There's a lot of authenticity to be found in the story of Concrete Cowboy. Not only is the
heart-warming drama based upon Philadelphia's community of real-life urban cowboys,
but the film also presents a powerful tale of family and finding one's true place in society.
Concrete Cowboy first introduces us to Caleb McLaughlin's Cole. After Cole is expelled
from school for fighting, his mother packs his things and drives him from Detroit to Philly
to spend the summer in the care of his estranged father, Harp, who is portrayed by Idris Elba.
At first, Cole is repelled by Harp's personality and lifestyle - and the fact that Cole now has
to share a room with a horse named Chuck. Harp tends to keep Cole at arm's length,
which only strengthens Cole's temptation to join the dangerous drug-peddling enterprises of his
childhood friend Smush. Things really come to a head once Cole sees just how kind and
considerate his dad can be to others, even while he continues to give Cole the cold shoulder.
"Yo, gonna need some help.
Nah, Cole, not you. Esha, come on."
The scene where Harp helps a disabled friend ride his beloved steed once again is truly touching to
all of his friends - but Cole is hurt that his dad doesn't show him such generosity of spirit.
That's when he decides to pack his bags and commit to being on Smush's crew.
The father-son confrontation that follows showcases just
how talented both Caleb McLaughlin and Idris Elba are at their craft.
"I'm riding with me. Like I've done from day one."
By the time this scene occurs, Cole has already been through so much. So Cole's emotional turmoil
in the moment is about so much more than just Harp showing extreme kindness to a friend and not him,
and he makes that crystal clear in the argument with his dad.
Harp tries to stop Cole from running off to Smush,
telling him that he is his father and has a say in where he goes. That's when Cole snaps.
"Sit down, man. I'm your father. You ain't…"
"You ain't my fucking father.
I mean, you're a fucking father to everyone else out here.
Teachin' 'em how to ride, makin' homemade saddles for cripples and shit. And I can't
even get some fuckin' food in the fridge. Damn, them motherfucking horses got more love than me."
Audiences have certainly seen McLaughlin hold his own in on-screen arguments before.
Who can forget when he stood up to his own friends when he suspected something was amiss with Eleven
in Stranger Things? And he has also had dramatic confrontations with adult co-stars,
as with his turn as the basketball player Darius in High Flying Bird.
But the fight is extremely personal for his character in this moment,
so McLaughlin imbues his every word with just the right amount of rage and heartbreak,
before ultimately pivoting to a point of despair.
"Why you hate me, man?"
That line marks a major shift in the tenor and purpose of their talk,
and McLaughlin executes on it beautifully.
But Cole isn't the only one who's ready to lay his heart on the line in this scene. After seeing what
so much distance is doing to his son, Harp decides to finally open up and explain his absence.
Harp puts on a vintage John Coltrane record as the musical accompaniment to his monologue
as he tells Cole that he was once just like Smush, and it cost him everything.
"Out there doing all kinds of shit. Shit, I was on charges when your mama got pregnant. Yeah.
But I hid out. I hid out 'cause I wanted to meet you, man.
I ain't want them to take that away. I wanted to meet you."
At the same time, as heavy as it is, his story leads to the heartwarming revelation that he
is playing a song from this particular artist because it is the one he chose to name Cole after.
"Before I'd went away, I asked your mama. I said, 'Look,
I ain't shit, I know. But just let me, let me name my son. Can I?
Can I name him? Just give me that.
So I called you Coltrane.
Yeah. That's your name. Greatest man I ever knew that did it without a father."
Harp then sits down on the couch, appearing ready to quietly accept
whatever Cole wants to do with all of this new information.
Once Cole does choose to sit down beside him on the couch instead of running away,
Harp is back to being as stoic as he ever was, but his stern expressions are softened now.
It's a simple, quiet moment, but the very act of these two sharing this
space with a new understanding of one another is a triumph.
Elba is no stranger to playing the strong and silent type of father figure in films.
He was certainly broody and standoffish, but still caring, as Roland Deschain in
The Dark Tower while guiding young Jake through Mid-World. Meanwhile,
he played a wholly different type of father figure as the Commandant in Beasts of No Nation.
But here, Harp knows that Cole is grown and can easily walk out the door and onto a future that
he fears for him, and leveling with him is his best chance of getting through.
Similarly, it's clear in this scene that Elba and McLaughlin have also developed a level of
respect for one another to become such strong scene partners, and they both shine as a result.
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