The Good Old Boys (1995)

Tommy Lee Jones is Hewey Calloway, a cowpoke who has reached middle age and still has a serious case of wanderlust.

He returns home to visit his brother, Walter, and finds him, his sons (including Matt Damon as Cotton Calloway) and his wife struggling to make a go of it on their farm.

The biggest problem is that local businessman C.C. Tarpley holds a mortgage on the property and badly wants the Calloways to default.

Hewey’s desire to wander off again is tested by a pretty teacher named Spring Renfro (Sissy Spacek).

But it’s his determination to help his brother hold onto his land that just might make him settle down for good.

That’s especially true after a ruckus that Hewey started leaves Walt with a broken leg just when his family needs him most.

Tommy Lee Jones as Hewey Calloway, determined to help his brother hold onto his land in Good Old Boys (1995)

Sissy Spacek as Spring Renfro, the school teacher who makes Hewey think about settling down in Good Old Boys (1995)

Review:

Another story of an aging cowboy forced to face the waning days of his way of life.

And if it fails to match the poignancy of Monte Walsh (1970) or Will Penny (1967), it’s a better than average TV film benefitting from an excellent performance by Tommy Lee Jones.

There are several humorous moments — a dirty track played on banker Fats, a runaway buggy carrying Hewey and Spring, Hewey’s decision to lasso an automobile. To the filmmakers’ credit, they never come off as forced.

The film also benefits from the relationship between Hewey and his brother’s wife Eve. She’s a woman with a strong sense of right and wrong, responsibility and hard work. And everyone, including her husband, fears her temper.

In one of his first credited roles, Matt Damon also has an interesting role as the older son determined to become part of the modernized west.

Matt Damon as Cotton Calloway, determined to become part of the future West in Good Old Boys (1995)

Terry Kinney as Walter Calloway, Hewey’s brother and a man trying to hang onto his farm in Good Old Boys (1995)

Directed by:
Tommy Lee Jones

Cast:
Tommy Lee Jones … Hewey Calloway
Terry Kinney … Walter Calloway
Frances McDormand … Eve Calloway
Sam Shepard … Tarnell
Sissy Spacek … Spring Renfro
Wilford Brimley … C.C. Tarpley
Walter Olkewicz … Fat Gervin
Matt Damon … Cotton Calloway
Blayne Weaver … Tommy Calloway
Bruce McGill … City marshal
Larry Mahan … Blue Hannigan
Richard Andrew Jones … Alvin Lawdermilk
Karen Jones … Cora Lawdermilk
Park Overall … Florence
Laura Poe … Bestsey

Runtime: 120 min.

Frances McDormand as Eve Calloway, fearful of what Hewey’s return means for her family in Good Old Boys (1995)

Blayne Weaver as Tommy Calloway, Hewey’s youngest nephew in Good Old Boys (1995)

Memorable lines:

C.C. Tarpley: “All you got is an old horse past his prime, an old saddle and maybe $20. That ain’t much to show for all them years, is it?”
Hewey Calloway: “I went north into Canada one time and seen the glaciers. You ever see a glacier, C.C.?”

Cotton Calloway: “You ever ride in an automobile?”
Hewey Calloway: “No. Only ones I’ve ever been around are brokin’ down or fixin’ to explode.”

Cotton Calloway: “World’s movin’ faster all the time. You either go on with it, or you get left behind. I’m gonna be part of it. I’m gonna help build it.”
Hewey Calloway: “Well, I hope you like it when you get it finished.”

Eve Calloway: “A man with a good woman to help and encourage him can make a garden out of a desert.”
Hewey Calloway: “If he’s anything like me, he’d make a desert out of a garden.”

Eve Calloway: “You ain’t half the man Walter Calloway is. You’re a cripple with two good legs.”

Wilford Brimley as C.C. Tarpley, the neighboring rancher who holds a mortgage on the Calloway land in Good Old Boys (1995)

Walter Oklewicz as Fat Gervin, the man who runs the bank and wants the Calloways to default in Good Old Boys (1995)

Sam Shepard as Tarnell, Hewey Calloway’s longtime cowboy friend in Good Old Boys (1995)

Tommy Lee Jones as Hewey Calloway, urging Eve to let her oldest son pursue his dreams in Good Old Boys (1995)