“Fifty percent of all cowboys were Black — even the Lone Ranger was Black,” the kid is told. “Who’s the Lone Ranger?” he replies.
Here is the first trailer for Concrete Cowboy, a drama that premiered at Toronto last year starring Idris Elba and Caleb McLaughlin set amongst the North Philadelphia urban cowboy subculture.
When 15-year-old Cole (McLaughlin) is expelled from school in Detroit, he is sent to live with his estranged father, Harp (Idris Elba). Harp finds solace in rehabilitating horses for inner-city cowboys at the Fletcher Street Stables, a real-life Black urban horsemanship community that has provided a safe haven for the neighborhood residents for more than 100 years. Torn between his growing respect for his father’s community and his re-emerging friendship with troubled cousin Smush (Jharrel Jerome), Cole begins to reprioritize his life as the stables themselves are threatened by encroaching gentrification.
Byron Bowers, Lorraine Toussaint and Clifford “Method Man” Smith co-star in director Ricky Staub’s film.
Film Review: Ricky Staub’s ‘Concrete Cowboy’ Starring Idris Elba & Caleb McLaughlin
“You wanna ride the street life? You can’t be in my house,” Dad tells Cole. “You wanna wise up, you’re welcome back.” The kid replies, “Welcome back to what? I ain’t got no home here.” Says Pops, “That’s your choice.”
Staub co-wrote Concrete Cowboy with Dan Wasler based on G. Neri’s novel Ghetto Cowboy. Tucker Tooley, Lee Daniels, Elba, Dan Walser, Jeff Waxman and Jennifer Madeloff are the producers.
Netflix acquired the film in the weeks after its Toronto International Film Festival debut and will start streaming it April 2. Check out the trailer — set to Black Pumas’ Grammy-nominated “Colors” — above, the key art below and Todd Cunningham’s review of the film from TIFF here.
