Ryan Gosling’s Only Western Is Streaming Free on Amazon Freevee

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Those Ryan Gosling fans hankering to see the Canadian actor in the only Western movie of his career thus far are in luck. The 1998 TV movie Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy is free to stream on Amazon Freevee, allowing Gosling fans to see him in an early one-of-a-kind role that flashed his precocious acting talents and led to his A-list Hollywood status.

Well-received enough to spawn a TV series from 1998 to 2000, Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy is a romantic comedic western that tracks a trio of cattle ranchers in British Columbia in the 1940s. With a wealth of TV experience from his Young Hercules days, Gosling shines with the charming magnetism he’s known for today, crafting a compelling and credible cowboy character. While not a life-changing event, Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy is a must-see for Gosling diehards and completists.

Ryan Gosling’s Early Career, Explained

Ontario native Ryan Gosling kickstarted his acting journey on Disney’s television show, The Mickey Mouse Club, alongside Keri Russell and pop sensations Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and others. Following brief stints in various TV episodes, Gosling eventually secured a recurring role in Breaker High, where he starred in 44 episodes from 1997 to 1998.

Breaker High led to Young Hercules, Gosling’s breakout TV role that he starred in for 50 episodes between 1998 and 1999. With Hollywood superstardom on the brink, Gosling starred in the 1996 TV movie Frankenstein and Me before landing the role of Tommy in Nothing Too Good For a Cowboy. Following his charismatic turn as Tommy, Gosling debuted in his first feature film in the classic football drama Remember the Titans.

While the 2004 romantic drama The Notebook would elevate Gosling’s profile to a new level, it’s worth seeking out the handful of movies he made in the interim. Proving his acting chops to be well ahead of his generation, Gosling played a mortifying Jewish neo-Nazi in The Believer, a convincingly abused football star in The Slaughter Rule, an enchanting killer in Murder by Numbers, and an offbeat loner in The United States of Leland. Following The Notebook, Gosling earned his first Oscar nod for playing a crack-addicted inner-city teacher in Half Nelson, still one of his all-time best performances.

Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy’s Story, Explained

Without cutting his teeth and honing his craft in movies like Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy, Gosling would likely never have earned an Academy Award nomination at 26 (one of the youngest of all time). Based on Richmond Hobson’s memoir, the TV movie concerns Rich (Chad Willett), a New York stockbroker who leaves his trade and becomes a cowboy. Along with his partner Panhandle Phillips (Ted Atherton), Rich ventures to Vancouver, BC, to tend to an upstart cattle ranch.

Conflict arises when Rich is targeted by a greedy banker who wants to undercut him and purchase the ranch cheaply. Another problem comes when a desirous woman named Gloria McIntosh (Scrubs’ Sarah Chalke) arrives and drives the men apart. Gloria and Rich marry, but their union is upended when WWII breaks out, leaving young farmers like Tommy (Gosling) to fill in while the adults fight overseas. While his role is minor, Gosling flashes his trademark charisma and mature performative ability to trade scenes with adults without missing a beat.

Whether exiting a dinner table with precise comedic timing when the adults awkwardly bicker, or breaking Mustangs in a paddock, Gosling affirms that he can play humorous and physically commanding roles. However, with such limited screen time, Gosling hardly scratched the surface of a movie genre he should return to ASAP.

Why Gosling Should Do Another Western

Given his eclectic filmography and credible (but brief) role in Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy, it’s high time Gosling saddles back up for a Western movie. After all, he’s essayed nearly every genre under the sun more than once, from comedies like Lars and the Real Girl and Barbie, musicals in La La Land, romantic comedies and dramas via Stupid Crazy Love and The Notebook, hard-hitting dramas like Half Nelson and The Place Beyond the Pines, epic sci-fi spectacles in Blade Runner 2049 and Project Hail Mary, biographical dramas like The Big Short and All Good Things.

To support the argument is the recent spate of popular Western TV shows and movies, be it Yellowstone and its many spin-offs, including 1883, 1923, 1944, 6666, The Madison, and more. Although Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga bombed theatrically, it’s enjoyed a popular surge since joining Netflix. There is the stylish neo-western The Harder They Fall and Peter Berg’s new series American Primeval, both Netflix productions. Other recent examples include prestige pictures like The Power of the Dog and Killers of the Flower Moon.

The point is that, with the popular return of Western movies and TV shows, and given Gosling’s penchant for multiple-genre portrayals, the actor needs to star in another Western soon after quitting himself well in Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy.

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2025-03-15 22:04