The Cowboys

When asked if he was intimidated by working with John Wayne, Bruce Dern replied, "I might have been. But right at the start, he says to me, 'I want you to do us a favor.' He was including himself, [director] Mark Rydell, and the scriptwriters. He said, 'From now on, consider me to be somebody you can publicly kick the shit out of 24 hours a day on the set. Because I want these little kids [playing the cowboys of the title] to be absolutely terrified of you.' He gave me carte blanche to just treat him like a turd. So I was on him, talking back to him and stuff, for the few days I was there. And he would do things like call out: 'Hey, Mr. Dern, would you get over here?' I thought, hey, John Wayne gives you a 'mister' status. My first day, he's calling me mister. How about that? That's pretty cool."

After Charlie Schwartz is buried, he rides by in the next scene on his horse while Cimarron and Mr. Andersen talk.

When the film was originally released in the UK it carried a 'AA' rating, preventing an under-14 year old audience from seeing the movie. When the distributors asked the UK censor if this could be changed he suggested removing the scene with the wagon full of prostitutes, thus deleting Colleen Dewhurst's entire role in the film, and in doing so the film was re-certified with an 'A' rating (suitable for all). Additionally cuts were made to tone down some of the more violent scenes including the fight between Wil and Long Hair, the shooting of Wil, and a man being dragged by his horse. Later cinema showings and all video versions restored the Colleen Dewhurst scene but retained the violence cuts (totalling 1 min 30 secs). For the upgraded 12-rated 2005 DVD the film was passed fully uncut.