The Cowboy Star: Reality Hits Harder Than a Script

Is it worth your time?

Look, if you’re into the old-timey charm of black-and-white B-movies, The Cowboy Star is a fun little curiosity. It’s the kind of flick that feels like it was filmed over a long weekend with a very specific, limited budget. If you go in expecting a gritty drama, you’ll be bored to tears. But if you want to see a guy try to retire from his own gimmick, it’s worth the 60-ish minutes.

It’s not exactly Movie Maniacs, but it’s got that same sense of "let’s just make a movie about making movies" energy. The plot is pretty simple: Yorke, our hero, hangs up his spurs on the movie set and tries to live for real. That goes about as well as you’d expect.

The Reality vs. Fiction Bit

There’s this moment where Yorke finally buys his ranch, thinking he’s escaped the fake fights and the cameras. He looks so relieved. Then, bang. The bank robbers show up. The irony is so thick you could cut it with a dull knife.

The dialogue is… well, it’s definitely written by people who wanted to get the job done by lunchtime. Sometimes lines just hang in the air like they’re waiting for an echo that never comes. It’s charming in a weird, dusty way.

• The horses look more bored than the actors sometimes.
• The bank robbers are basically caricatures of mean guys, which is honestly kind of comforting.
• One of the fight scenes goes on for like three minutes too long. You can literally see them running out of ideas.

It’s nowhere near as strange as The Mystery of Edwin Drood, but it shares that same dated, theater-kid vibe. Watching a guy play a cowboy, playing a real cowboy, is a fun mental exercise. It’s not profound, but it’s real enough.

I caught myself staring at the background extras in one scene. One guy is clearly just trying not to trip over his own spurs. It’s the little things that make these old ones stick. It doesn't try to be anything other than exactly what it is, which is a blessing, honestly.

The ending isn't some big revelation. It’s just, well, the end. It doesn’t need a deep analysis. Sometimes a horse chase is just a horse chase. 🤠