The Castaway Cowboy

G

Released Aug 1, 1974

1 hr. 31 min.

Kids & Family

Comedy

List

Reviews

25%

50+ Ratings

Audience Score

A shanghaied Texas cowboy (James Garner) jumps ship and helps a widow (Vera Miles) and her son raise cattle in 19th-century Hawaii.

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Audience Member

Not your typical Western, but still well worth watching James Welch Henderson Arkansas may 26th, 2023

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/27/23

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Audience Member

The story of a Texas cowboy that jumps ship and helps create the first Hawaiian cattle ranch. James Garner plays the lead role and does a good job here. Vera Miles plays the owner of the ranch and also does a good job. I will give the movie credit that there really isn't a love story here. It is hinted at, but the two leads never share a kiss or embrace. Eric Shea is the child actor of the movie and he rattled my brain with every line. Not sure who told him to yell every word, but it really didn't work. The use of indigenous people (or people who looked indigenous to Hawaii?) in the movie was welcome and I felt well represented. I feel this movie might be a low three star score, but worth a watch.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

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r 9

Not bad, not good. 'The Castaway Cowboy' is a run-of-the-mill live-action offering from Disney. The casting is fine but plain, while the plot is alright if unspectacular and entirely predictable - especially the love story, which is one of the most obvious I think I have ever seen. The humour is decent, probably the best part of this. James Garner (Costain) and Vera Miles (Henrietta) are a duo once again, following on from their exploits together in 'One Little Indian' a year prior. Eric Shea plays Booton, who I feared would be yet another annoying Disney kid actor but he's actually OK all in all. The villains are extremely forgettable, in fairness Robert Culp (Bryson), Gregory Sierra (Marruja) and Nephi Hannemann (Malakoma) don't get much to work with - unexplored potential; solid actor choices. This should be far more entertaining, especially as it's an adventure film.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

The Castaway Cowboy (1974) The best performances are from James Garner, Robert Culp, & Vera Miles. Unfortunately the other performances in this film a stereotypical roles for characters seen in other films or shows that were seen done better in previous films or shows. The big problem I had with this film is the natives were not convincing as cowboys. There was no development of their characters and they should have been played by real Hawaiian horse stuntmen because their performances as actors was weak in this film and it can be shown by the fact a lot of the stuff that is close up is done with a blu screen or a background projected behind the actors on a stage. James Garner works in this film because he is just typecast as the roles he played in Maverick and The Rockford Files. So it was his role on horses and playing cards. The other issue I had was you can clearly tell the different edits because the Sky colors would not watch up from front of and actor to the actor looking the other direction. You can clearly tell the sky is more vibrant blue in one frame and bright pale blue in the other direction within the same space. So that aspect on the cuts bugged me because it made the film look weak. I felt like this film I wish was better because I knew very little on Cattle in Hawaii. I felt like the story was more interesting than the execution of the story. I feel like this would make for a great remake just so that we can follow and learn more about Hawaiian culture and technics, and learn more character development from the Hawaiian characters. I was annoyed by the teen kid in this film. He was a stereotypical Disney kid seen in 1950’s-1970’s films and he did not fit for this film. It was too cheesy and a 70’s type kid who would have been a different type would have worked better for this film. I felt like Robert Culp’s role was unique in that I never saw him as a Villian or a hero but somewhere in the gray zone. He sounded like a character where I was convinced that he was doing things for the right reason in his head and just wanted his normalcy and Statius quo. I liked learning more about Hawaiian culture. I felt like the farm or ranch in this film felt relatively small if the family truly owned 10,000 acres in the film and in the film the space of the farm it felt it was the space of a small neighborhood. I think one of the big disappointments is the music felt out of place because it sounds nothing like Hawaiian culture. They emphasized more of a kids western rather than make it have a different feel to the film.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/29/20

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s r

The first cattle ranch in Hawaii! Some good childhood memories and moments in this one. Showing a new side to Hawaii and to Texas. Garner and Miles are pretty good.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

While not Garner's best, it's still better than most of the stuff made by Disney since.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Vincent McEveety

Director

James Garner

Lincoln Costain

Vera Miles

Henrietta MacAvoy

Robert Culp

Calvin Bryson

Eric Shea

Booton 'Little Maca' MacAvoy

Elizabeth Smith

Liliha

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Barbara Shulgasser

Common Sense Media

'70s Disney adventure tale has mild peril.

Rated: 3/5

Jan 17, 2020

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Jul 21, 2005

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Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

Rated: 3/5

Nov 15, 2003

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Synopsis

A shanghaied Texas cowboy (James Garner) jumps ship and helps a widow (Vera Miles) and her son raise cattle in 19th-century Hawaii.

Director: Vincent McEveety
Screenwriter: Don Tait
Rating: G
Genre: Kids & Family, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 1, 1974, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2013

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