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Concrete Cowboy is a 2020 American drama film directed by Ricky Staub from a screenplay by Staub and Dan Walser. Based on the novel Ghetto Cowboy by Greg Neri, it was inspired by the real urban African-American horseriding culture of Philadelphia, specifically, the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club. It stars Idris Elba, Caleb McLaughlin, Jharrel Jerome, Byron Bowers, Lorraine Toussaint, and Method Man. While the film is completely fictional, several real members of the Fletcher Street riding community play supporting characters who give voice to real issues that the community faces.
Concrete Cowboy had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 14, 2020, and was digitally released on Netflix on April 2, 2021.
When Harp brings him in the house, Cole finds a horse standing in the living room, and the fridge and cupboards empty. He says he'll only stay one night. The next day when trying to call his mom, he runs into his older cousin, Smush, who drives him around and gets him some food. The two stay out all night. When Smush drops Cole off at Harp's the next morning, Harp will not let Cole in because Cole has been hanging out with Smush, a drug dealer. Cole refuses to accept Harp's rules, stalks off and asks various neighbors, including Nessie, whether he can stay at their house. The answer is always no. He ends up crawling through a window and finds himself face to face with a horse. At first, he is terrified, but he soon realizes that the horse doesn't intend to hurt him.
The next morning, Nessie finds Cole asleep in the stall with the horse standing nearby. It is revealed that the horse he has bunked with, Boo, has a reputation of not letting anyone near him. No one has been able to tame him- in fact, it could have killed him. Instead, it let him spend the night in the stall with him.
Cole tells the other riders he wants to learn how to ride, and is told he first must help with the stable work. He spends the day learning how to efficiently shovel manure under the instructions of Paris, a rider who uses a wheelchair. He continues to spend time at the stables and secretly with Smush as well. Harp later has a surprise for Paris - a saddle that allows Paris to ride his horse.
Cole gets upset and heads back to Harp's. Harp finds him there, and they get into an argument: Cole feels that Harp gives love to everyone except him. Harp tells him he also used to deal, and went to prison before Cole was born. Harp tells Cole he named him after jazz musician John Coltrane, a fellow Philadelphian who grew up without a father, because he wanted his son to be able to succeed as well.
Smush used to be a rider, too, but began dealing drugs to save up money to buy a ranch out West. One night Boo gets loose and the riders find him in a field. They surround him, but Harp tells Cole he is the only one who can calm Boo. Cole hesitantly approaches and is able to throw the reins over Boo and mount him.
Smush and Cole set up a drug deal that goes bad, and another dealer tries to kidnap Smush. The cops appear, chasing Smush and Cole, but they escape. Smush says they almost have enough money to move West, but Cole says he is done with that life. At the stables, Animal Control has arrived to seize all the horses due to neighbor complaints. Harp says there is nothing they can do, and Cole calls him a coward. Cole finds Smush, and they go on another drug deal. Smush is shot to death by a kid on a bike, and Cole runs.
Harp searches for Cole, eventually finding him hiding in the stables. Washing the blood off Cole's hands, he tells him Smush needs a proper memorial. That night they break into the municipal stables and free the horses. Everyone rides their horses slowly through the neighborhood to the cemetery, where Cole places Smush's cowboy boots on his grave, then stands on the back of his horse for the first time.
Not long afterward, they all watch as the stables are demolished, but Harp says they will keep riding even without their stables. Cole's mom returns to Philadelphia, and Harp thanks her for sending Cole to live with him.
Filming began in North Philadelphia in August 2019. Staub originally got the idea for the film after seeing a man riding a horse down a Philadelphia street, which led him to research the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club and the discovery of Neri's book.
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