Desperate Cowboy

Frank Harris works in a Chicago hotel, but he is sure that this is a temporary job - he dreams of becoming a cowboy and cattle farmer. Harris falls in love with one of the hotel's guests, Maria, the daughter of a businessman from Mexico. Mary's father is opposed to betrothal, and the family leaves for Mexico. In pursuit of her lover, Harris persuades successful cattle driver Tom Rhys to take him with him to livestock from Mexico to Chicago. At first, it was hard for Frank Harris to live with the drovers, he was not adapted for moving, he didn’t keep his horse well, the rudeness of his colleagues was not clear to him. Due to a stupid joke, one of the drivers dies, but after a modest funeral, everyone rushes on to the road.

In Mexico, Harris discovers that his lover was given in marriage. He is trying to win her back, he wants to speak out against her husband in a performance with a bull, but Rhys speaks in his place, since it is very dangerous. During a gathering at the bar, Harris notices that the locals want to attack one of the drivers, but when he persuades the others to help him, no one agrees. He reproaches everyone for inhumanity and fights with Rhys. Even defeated, Harris does not want to admit that he is wrong. As a result of a clash with the Indians, Rhys is injured, and Harris takes over seniority. He insists that part of the cows belongs to him, and all the lost - to Rhys, strictly and severely behaves with the other drivers. When one of them dies, Harris does not pay attention to it. While transporting cattle on the train, Rhys helps Harris in a difficult situation, and this makes him think about decency. They return to Chicago as comrades.

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Editing in 1959 . The New York Times Bosley Crowser rated the cast as average. In his opinion, Glenn Ford plays a stingy character again, Jack Lemmon is not very good in his role, his transitions between moods look like a farce. Anna Kashfi - rather a pictorial element of the film, rather than its participant ^[1] . In Desperate Cowboy there are many elements of the classic western - fights, fights with the Indians, a romantic line, scenes with snakes. But the director Delmer Daves beat these cliches, adding shooting among the cow herd and a bright contrast between dirty, rough scenes and a romantic line ^[2] .