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Tell us what you think >>
Selected submissions will be posted here, so check back regularly.
10/26/05
Alan McDonald
Scottsdale, AZ
I caught this show last night quite by accident, channel surfing after a dinner out.
I'm an Australian living in the States now but I grew up in a farming family back in Australia.
This brilliant film reminded me just how tough life was when my family was farming. As a young child it was always a game to us kids to "help out" around the farm rather than a chore. The talk among the men at the dinner table about wool and wheat prices or the price of fertilizer concerned us little. The frequent droughts meant we didn't have a place to swim rather than the cattle or sheep had no water.
I am now grown and been fortunate enough to live in a number of places around the world far removed from the land.
This wonderful but sad film reminded me how much we take the food on our table for granted without knowing the true story of those that produce it.
It's not often that we find a film-maker with the perseverance of Jon Alpert in covering such a lengthy period of a persons life rather than the usual snapshot of perhaps twelve months.
Thank you so much for this wonderful reminder of just what hard work is!
10/26/05
Joyce
Fairbanks, Alaska
Jon Alpert has captured the essence of ranching life in the American west. It is essentially a "next year" country. Ranchers hope to hang on one more year, when things might get better. Alpert did a superb job of documenting Vern Sager who had this typical dichotomous skeptic/optimist view. I related to this documentary as I grew up in eastern Montana. My dad was an old cowboy, but our family never ranched. You guessed it, my dad had to find a more lucrative career. It certainly is not the romantic Wild West familiar to most Americans, as depicted in the Western film genre. Growing up, I watched ranchers struggle. I also saw tight-knit families with a richness in their lives. For people who love the land and animals, ranching is ultimately satisfying, and most would not wish for any other life. Filmmaker Alpert certainly understands this.
10/26/05
Ken Wright
Kansas City, MO
This was a true REALITY story. I missed the first 30 minutes of the film and would like to see it again. When will it be broadcasted again? I'd recommend this film to everybody, especially the younger generation who think they have it so bad... Being born & raised on a cattle/argicultural farm in Southeast Kansas, I can understand Vernon's love for his ranch & cattle and the commitment you need for being a farmer/rancher. But as in the film, I had taken a job in the CITY. After about 10 years, I'd wished I could have went back. But, Dad had retired and sold the farm.
Thanks for a GREAT film.
10/26/05
Tim McAndrews
Columbus, New Mexico
I loved The Last Cowboy. I could barely see it, thanks to the static caused by local wind factors to my antena but I could hear it and I could see enough to 'get the picture'.
I guess the question "Why do cowboys keep cowboying?" will never be answered to the satisfaction of non-cowboys. To cowboys like Vern, the question never comes up.
In my part of the country, cowboys don't have to deal with the extreme cold, but there's extreme heat, and drought, and of course, the bank.
Thanks again for a wonderful film!
10/26/05
L. Hodgkins
Austin, Texas
I was flipping channels when the beginning credits caught my eye. I immediatly became interested and couldn't stop watching. It examined and portrayed the cowboy's life very well, I felt like I was there. Seeing Vern work so hard made me think about the world today and how everthing is much easier. I, personally, would love to have a ranch. I do admire his will to keep going all those years (how many times did he say he was going to retire?). I am sad that there are not more cowboys, it is a shame to see ranching and farming going out of style so quick. To wrap this up, I was fascinated by the story and the life of the last cowboy. Hope to see another documentary of this kind.
10/26/05
len silk
Honest people making an honest living on the land.
It is here that a man's (person's) word is their bond. No legal mumbo jumbo. Straight-shooters!
10/26/05
Angela Spencer
Flora, MS
My husband and I thouroughly enjoyed this documentary. It saddened me to think that Mr. Sager's children don't help him more. I also wondered what kind of ultimatum his wife gave him before she moved "to the big town". I always fantasized about owning a ranch/farm and now I know I don't want to be a rancher. Mr. Sager's sense of humor was incredible! We laughed aloud at many of his witty comments!
10/26/05
I watched The Last Cowboy last night and my heart felt like breaking. Vernon Sager reminds me so much of my own father that the doc. could have been about him. My father is 78 and loves his life on the land, his cattle and his lifestyle. I thought he was the last cowboy actually.
I'm very glad that you made this documentary. Every day it seems I have to defend the life I came from. I, like almost all ranch and farm kids grew up went to college and moved to a city. My heart is like Verns and I yearn for the peacefulness of the land and a herd of cattle, but there is no going back and that is why my heart is breaking...for lost youth and loss of a lifestyle that is rapidly dying.
BTW, my favorite western is "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance".
10/26/05
edward
escanaba, michigan
I unfortunately caught the last half of the film and was compelled to watch it through to the end even though I don't find the topic of the cowboy lifestyle interesting. What I found different about it was the marriage of the lakota woman and the cowboy. That would be another story unto itself.
Vern is perhaps one of the last cowboys in the traditional sense of the word. That romantic feeling we have of the untamed west, love of the land, and independent freedom can be easily abandoned with a swift kick in the head by a young calf or the other harsh realities of being a cowboy. So, I tend to believe that the cowboy lifestyle is soon to be lost and replaced by perhaps someone in a cowboy hat herding a thousand head of cattle with a hummer. Lets hope I'm compeletly wrong in this assumption.
10/26/05
Newcastle, Ne
I enjoyed watching this. I thought I was watching the tv for a short while and when I looked it was 10:30.
You can see that Vern's first love and his life is his ranch. He will not take change. His wife did and I thought that was sad, but I can understand her completely.I wouldn't like the desolation. Vern is a guy I could love as he showed he loved his family and family values. Thank you for this view of cowboy life and the music was great.
10/26/05
Edmond, OK
As I watched this film I felt sorry for Vern's wife. It was like watching a film about my dad. He was a workaolic, that thought of no one but his-self. Oh everybody really thought he was this best thing going, but they didn't have to live with him. You never got a real vacation, it had to be some work trip. His is not a life its a existance. The reason farms and ranchs are in decline is in this country is there is more to life than food, shelter, and clothing.
10/26/05
Paula Reinbold
Rush, Colorado
After coming in from feeding my own handful of cattle and horses last night, I caught The Last Cowboy on PBS, starting with the frozen calves in 1997. I was fascinated that my own small attempts at ranching on the shortgrass prairie of Colorado hold such similarities to the Sager's grand operation. And I was so thankful that the climate here is somewhat warmer. I could relate to the barbed wire fence mending (with the same fence tools, stretchers and come-alongs), as well as the cold nights dragging newborn calves indoors to keep them warm. A city-dweller acquaintance once told me uncomprehendingly, "when there's a blizzard I go inside and stay there until it's over - you out OUT in it!" If you can do it without killing yourself, you go out and tend your cattle first - that's just the way it is. You give them shelter, food, and water the best you can to help them make it through; if you can feed them again partway through a storm, you do that - keep up their strength. Usually, though, once the snow and winds start (60 - 70 mph winds with gusts to 80 or 90), nobody's going anywhere until it's over. To outsiders it may seem a chaotic or reactive way of life - reacting to the whims of weather and nature. But to me it's deeply satisfying and inspiring in a way nothing else is. Cows line up peering at you through a pipe gate. Horned Larks greet the dawn with their quiet, tinkling song. A pink and gold sunset awes you with its total silence. The wings of an owl whoosh through the air above your head on a dark and starry night.
Watching Vern Sager's back-breaking labor yield little financial return is nothing new to the residents of eastern Colorado - it's a way of life here, too. In my mind, the folks like Vern and my neighbors who provide food for the nation should be acknowledged, appreciated, and receive enough financial remuneration to be able to hold onto their family homesteads and continue the ranching life. I sincerely hope the family ranches will not be replaced by big agribusiness. It's the family ranchers whose stalwart hearts keep alive the independent spirit of the American West.
10/26/05
Jean Kolar
I could not stop watching this film!
It was like a good book, hard to put down and not putting it down cause it is that good!
I was so tired and it was bedtime and I stayed up...it was riviting.I loved it and enjoyed it!I had no idea that it is such a back breaking lifestyle. We have animals too and I only ride my horse for pleasure....and it is a pleasure. But, to work with your horse is truly that...work. I love the film...it truly shows how hard and rewarding but, financially sad this lifestyle has become.
10/26/05
Steve Galloway
Columbia, TN
I have never been on a farm,I lived in the inner city all my life, this was such an eye opening experience. I tuned in a little late, but I was entranced with what I did see.I loved it and have been sharing this program with co-workers all morning.
10/26/05
Katherine M. Zerfas
Pueblo, CO
What a unique family the Sagers are, especially Vern! I knew very little about cowboys until watching this presentation; I had no idea they worked as hard as they did. Vern's laid-back attitude toward his life and work certainly was a great help in his survival, mental and physical.
I think the title THE LAST COWBOY is apropos; Vern's the last of his kind who is willing to work that hard and under such harsh circumstances to make a living and it wasn't that much. I didn't notice them living in the lap of luxury, so to speak. But what a service Alpert has done us in following for over twenty years and recording a man and his family living a way of life that is ending so that future generations can see and marvel at the courage and determination exhibited by them. A wonderful , informative show! Thank you.
10/26/05
TROY YAHRAES
TUCSON, AZ
VERY TOUCHING SHOW, THANK YOU HOW IS VERN THESE DAYS....
10/26/05
Jon Turner
Lathrop, MO
As a middle age guy in the corporate world that always wanted to be a cowboy as well, I was glued to the TV watching this fantastic documentary. The life shown though is much more difficult than I imagined. As with a lot of things in life, I have glamorized the qualities that appeal to me and overlooked those that are difficult and might actually hurt. What an eye-opener! Can't wait to watch it again!!!
10/26/05
Sharon Smithson
Trenton, MI
This was one of the most honest films on the american cowboy I have ever seen. I enjoyed it and I know men like Vern who work so hard for what they love and believe in and the amount of work a farm is, and what all they have to do to keep their cattle healthy and keep track of the calves and fix the fences and the thousands of jobs they do daily and how much work it is. Most men could not handle that much work and that little pay. MY HATS OFF TO MR. ALPERT he finally showed how hard it is and how little reward our american cowboys get money wise and stature wise. These cowboys deserve more respect and so much more help to keep their farms and cattle so as not to lose everything they have worked so HARD for. I loved this and would love to hear how Vern and his family are doing.
10/26/05
T. Jones
Saginaw, Texas
What an amazing tale about life and hard work. My motherís family were Iowa farmers and my fathers lived in the city. I consider myself lucky enough to have experienced life on the farm. There is something so much more humbling and admirable about farm life. I have never experienced the same amount satisfaction with any "city job" that I had as I worked side by side with my grandfather. The scene with Mr. Sager showing his grandson how to run a tractor and singing "Old McDonald" brought tears to my eyes. It was so much like my youth, the memories and joy overwhelmed me. This wonderful documentary is a glimpse into the world of living off the land, doing your own thing on your own time, true independence. Thank you for sharing your life with the rest of the world Mr. Sager. And Mr. Alpert it is nice to know that filmmakers are still interested in the everyday man, the hard worker. The man that is good at heart and happy to be alive. You have shown that really living doesn't mean having the flash and awe of wealth but the struggle. Thank you, you've put my dreams for my family back into perspective.
10/26/05
Quinn Chandler
Dallas, Texas
When I had the opportunity to take a glimpse into the Sager's family I realized that people like Vern and Carol Sager are responsible for creating the very bedrock upon which America relies today. Somehow the story makes me feel guilty that I don't contibute more to the actual fabric of this country. It is sad to think that Americans like Vern and Carol may be forgotten as this country strives to move faster and faster into technological oblivion.
10/26/05
Tony Gurgiolo
Pittsburgh, PA.
Your presentation of Vern Sager's life story was amazing - To follow a man for 24 years is an outstanding level of commitment - I salute you, it was an honor to watch.
To me, this is not a cowboy story - it's a "Love Story."
I could see the landscape through Vern's eyes, I could understand the hard work he faced and I could feel the deep love this man had for his land and his animals.
More so, I could feel his financial pain - yet, he never showed despair - he only showed us hope.
As I see it, Vern represents a man of true character, substance and value -a decent man trying to be the best he can be at what he does - He represents the best of what America is all about.
My sorrow is that Vern is the last of a dying breed, however, your story presents and preserves this legacy for all to visit and reflect.
Vern's story makes you stop and think about your own life - your own values and what is and is not important.
Watching Vern, makes you want to return home to your roots to recount your blessings and review your core values.
I also came away with yet another vision of what this story was about.
Vern's story was never about money and financial reward - it was a story of survival - offset by the "Love Story" - a story about a man and his commitment. A story about the love of what he does -- Love of his land, his animals and his way of life.
What I saw as hard work, Vern saw as a "Love Mission" - he acted out of an unending passion.
This man is a true American - I salute him and would be honored to be his friend.
10/26/05
Gregg Holmes
Richardson, texas
I stumbled on your film The Last Cowboy while channel surfing last night. I was headed for bed but couldn't turn off the TV until I found out what happened to the Sager family.
Please do a follow up segment, even though the ending is obvious.
What an amazing look at a disappearing life style.
10/26/05
Sandy
College Station, TX
I really enjoyed watching the Sager family in this documentary. Vern has an endearing charm and is one hard-working and determined man. I hope Ted Turner sees this film and is inspired to purchase the Sager farm at the asking price.
10/26/05
Ted Dracos
THE LAST COWBOY is superior documentary work done with minimalist gear but a fine eye and ear. Serious kudos to Mr. Alpert and his crew. It doesn't get any better.
10/26/05
Heidi Earl
Smithville, MO
Very good on The Last Cowboy. I was flipping channels during a commercial while watching the World Series and came upon this show and could not leave it. My husband and I live on farm and we can relate to a lot of what Vern Sager has experienced in life. We think that everyone should see this film, although many probably wouldn't understand it without living it themselves. It is a very truthful story.
10/26/05
Joel McFadden
A very moving portrait of a man and a lifestyle, both of which I fear are vanishing.
Vern Sager is a unique personality, a real "character" in the very best sense of that word. Every human personality is somehow shaped and formed by the world around us, but so many of us live in a compartmentalized world, a world largely protected from the sort of raw reality that a man like Vern Sager faces everyday. Just as the wind and the rain has eroded and shaped the South Dakota landscape over thousands of years, Vern Sager seems to have been formed by his years of hard life on the ranch into something solid. He is a man who knows himself and the world around him. I envy his certitude and his hard won wisdom.
The question for our time is whether such wisdom and personality can still be formed in the world in which so many of us live, the suburban landscape dominated by the dream of security. These days even "reality" seems to be delivered through our television screens, leaving most of us only a passing acquantance with anything that might allow us to ground our lives in something as solid as the windswept landscape that has formed a person like Vern Sager.
Perhaps a greater question is whether such a man as Vern Sager is even valued by today's culture. I doubt that his life appears attractive to many people, and who can blame them? Who would choose such a hard life? Our measure of success and happiness cannot account for a life that is compensated in terms that will probably allow Vern Sager to die a happy and contented man. It would be my guess that the compensation that Vern Sager receives from his hard life is the compensation that can only come from a life lived in relationship: relationship with the land, relationship with the animals he raises, relationship with the small community around him.
These are the kinds of relationships that are becoming so difficult to find in today's global economy and suburban landscape. We buy from those who can give us the lowest price and do not take into account what it costs us in the long run. This is most true when taking into account those like Vern Sager who produce our food. To be honest, most of us have no idea who produced the food that is on our dinner plate and, most sadly, have forgotten why such knowledge should be important to us. We not longer account for what food "costs" our community and our economy past the price buried in the bar code.
Agriculture suffers from this absence of relationship. It suffers because a person like Vern Sager is more likely than not being replaced by a corporate manager, even though that manager may still wear mud caked boots and ride a horse. His life will not be dominated by relationship with his community and his land but by the bottom line. If labor costs are too high to raise corn and cattle in one place, production will be moved to a place where labor is cheap and money can be made. This corporate manager will most likely not move with the production but will find another line of work because the truth is that this corporate manager was born on the land, maybe born to a man like Vern Sager, but we do not value a man like Vern Sager anymore and the only path that seems open and available is the corporate one.
I am weighed down by an pervading sense that we are accruing a bill that will come due some day, perhaps well after the present generation is gone. We are spending our children's inheritance in more ways than one. But what seems most bothersome about this state of affairs is that we seem compelled down this path with no way to turn in any other direction.
Somewhere along the line, we bought a bill of goods. That bill of goods is the notion that our level of personal prosperity will always increase into the future and this notion is built inexorably upon a consumerist mentality that can only account such wealth in terms of the size of our homes and the gadgets that fill them.
My hope lies in those areas of the world, including the United States, where such relationships still exist and where such men as Vern Sager are still formed and appreciated. If and when the bill comes due, these places will be the seed bed for a new growth of such values and relationships.
10/26/05
David Warstler
Massillon, OH
I enjoyed the documentary very much. I watched it with suprise, that it is something that could have only been told over the 25 years of Vern's life. From the labor, the costs, to almost no change in how he was doing it. I felt an almost sad irony that it started and ended with him rolling the hay for the cows to feed. That over 30 years, he was still buying.
10/26/05
Dawson, Mn
As I was flipping channels, and nothing worth watching, I came across this show. I could not stop watching - a genuine, family orientated, interesting, love of the land, film. I want to watch it again, soon. Jon Alpert did a wonderful job of keeping the viewer interested in the life, and heartache, of a hard working, happy go lucky rancher. The Sager family should be proud of this film. Congratulations on making and sharing a great piece on America and the people of the land. I wish there were more films like this for families to view regularly.
10/26/05
Mike Donahue
Houston, Texas
I doubt if Vern's tv has a remote control, but I watched the Houston Astros world series game and this PBS documentary about a great American, Vern Sager, and his family, with mucho gusto. I saw another documentary on the wife of a distressed farmer in Neebraska or the Dakotas in the early 1990s that was similar to and just as good as THE LAST COWBOY. My favorite westerns are 'Unforgiven' and, for obvious reasons, 'The Quick and the Dead'. Corporate America and the Chinese are going to own all the land in America in the end; maybe Vern can sell the land and become a gentleman rent collector from Yuppies. And, I know Vern agrees, its all about the money and then you die. Except that Vern's Mark loves and respects him and that's everything even if Mark can't eat steak anymore. Don't let it get to you, Vern, and don't take your gun to town.
10/26/05
Donna Coltrane
Benton, Kansas
My family and I watched this show last night and we loved it. I am 46 years old and I still want to be a cowboy when I grow up. We live in the country, but were raised in the city. My husband calls me a 'country girl raised in town'.
What can we do to help preserve farms and ranches like the one shown on Independent Lens? If we don't do something now, they will all be gone and my children and grandchild will not know what it was like.
We go to youth rodeos every chance we can. We try to honor farmers and ranchers whenever we get the chance, however we can. I would love to see more programming like this one. And I am praying for Vern and his family and his ranch. Thanks so much for the show.
10/26/05
Sharon Michael
I happened upon this film on PBS yesterday evening, and I enjoyed every minute of it. What a rare opportunity to get an honest look inside someone's life. Amazing that the film spanned 23 years. Wow. The role of the cowboy has been glamorized and romanticised; this film shows the realities of such a life. It's not for me, I can tell you that much! But I admire Vern. I find it very sad that his wife left and moved into town, but I can certainly understand why she would do so. I'd like to thank the filmmaker for a superb job, and I'd like to thank Vern Sager and his family.
10/26/05
Leanna Eversmeyer
Oklahoma City, OK
I happened upon this program last night and watched with great interest, the life of Vern Sager through Jon's camera lens. This could have been my father or father-in-law in Missouri - both no longer living. My dad's passing so recently that this brought back many memories, and gave me more insight into how rewarding this life is to those who choose it. My brother will continue to farm the land, and many of the attitudes of Vern and his son are similar to those where I was raised in North Missouri. Although my dad would never have considered himself a "cowboy", the life he spent on the farm was so similar to Vern, it was like watching my dad go about his daily chores. Thank you for this time of reminiscence.
10/26/05
This film was an unexpected pleasure. The story of the Sager family, Vern's determination in the face of horrible odds and Mother Nature, the ultimate abandonment by his family, the visit to the Rez by President Clinton, the Native Americans' woven through the family -- it was all compelling and powerful. The filmmaker used his medium with powerful insight, yet kindness. I was very moved.
10/26/05
I loved listening to Vern. He enjoys what he does and knows it. Outsiders think the ranch offers harsh conditions. What they aparently don't see is Vern's connection with all he does and the feeling of belonging he has there. Who could ask for more out of life. It's too bad Carol didn't work alongside Vern outside and enjoy it as much as he did. Staying in the house all day alone is just too lonely for anyone. I hope Vern can live his final days on the ranch. I understand why it's so important.
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