Sam Elliott once trashed the “Yellowstone” franchise despite being a part of it. It seems this Western acting legend found Taylor Sheridan’s hugely-popular series to be “too much like f****** ‘Dallas.'” The thing is, lots of people like “Dallas.” In fact, CBS’s soap opera was so popular it ran for 14 seasons across 13 years, winning four Emmys during that run and permeating pop culture — particularly with its “Who Shot J.R.?” storyline.
For its first four seasons, the show also boasted another Western acting legend in Jim Davis, who played Ewing patriarch and founder of Ewing oil, John Ross “Jock” Ewing Sr.. It was his final role prior to his death in 1981. By that point, even if he hadn’t starred in one of TV’s biggest soap operas, he’d amassed an estimable filmography that included a Western series completely unlike “Dallas.” Elliott probably would have liked it, then.
In one of his lesser-known TV roles Davis played Marshal Bill Winter in a TV version of William Dale Jennings’ 1971 novel “The Cowboys.” More specifically, “The Cowboys” was a continuation series of the 1972 film of the same name, which starred John Wayne and was somewhat controversial due to a scene in which Bruce Dern gunned down the Duke while his back was turned. Wayne even gave Dern a warning before shooting the scene, predicting that he’d become infamous for being the man who killed a Western legend. He did, but Dern was far too talented to let that define his career. Ultimately, “The Cowboys” was a success. The TV show, however, faded into obscurity after its one and only season.
The success of The Cowboys film spawned a TV continuation series
William Dale Jennings’ “The Cowboys” follows aging rancher Wil Anderson, who hires a dozen young boys to help him on a long cattle drive after his ranch hands abandon him. Anderson runs the drive with ruthlessness, determined to turn these newly-enlisted ranch hands from boys into men. But things don’t play out exactly as Anderson intended on what turns out to be a harrowing cattle drive.
The 1972 film softened a lot of the original story’s edges, making John Wayne’s Wil Anderson into a more benevolent father figure to the boys, who eventually come together and avenge him, forming a surrogate family in the process. It seemed to work for audiences if the box office figures are anything to go by, and stands as one of John Wayne’s best late-career films — as opposed to the Duke’s least favorite Western “Cahill: U.S. Marshal.” The TV version of “The Cowboys,” which materialized two years after Wayne’s film, however, didn’t enjoy anywhere near the same success.
Still, while it didn’t have John Wayne, it did have Jim Davis. The actor had long since established himself as one of the finest and most consistent character actors in Hollywood. Having begun his career in 1948 opposite Bette Davis in the film “Winter Meeting,” he forged a prolific TV career that saw him star in “Maisie,” ”Rescue 8,” and appear in numerous guest spots on classic Western TV shows including “Death Valley Days,” “Wagon Train,” and “Bonanza.” The latter was one of the only small screen Oaters still running by the time ABC commissioned “The Cowboys.” Audiences were growing disinterested in Old West adventures by 1974. But the network seemingly hoped the success of Wayne’s film would help “The Cowboys” TV series. It didn’t.
The Cowboys were forced to dismount after just 12 episodes
“The Cowboys” TV show did have a lot going for it. David Dortort, best known for “Bonanza” and for the underrated Leif Erickson-led Western series “The High Chaparral” (on which Jim Davis guest starred) produced the series. Several actors from the film also returned for the small screen version, including Robert Carradine of “Revenge of the Nerds” fame. Rather than having Carradine and his fellow youngsters being taught the virtues of a hardscrabble upbringing by a senescent John Wayne, however, “The Cowboys” TV series picks up after Wil Andersen’s death and sees seven of the boys working for the rancher’s widow, Anne Andersen (Diana Douglas).
In the pilot episode, the boys return to Wil’s ranch with the cash from the sale of his cattle. Having grown to love Wil during their formative cattle drive, the boys choose to stay on the ranch where they’re overseen by Moses Gunn’s foreman Jebediah Nightlinger. Over the course of 12 episodes they get into various adventures that include defending a family wrongly accused of horse stealing, welcoming a drifter with a dodgy past, and getting caught in a cave collapse. Where does Jim Davis fit in? He plays the local marshal, Bill Winter, who frequently stops by to check on the gang.
Sadly, none of that appealed to audiences and ABC took “The Cowboys” off the air after 12 episodes. Ultimately, the show ran from February to May 1974, becoming one of the many series in TV history that were canceled after just one season. Luckily for Davis, “Dallas” was only four years away
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