'Cowboys' actors lament loss of cowboy lifestyle

The "cowboy lifestyle" wasn't anything new to a couple of rodeo teens, but working with John Wayne in the 1972 movie "The Cowboys" still means something special to Mike Pyeatt and Al Barker Jr. It brought both back a second year to Belle Fourche for Cowboy Crazy Days and Riverfest activities. "I had a ball last year. I never saw a town with so many good people," Pyeatt said. The film takes a dozen boys from a one-room school onto a 400-mile cattle trail to Belle Fourche under the tutelage of Wil Andersen, an older rancher, played by John Wayne. Andersen's grown-up cowboys ran off to a gold rush, leaving him with few options other than using the young cowboys to drive the herd. The boys grew in skills on the trail; then, a crew of rustlers killed Andersen, and the young cowboys took the herd in to finish their job. "We went from cow 'boys' to cow 'men.' ..." Pyeatt said. The actors fondly recalled their experiences making the movie. "It was special. Our dads were old-school, cowboy-type guys," Barker said. "To have that standard in our lives, then it was reinforced by being with John Wayne and making a movie that dealt with that same philosophical view."...RapidCityJournal