- Directed by Vincent McEveety
- August 1, 1974
A Texas gambler after going overboard from a ship finds himself helping to start a cattle ranch on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
Truth be told I never heard of The Castaway Cowboy until I stumbled across it on Disney+ not that long ago. While I don’t pretend to have seen every old Disney film, I thought I had at least heard of every old Disney film. Guess not…
This is quite an entertaining family flick. Not great, but very entertaining. The story is carried largely on the incomparable charm of James Garner as Texan Lincoln “Linc” Costain who finds himself in Hawaii after going overboard on a ship not that far from the island. How he came to find himself off that very ship and in the water is never directly stated though given his penchant for gambling one might surmise he was a little bit too good for somebody or perhaps even cheated and he found himself tossed in the water. Officially I have read he was shanghaied and fell over trying to escape but I do not recall any explanation given with the character being evasive when questioned about his situation during the story.
The narrative centers on Lincoln converting a potato farm in Kauai into a functioning wild cattle ranch. While doing so he grows as a character and learns responsibility as well as becoming a bit of a father figure to the son of widowed owner Henrietta MacAvoy (Vera Miles). They build a good friendship between Henrietta and Lincoln, but it never crosses into romance. They have chemistry though that one could see it turning romantic after the movie ends.
Lincoln’s main issue with getting everything going is culture. The islanders employed by Henrietta have a very casual way of life and way of doing things in general. This is counter to the work ethic needed to handle cattle and run a functioning ranch. Lincoln must bring them to his way of thinking that somehow also meshes with their culture.
Booton ‘Little Maca’ MacAvoy (Eric Shea), Henrietta’s son, is your usual plucky cute ‘70s kid. If you have seen one movie from the era then you have seen this type of kid character. Quite possibly even played by Eric Shea. He seemed to get around then. Booton is just all “Awe shucks!” and spunk. I hate spunk. (Thank you Lou Grant!)
Our main villain is banker Calvin Bryson (Robert Culp) who has eyes on Henrietta as well as her land. That might be because she is one of two women on the island based on the characters we see show in the film. Limited resources breed limited choices I guess. Bryson is aided largely by his henchman Marruja (Gregory Sierra). Culp is as sinister as a disinterested Customer Service Desk employee and Sierra is as threatening as a waiter at Applebee’s but somehow both get the job done.
The Castaway Cowboy is an entertaining Western not set in the west. It’s a fish out of water story with mild humor but plenty of fun. It succeeds at entertaining. This takes its tone from more traditional Westerns than it does those of the revisionist variety. It’s a good versus evil story where the good guy through a combination of his charm and wits and his fists saves the day. No guns though.
Like good classic Westerns the camera makes fine use of the scenery which here is the beautiful island of Kauai. Garner felt it was the best part of the movie. He might have been correct. It is hard to compete against visuals like you get from the natural beauty there.
The film is a little over 90 minutes (barely) so there isn’t a lot of excess. It gets right down to business with establishing the characters and the scenario and working towards the end. There are maybe five major characters in this and they’re all different enough that you can tell them apart. As I said before this is family fare but it’s not poorly done family fare. It takes no chances and is ultimately what one would expect from a live action Disney movie of the time. This is comfort food.
The Castaway Cowboy is nothing amazing, but it is something entertaining. Kids will like it and adult fans of older Westerns will certainly enjoy it as well. I won’t call this a must watch, but if you come across it you certainly won’t be disappointed for checking it out.
Warren Watched A Movie 