Concrete Cowboy was released on April 2. 2021. This movie is in the top 10 list taking 8th place on Netflix. This film is 1 hour and 51 minutes long. Because of the theme, language and drug use it is rated R. This movie is based on a book called “Ghetto Cowboy.” This film is also inspired by the African American cowboy community in Philadelphia.
Summary of the movie
The movie starts off with the main character from Detroit named Cole getting expulsion from school after he had gotten into a fight. Cole’s mother makes a big decision and sends Cole to Philly to live with his dad for the summer. As soon as Cole arrives in Philly he just sees horses everywhere. He doesn’t have a good relationship with his father so he tells his father he is not living with him and he tells him he is out the next day.
Cole’s conflict
When morning comes Cole leaves his dad’s house and reconnects with a childhood friend named Smush. His father finds out that Cole is hanging around with Smush and kicks him out the house. Cole’s father tells Cole he will be shot if he keeps hanging with Cole, because Smush deals drugs. His father says he can only live with him if he stops hanging around with Smush.
That night Cole doesn’t have a place to sleep and he decided to crash at a stable in a horse’s stall. The next morning a woman named Nessie told Cole that he slept with a very dangerous horse named Boo. She said that Cole slept in a Lions’ den all snuggled up. Nessie told Cole to obey his fathers rules because he couldn’t sleep in the stables anymore. During that night Cole sits with a group of older people around a bond fire and learns the history with African American cowboys. Cole lies to his father and tells him he won’t hang with Smush, his father believes him and lets him back in the house.
Cole and Smush
Later in the story Smush took Cole to his place and showed him that he once rode horses and had a horse of his own, but he told Cole that he wants to get out and sitting around at a bonfire and telling stories is not going to get him anywhere. He told Cole that he has a dream to live in a ranch and have some horses. He asked Cole if he was interested and Cole said he was in.
Cole’s Bond with his father
As Cole works in the stable he sees his father being a father figure to other people and not to him. Cole gets frustrated and starts to pack his things getting ready to leave. He cries to his father asking him why he hates him. His father then explains the history on why he left and the reason behind his real name which is Coltrane. Cole calms down and sits with his father.
Later Cole kept hanging out with Smush and watched Smush deal while he sat in his car. After he got back to the stables he saw everyone panicked. When he asks what happened they say that the horse Boo had gotten out of the stable and they need to get him back. Cole went with the group and calmed down Boo and got a hang of him, he slowly jumped on the horse and brought him back to the stables. Everyone was shocked that Cole calmed down the horse because no one could calm Boo down.
My opinion
I love this movie because it educated me on African American Cowboys. I just love the concept of Concrete Cowboy and how a kid learns to fall in love with the history of his people and horses. In my opinion, people should watch this movie for history. In the movie a character says, “Hollywood has whitewashed us. They have deleted us from history books.” I can agree that old Hollywood movies didn’t portray African American cowboys. The ending is kind of sad but inspirational at the same time. I will definitely recommend Concrete Cowboy to others because this movie didn’t make me want to fall asleep.
