The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)

Gary Grimes is Ben Mockridge, a teen tired of life on his family’s Texas farm and eager for adventure.

He’s saved up his money to buy a $4 pistol and holster. Next, he wants to join a cattle drive to Colorado.

So he asks Frank Culpepper (Billy “Green” Bush) for a job and winds up being hired as “Little Mary,” a cook’s helper.

But being hired is different than being accepted by the more experienced cowboys, and Ben struggles to gain their approval.

It doesn’t help that he pleads to be allowed to watch over the herd one night, is granted the opportunity, then makes a mistake that results in the theft of several horses.

Frank threatens to put him on the next stage headed East. Then cowboys wind up tracking down the thieves, and Ben redeems himself by using that six-gun to kill his first man.

Colorado, however, is still a long ways off. And it won’t be the last time the cowboys are forced to use gunplay to protect themselves and the herd.

Gary Grimes as Ben Mockridge, eager for the adventure of becoming a cowboy on a cattle drive in The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)

Billy ‘Green’ Bush as Frank Culpepper, the man leading the cattle drive to Colorado in The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)

Review:

A well-done Western that also scores high marks for realism.

And while Gary Grimes’ character starts off excited for the adventure ahead, he’s soon shocked by the violence involved and how quickly lives are lost.

At one point, he’s sent off to recruit new cowboys to replace those who have died. Those new recruits include men played by Geoffrey Lewis, Bo Hopkins and Luke Askew.

They become key players in this tale, men of dubious backgrounds, men who don’t hesitate to draw blood, men who are in fact angered when Culpepper steps away from a showdown.

As for Grimes, he appeared in just six films before retiring from acting. Three were Western coming-of-age stories — this film, 1973’s “Cahill U.S. Marshal” and 1974’s “The Spikes Gang.”

He made his film debut in 1971’s “Summer of ’42,” playing a teenager who has an affair with an older woman (Jennifer O’Neil).

Geoffrey Lewis as Frank Caldwell, leader of the group of cowboys hired as replacements in The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)

Bo Hopkinsa as Dixie Brick, a cowboy with an itchy trigger finger who follows Russ Caldwell in The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)

Directed by:
Dick Richards

Cast:
Gary Grimes … Ben Mockridge
Billy Green Bush … Frank Culpepper
Luke Askew … Luke
Bo Hopkins … Dixie Brick
Geoffrey Lewis … Russ Caldwell
Wayne Sutherlin … Missoula
John McLiam … Thorton Pierce
Matt Clark … Pete
Raymond Girth … Cook
Anthony James … Brother Nathaniel
Royal Dano … Rustler
Ted Gehring … Bartender
Gregory Sierra … Horse thief
Lu Shoemaker … Former virgin

Runtime: 92 min.

Luke Askew as Luke, one of the more level-headed members of Russ Caldwell’s cowboys in The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)

Wayne Sutherlin as Missoula, one of Frank Culpepper’s men, facing overwhelming odds at the moment in The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)

Memorable lines:

Cook for Frank Culpepper: “You really got the itch, ain’t ya?”
Ben Mockridge: “Well, yeah, I do. I guess all I want to do is punch cows and ride and, well, just cowboying. There’s nothing better than that. That’s all I want.”
Cook: “Kid, cowboying is something you do when you can’t do nothing else.”

Cowpoke: “Don’t turn your back on me, mister.”
Frank Culpepper: “Don’t let your mouth overload your hardware, cowboy.”

Bartender: “While you guys are waitin’, I got something you might enjoy passin’ the time with.”
Cowpoke: “Such as?”
Bartender: “Out in that back room there is a nice little lady. Genuine former virgin. I paid $60 for her in Sante Fe just last month.”

Matt Clark as Pete, the spinner of tall tales among the cowboys in The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)

John McLiam as Thorton Pierce, ordering cattle and settlers off land he considers his in The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)

Ben: “Sure is a nice horse. What’s his name?”
Luke: “Don’t put a name on something you might have to eat.”

Ben, having shot his first man: “Is he dead?”
Russ: “Deader than hell, kid. Deader than hill.”

Dixie: “These people sure goin’ to be disappointed.”
Cowpoke: “Why?”
Dixie: “They’re expecting God to come down and help ’em, but all they’re goin’ to get is us.”

Royal Dano as leader of the first group of rustlers to try to plunder Frank Culpepper’s herd in The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)

Anthony James as Brother Nathaniel Green, leader of the religious sect Ben and his friends try to help in The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)

Ted Gehrig as the bartender Ben is ordered to shoot, if he moves during a dispute over stolen horses in The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)

Gary Grimes as Ben Mockridge (right) with the cook (Raymond Girth) he’s hired to help in The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972)