Well, since I’m apparently in the mood to watch Woody Harrelson play Woody Harrelson (see also Zombieland), why not pop this film, which I bought last April–not long before Zombieland, which explains why they were both on the top of the cabinets. Looking at what I bought at the same estate sale and yard sales, it looks like I’ve made pretty good progress on the films–maybe soon, they will only be stuffing one cabinet and atop only a single other! Although the Lutherans for Life sale is this year, and I might find Cool Hand Luke or any number of other films that I might want to watch someday. Which, sometimes, comes. After all, nothing particular triggered my desire to watch Zombieland and The Cowboy Way. But I had them, and the time was right.
So: In this film, Woody Harrelson plays Woody Harrelson as a rodeo cowboy who is estranged from his best friend (Keifer Sutherland) and rodeo partner for missing the national championships, which they might have won and which would have provided Keifer Sutherland with a chance to put a down payment on a ranch. A common friend tries to get them to reconcile, but they do not, and the friend goes to New York where human smugglers have brought his daughter from Cuba–and now a young man in the rackets wants more money. This young man is not only going behind the crime leader’s back but also might want to keep the daughter for himself. When the friend does not contact Keifer Sutherland for five days, Keifer gathers Woody, reluctantly, and they head to New York City to find what happened to their friend and to find the daughter.
So the two real cowboys head to the big city and use their country ways to save the day. Ernie Hudson makes a welcome appearance as a mounted police officer.
I guess the critics didn’t like it, but I thought it was okay. Definitely a piece from its time when these lower-level b-style movies could get made and released. If it had been on Showtime a decade earlier, I probably would have watched it over and over again. Will I watch this over and over again? Well, maybe, someday. Or if I’m flipping through channels when on vacation someday, if I come across it, I’ll linger.
