The Culpepper Cattle Co.

1972 1h 32m EN

😐

6.4

MID

⭐

6.9

IMDB

★6.4TMDB · 51★6.9IMDB · 2,011

Western

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Working as an assistant on a long cattle drive, the young Ben Mockridge contends between his dream of being a cowboy and the harsh truth of the Old West.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Gary Grimes
Ben Mockridge
Billy Green Bush
Frank Culpepper
Luke Askew
Luke
Bo Hopkins
Dixie Brick
Geoffrey Lewis
Russ
Wayne Sutherlin
Missoula
John McLiam
Thorton Pierce
Matt Clark
Pete

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Dick Richards
Writers: Gregory Prentiss, Dick Richards, Eric Bercovici
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

54 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Dick Richards, shot by Ralph Woolsey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Tom Scott. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor John F. Burnett shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Gary Grimes and Billy Green Bush and Luke Askew carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0068435 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

Only 51 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Dick Richards directs. Ralph Woolsey behind the camera. Tom Scott scores. John F. Burnett cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

154 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Dick Richards, shot by Ralph Woolsey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Tom Scott. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor John F. Burnett shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Gary Grimes and Billy Green Bush and Luke Askew carry the top of the cast.
6IMDB entry: tt0068435 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Only 51 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Ralph Woolsey
Original score: Tom Scott
Editing: John F. Burnett
Makeup / hair: Del Armstrong
Stunt coordinator: Hal Needham
Runtime: 92 min · 1h 32m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)
IMDB rating: 6.9/10 · 2,011 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

2 nominations total

Also by

Dick Richards

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-04-08
★ 9/10
When Little Mary Became A Man. The Culpepper Cattle Co. is a splinter of the Western genre that was tagged as revisionist. Often the makers of such Oaters went for a more grizzled look at the West, even demythologising the Hollywood Westerns that had proved so popular for decades. Directed by Dick Richards, The Culpepper Cattle Co. is one such picture. Young Ben Mockridge (Gary Grimes) wants to be a cowboy, to work on the drives and hone his gun play skills. When trail drive boss Frank Culpepper (Billy Green Bush) is in town, Ben begs him for work and is thrilled to be hired as the cook's Little Mary. What he isn't so thrilled about is actually what it's really like out there on a drive... And so it comes to pass, young Ben is at the bottom of the cowboy ladder and Richards and his writing team ensure there is no glamour to be found. The drive is beset with thievery and rustling, killings, stampedes, inner fighting and very hard work for very little pay. The men on the trail all look the same, they dress the same, they smell the same, they are all worked hard and understand the same weary banter. What camaraderie there is is kept to a minimum, they are a team in a working sense, but their loyalty only comes to the fore when they are tasked with fighting and killing' enemies. The bars are not all bright and sparkly, with a well suited man playing a piano, no these are dingy holes with dirty glasses. No bordello babes either, just a hapless lassie loaned out for services by a barkeep who has in his own mind some tenuous right to have her in his keep. This is purposely downbeat, with the photography by Lawrence Edward Williams and Ralph Woolsey emphasising this fact by stripping back the colours for authenticity. While Jerry Goldsmith and Ralph Woolsey's musical score is deftly restrained, perfectly so. The story moves to its final conclusion, a confrontation that excites and depresses equally so, for even in the whirl of bullets and thundering hooves, the realisation dawns on Ben, and us, that nothing changes the life of the cowboys out there on the drives. It's live, work and die. Cowboyin is something you do when you can't do nothing else - Indeed! 9/10

Production companies