The Cowboys (1972)

I'm sure everyone is familiar with this phrase, used by Duke's character Wil Anderson in The Cowboys.

Following this conversation

Quote from The Irish Duke

I have heard we're burning daylight recently in everything from current movies to tv soap operas and everything in between. Was it the Duke that made this phrase famous? I know it was used in Hollywood before.

Quote from BatjacAuburn

"We're burning daylight" was Wil Anderson's catch phrase in The Cowboys. It may have been used somewhere else to cause it to be so popular but I always think of JW when I hear it.

Quote from chester7777

I am most familiar with the phrase, having heard it in The Cowboys. Interestingly enough, in the movie Secondhand Lions (2003), the phrase is used once by Walter's mother, though the story appears to take place in the early sixties and of course, The Cowboys wasn't until 1972. The Irish Duke said he thinks the phrase was used by Hollywood earlier, it would be interesting to know more about the history of it.

from another thread, I went to IMDB to see if I could learn more about the history of the quote. I was quite surprised to discover that there were only three references to films or TV shows that included the quote, and not one was The Cowboys (the oldest was 2001!)! When I shortened the phrases to "burning daylight", there were four results (again, The Cowboys was not among them).

Put the phrase "We're burnin' daylight" into the IMDB search and filter by "Quotes" and the only reference that comes up is The Cowboys. Go figure . . . .

Putting "We're burning daylight" into a Google search led me to a couple of interesting sites - this one, that gives a much larger result (34, still doesn't include The Cowboys but does include Secondhand Lions) and this one, which gives a brief explanation of the original use of the phrase.

Again, use the phrase "We're burnin' daylight", and The Cowboys is the ONLY result. What a difference that little 'g' makes!

Mrs. C

Any discussion threads that have information for filming locations for "The Cowboys"? Would love to eventually visit some of the spectacular vistas used as backdrop settings for the film.....

gosh - how'd I miss that? Much thanks - wish there was more exact info - guess I have some research to do....

I've loved this saying ever since I heard it. I heard it first in the Cowboys. I say it to my siblings and they get so irritated lol

I used that saying waking my kids up for school,back in the day.
All I ever got was growls and growns.

Lol yeah that's funny. I get that too. Its such an awesome saying. He had some awesome sayings.

Loved That Saying,I Always Try To Use It When Im Working And With My Family

I watched The Cowboys last night and have to say it's one of my favorites. I always liked the "Shut up and pour" line Duke's say to Slim Pickens. But I've used We're burnin daylight with my kids when they were little. It drove them nuts.

There are some great lines in this movie, as well as those mentioned, I always liked the following three:

"I pay a full day's wages, I expect a full day's work".

"You look like the vermin ridden SOB you are".

"I don't hold jail against you, but I hate a liar".