Pepper Lewis (Woody Harrelson) and Sonny Gilstrap (Kiefer Sutherland) are competitive best friends on the rodeo circuit. Their friend Nacho travels to NYC to rescue his daughter Theresa (Cara Buono) from smugglers holding her after she escaped Cuba. Ruthless criminal John Stark (Dylan McDermott) is keeping Theresa to work in his sweatshop. Sonny finds Nacho's note and goes to join him with Pepper riding along. Pepper catches the eye of socialite Margarette (Marg Helgenberger). The guys befriend police horse patrolman Sam Shaw (Ernie Hudson). Sadly, Nacho has been murdered.
This is a fish out of water action comedy. There is the charismatic duo of Harrelson and Sutherland. They are fun together. The material isn't quite as good as those guys. There is little humor other than the bits generated by Harrelson with Sutherland as the straight man. The story is straight 90's good guys and bad guys. It's not anything great but there is good enough chemistry with the boys.
The Cowboy Way
1994
Action / Comedy / Crime / Drama / Thriller / Western
The Cowboy Way
1994
Action / Comedy / Crime / Drama / Thriller / Western
Keywords: cowboy
Plot summary
Buddies Pepper Lewis (Woody Harrelson) and Sonny Gilstrap (Kiefer Sutherland) who are championship rodeo partners travel to New York to find their missing friend, Nacho Salazar Joaquín Martínez after he disappears in New York City to pick up his daughter, Theresa (Cara Buono). When Pepper and Sonny find that neither is anywhere to be found, they go about the wacky adventure of finding Nacho and Theresa, and in the process, test the foundation of their friendship. Along the way, they find themselves entwined in the inner workings of a New York sweat shop where Theresa has been enslaved after traveling to the U.S.A. from Cuba. Going about doing things in a cowboy way, Pepper and Sonny put their small town skills to the test in a big city kind of way and rescue Theresa from the thugs.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
good duo but inferior material
The Comedy Makes Up for Some of the Ridiculous Action Scenes
This film essentially begins with two rodeo cowboys by the name "Sonny Gilstrap" (Kiefer Sutherland) and "Pepper Lewis" (Woody Harrelson) teaming up to win a state championship. Unfortunately, even though they have been friends for a long time, when Pepper fails to show up for an important event this creates a great amount of friction between them. Yet even though Sonny wants nothing to do with him, things change dramatically when a mutual friend by the name of "Nacho Salazar" (Joaquin Martinez) unexpectedly goes to New York City and doesn't come back. So after learning that his daughter "Teresa Salazar" (Cara Buono) may be in serious trouble the two of them reunite and head to New York to render their assistance. What they don't realize, however, is that a local mobster by the name of "John Stark" (Dylan McDermott) has essentially kidnapped Teresa and plans to force her into prostitution to pay off a nonexistent debt. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film started off well enough but became more and more unrealistic as the movie progressed with the character of "Officer Sam Shaw" (Ernie Hudson) being especially ridiculous. Even so, this wasn't a bad film necessarily and I have rated it accordingly. Average.
Not a great movie, but...
This is by no means the best movie I've ever seen, but I must confess (however guiltily) that I enjoyed it a great deal more than the reviewers I consulted led me to expect I might. -- Kiefer Sutherland and Woody Harrelson are appealing as the two male leads, old rodeo friends who had a major falling out years before but now find themselves teamed up to help an old friend find his daughter. Their adventures in urban New York City are, by turns, humorous and suspenseful. Dylan McDermott demonstrates some considerable acting range as a sleazy weasel. The inevitable chase scene through downtown Manhattan somehow seems fresh and exciting. -- No one will confuse this piece with High Art, but one could spend one's time in worse ways...