Hollywood Cowboy Review

Distributor: Vinegar Syndrome Edition Details: Standard Streaming Movie Specs: Genres: Classic (1970s Shot on Film), Feature Film, Bisexual, Drama Also known as: Cowboy and the Old Man, California Cowboy Run Time: 58 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1973 Director: Pat Rocco (as Red Drayton) Written by: Pat Rocco (as Red Drayton) Director of Photography: Bill Schmidt Cast: David Allen, Joey Daniels, Eva Faye, John Langston, Con Covert, John Mihu, Ann Noble, Dale Phillips, Jerry Rossi Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: Streaming Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): N/A Number of discs: N/A

Hollywood Cowboy is a bisexual feature film that was likely directed by Pat Rocco, but that is not for certain. Hollywood Cowboy tells the story of naïve Cowboy (Joey Daniels) who arrives in Los Angeles from Texas. He gets immediately hustled by a hooker (Eva Faye) and ends up meeting aging film director Pops (Con Covert), who he ends up saving during a bar fight. Joe (John Mihu) gets Cowboy into hustling so Cowboy can make the money to help Pops make another film.

Hollywood Cowboy is an awkwardly shot film with a truly bizarre story that is filled with bad dialog and contains an absolutely horribly choreographed fight scene. Hollywood Cowboy also has its share of Hallmark Channel style dramatic moments. Because of all of this, Hollywood Cowboy ends up being a likable, campy, and fun film. Why? You the reader may ask. Because somehow all of this combined together somehow just works, although likely not the way that Rocco wanted it all to work.

The sex scenes in Hollywood Cowboy are an oddity, there is one heterosexual scene and the rest of the sex scenes are homosexual in nature (The original version had two heterosexual scenes before one was cut and lost to the world.). The sex scenes are edited in a manner that consists mostly of close-ups of genitalia, eyes, and faces; making for some very odd looking sex scenes that lack eroticism.

Hollywood Cowboy is certainly worth watching. The film is poorly made, however, Rocco was trying to do something different with this film and as a result, the film can't help but entertain the viewer. You may not end up aroused but you will be amused.

Vinegar Syndrome has done a great job with their streaming only release of Hollywood Cowboy on Exploitation.TV. Hollywood Cowboy was shot on film and it looks like Vinegar Syndrome has used the negative for this release.

A note to viewers, this release is edited from the original release titled Cowboy and the Old Man. The sex scene with Joey Daniels and Eva Faye from the beginning of the film has been cut. This edit isn't the fault of Vinegar Syndrome. At the time of writing, all known negatives and prints for Hollywood Cowboy are the edited ones and it is better to have the film released sans the one scene than unreleased because the one scene is missing.

Hollywood Cowboy is presented in the academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The image on the release looks good. There are some jumps during the presentation. The expected artifacts, print damage, and grain are present. The colors are a little washed out at times but usually look good. No viewer should be disappointed by the visual presentation.

Hollywood Cowboy is presented with an English monaural audio track. The audio contains pops and crackles throughout the entire film. The dialog in the film is easy to understand throughout the film except for the opening credits, which the viewer has to strain to hear.

Vinegar Syndrome hasn't included any extras for this release.

Hollywood Cowboy is a unique and interesting bisexual feature adult film from the early 1970s. What makes Hollywood Cowboy so interesting is the combination of heterosexual and homosexual sex scenes in the film. It isn't all that common to see both within an adult film. Hollywood Cowboy has a lot of issues with it, however, the film is a bunch of campy fun making the film well worth watching. Vinegar Syndrome has done a great job with their streaming only version of Hollywood Cowboy available on Exploitation.TV that has good video and audio quality.

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