The Cowboy and the Lady is a 1938 American Western romantic comedy film directed by H.C. Potter, and starring Gary Cooper and Merle Oberon.

Believing she needs some excitement in her life, Mary's free-spirited Uncle Hannibal (Harry Davenport) takes her dancing at a nightclub, which the police raid for gambling.

Feeling sorry for Mary, they coach her on their three-step "system" for getting a man interested: flatter him, get him talking about himself, and play on his sympathy with a hard-luck story.

Stretch senses Mary's unease, but believes it stems from her worrying over her "family"—the fictitious drunken father and four younger sisters she's supporting.

Back at her Palm Beach mansion, Mary learns that her father is on his way with all his committee members, plus an important congressman who holds the presidential nomination in his power.

He bursts into the dining room, only to see his wife at the head of a dinner party table, surrounded by her father and his distinguished guests, who proceed to have a few laughs at the cowboy's expense.

Back in Montana, a subdued Stretch arrives home only to find his father-in-law sitting on his front porch, wanting to chat about farming.

Upon entering the ranchhouse, the bewildered Stretch finds a party underway, Uncle Hannibal raiding the kitchen, and Mary herself baking a cake with Ma Hawkins.

"[8] According to Nugent, even Gary Cooper, "the picture's greatest asset, has his moments of diminishing returns when he seems to be quoting himself, or when, utterly forsaken by the authors and the director, he looks about helplessly, like a ghost who wonders if he isn't haunting the wrong house.