The Cowboys (1972)

"The Cowboys" is a 1972 Western movie directed by Irving Ravetch and starring by John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne. When his cattlemen abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his cowboys in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job under Andersen's tutelage, however, neither he nor the boys know that a gang of cattle thieves is stalking them.