His career noticeably picked up after his Oscar nomination for the gritty Gregory Peck Western The Gunfighter in 1950, leading to such assignments as the remake of My Man Godfrey in 1957 and The Sheepman in 1958 (a second Oscar nomination).

Bowers produced the last film that he wrote, the superior Western parody Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969). He also had a bit part as an actor in The Godfather Part II (1974).