peterson (Slim Pickens) suggests using local schoolboys . Andersen visits the school but departs unconvinced . The next morning, a group of the boys show up at Andersen's ranch to volunteer for the drive . Andersen tests the boys' ability to stay on a bucking horse . As the boys successfully take turns, Cimarron (A Martinez), another young man slightly older than the others, rides up . After successfully subduing and riding the test horse, Cimarron gets into a fight with Slim (Robert Carradine), the oldest of the boys . Andersen, though impressed by Cimarron's abilities, has misgivings because of his angry nature and sends him away . Andersen reluctantly decides to hire the boys . </P>

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