User reviews

'Junior Bonner' was made in 1972 and set in a then contemporary Arizona; but in many ways, it is a true western. The real subject of most westerns was not cowboys and injuns, but the passing of an era; and in this film, about a star rodeo rider, this is typified by the contrast between his father (a man for whom the skills of the ring were also the stuff of everyday life) and his (prescient) brother Curly, hustling for his first million by selling real estate to easterners with no feel for the land. Director Sam Peckinpah is best known for excessive movies like 'The Wild Bunch', but here he plays a surprisingly restrained hand, and the film has a low key, believable feel. As often, Steve MacQueen (who plays the eponymous hero) doesn't really appear to be acting, but simply fits into his role. One thing that's interesting is how far away, to a modern audience, the world portrayed seems, now that the Curlys of this world have transformed the western states into America's fastest growing suburbs; and certain incidental details particularly bring this home: Junior enjoying a relaxing beer while driving, or even the fact that the leading character is called J.R. and his mother Ellie (dating the film to an era before 'Dallas'). In fact, as westerns go, this one is unusually subtle and unromantic; but now seems as historical as any drama set on the frontiers of a hundred years before.

There are many actors who are willing to go that extra mile to convince you the character which they are playing is genuine. Junior 'Jr' Bonner Steve McQueen is such a man. Playing him with the stoic silence as a 8 second ride on the back of a Brahma bull and with the explosive outcome of the trill, McQueen is a simple but aging rodeo star with little to say except when it comes to what is important to him. One aspect is his father Ace Bonner (Robert Preston) whom he deeply respects and quietly emulates. Ida Lupino plays Elvira Bonner, his mother and Joe Don Baker, his ambitious older brother out to become rich. Even though his brother wants him to quit the rodeo and come to work for him, Jr seeks to remain his own man. A noted old timer to Bonner's ambitions is Ben Johnson who plays Buck Roan, the owner of the dynamite animal called "Sunshine", a huge bull which really challenges Bonner. The movie is a superb vehicle for McQueen who is unquestioningly suited for the part. The story does him well and could easily have been his real trade. Excellent film. ****

How much you enjoy the film overall depends on your interest or affection for the rodeo but there are some really fine performances. McQueen is excellent, a bruised thoughtful performance, but Robert Preston and Ida Lupino really take acting honors as his parents. The scene between them on the stairs is an example of what great actors can do to make characters live on the screen. Something that helps sell the story is that the two of them really look like they could be Steve's parents. Junior's a rambler who is happy to go his own way but finds the modern world getting in the way. A subtle drama of the kind that is rarely made today.

Steve McQueen is my favorite actor. Bullitt is my favorite McQueen movie, but Junior Bonner is my favorite McQueen character. McQueen, as usual (and this is what makes him great), communicates more with silence than in delivering a line. The violence of the rodeo is juxtaposed against one man's unwillingness to let go of a lifestyle that is obviously coming to an end. The open west is giving way to trailers, his parents are separating forever, and his home has become a place for strangers. Junior is aging as an athlete, and as a-no-longer- young man. Even his Cadillac is on the downward side of a once successful career. The split screens and slow motion are interesting without being intrusive. This movie is about the triumph of a man who stays true to his own values, regardless of how irrelevant his environment may soon become. One man CAN make a difference. Steve McQueen was always that one man.

The Wild Bunch, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Major Dundee, and many more films are great views because of writer/director Sam Peckinpah. Add in Steve McQueen, and you have the formula for a movie worth watching multiple times.

I had a personal feeling for this movie, and for McQueen's character. he just couldn't stand being at home and putting up with all the drama. It wasn't that he wanted to go from town to town chasing that elusive 8 seconds, he just felt better under the stars and not having to listen to all the crap that goes with family. You could see his eyes roll as the bickering went on. I certainly empathized with him completely.

A great film about old cowboys, but a better film about family.

This is a really odd film directed by Sam Peckinpah. While there is an almost cult-like aura about him by his fans, this film may upset many of the "Peckinpah-sters" who are expecting the usual Peckinpah style. In essence, the violence is practically gone--no one is killed in the film and the amount of blood shed is very little--though there are a few of the trademark slow-motion shots. In addition, the film is set in the West, somewhat of an obsession for Peckinpah, but in the modern age.

The story is about an aging rodeo star whose better days are far behind. Now he's broke and coming back to visit his home town. The narrative is far from traditional, as not a whole lot really occurs in the film--instead it's like a slice out of the life of the leading man (Steve McQueen) during this small time period of just a few days. Instead, you learn about his rather dysfunctional family--his father (who was also a rodeo star long ago) who STILL needs to grow up, his greedy brother and his long-suffering (and a bit stupid) mother. None of these characters are particularly likable and it's all a bit sad, though it also does seem rather true-life as well. The characters, though horribly flawed, are much more real than you'd find in other films. Too bad, however, that they never do much of anything.

Overall, a very slow-moving film that was obviously a labor of love for the director but which probably won't appeal to most people. Yes, it's a realistic portrait of a strange piece of Americana, but many just won't find much reason to see it--not that it's bad, mind you, it just never rises above the level of "meh...". Still, not a bad little film.

The true individual will carve out a niche for himself in life, and gravitate toward those endeavors or communities most conducive to maintaining that autonomy which is to that person, all important. For some, it can be a life's work, the occupation of seeking out and accepting whatever challenge will take them down their own road. And who could better personify such a man than Steve McQueen, who plays the title role in `Junior Bonner,' director Sam Peckinpah's character study of a man so determined to live life on his own terms that the only challenge that means anything to him is the one he makes with himself. When Junior says, `Rodeo time, I gotta get it on down the road,' it's his way of saying, `Life awaits.' His life; and he's working it in such a way that whenever he gets to the end, he's going to be able to look back and say unequivocally, `I did it my way.' That's the challenge. That's Junior Bonner.

He's been a rodeo cowboy most of his life; a former champion-- like his dad, Ace Bonner (Robert Preston)-- he's worn out and weary, but not down. The glory days may be behind him, but that's not what it was ever all about anyway, at least not for Junior. And who he is and what he's all about becomes perfectly clear when the circuit takes him back home to Prescott, Arizona, for a Fourth of July show. When he hits town, Junior approaches Buck Roan, the man who owns the rodeo stock and will be overseeing the draw for the bull ride; Junior wants to ride Sunshine, the meanest, toughest bull in the bunch, and he's willing to pay for the privilege-- he'll pay to ride the very bull that most cowboys would pay to stay off of. But the way Junior puts it, `There's one of him, and one of me. I need it--'

In the meantime, Junior reconnects with his family: Ace, who is still looking for that gold ring, living on the memories of his forty plus years riding the rodeo, and dreaming of a new start in Australia; Elvira (Ida Lupino), his mom, who has long suffered Ace's fantasies; and his brother, Curley (Joe Don Baker), a successful entrepreneur who wants Junior to hang up the rodeo and come to work for him selling mobile homes-- which he has to know is never going to happen. The difference between Curley and Junior, in fact, is summed up when Curley says to him, `I'm working on my first million, you're still working on eight seconds...'

Stylistically rendered, Peckinpah's film is affecting, and at times almost disarmingly sincere. Junior's relationship with Ace, for example, is so subtly underscored with honesty that it rings true-to-life and gives a perspective to both characters that is contextually invaluable. The way Peckinpah presents it is definitive, as is the way in which Junior relates to Elvira, Curley, and even the rodeo itself. It's Peckinpah's way of examining the individualist, beginning with the outstanding screenplay by Jeb Rosebrook, then by setting a perfect pace and utilizing some imaginative split-screen photography and slow motion shots to great effect. And, as with all of Peckinpah's films, there's a sense of violence-- understated here, less pronounced than that of say, `The Wild Bunch'-- but present, nevertheless; you can feel it, lying just beneath the surface of all that's happening, but definitely there. You can see it in the confrontation between the cowboys and the bulls they ride; in the way Junior lives his life, that constant challenge of man against beast or against nature; or in the bulldozers razing an old ranch house, grinding down the old and weak in favor of the new and the strong. It's pure Peckinpah, and it's brilliant filmmaking.

Tough, adamant, iconoclastic; Steve McQueen was the perfect choice for the role of Junior. One of the most underrated actors ever, he has a daunting magnetism and a commanding screen presence that allows him to dominate any scene if he so chooses, and he doesn't have to be the guy doing the talking to do it. Consider his scenes with Preston; Ace may have the lines, but your attention is drawn to and focused on Junior. And everything McQueen does tells you something about who Junior is, from the way he walks-- has he spent a lifetime astride broncos and bulls? You bet-- to the way his hat sits on his head. It's the kind of natural and detailed performance that sets McQueen apart, and looking back on this character, and on his whole body of work, you can say without hesitation that he did it his way. This is one gifted, singular actor who never gives less than 110%. And there will never be another like him.

Preston, too, is memorable as Ace, a man who, if not larger than life himself, has dreams that are. You can tell Junior is cut from the same cloth, though Ace still thinks there's going to be gold for the taking around the next bend, if only he can get there. Junior, though, has been there and knows there's nothing around that bend but the next rodeo-- which for him is enough. The biggest difference between them is the fact that Ace still seems to have the need to prove himself to the world, while Junior has nothing to prove to anyone but himself. There's something of `The Music Man's' Prof. Harold Hill in Ace, but overall Ace is unique, and Preston plays him to perfection.

An absorbing drama that captures a sense of time and place that no longer seems to exist, `Junior Bonner' is a glimpse at a dying breed, the individual who takes life head-on without trying to put a spin or a `politically correct' perspective on it. Like Junior said, `There's one of him, and one of me.' And that about sums it up. It's the magic of the movies. 10/10.

This film starts slow and gets slower.......way too many "slo-mo" rodeo scenes, "slo-mo" barroom brawling, and "slo-mo" bulldozing scenes. The first half hour seemed to be about driving cattle (lots of mooing and stampeding into pens) while Steve McQueen sits and stares. It picks up anytime Robert Preston has a scene, and whenever the actors actually speak to one another. Ben Johnson was pretty good, but generally speaking the acting was fairly weak. 5/10

When Robert Preston makes that toast to his grandchildren at some level he knows his best days are behind him. But he's determined to live out his life to the fullest. Drinking, wenching, prospecting for gold and just hanging around the rodeo because it's his way of life.

It's the way of life for his son Steve McQueen and McQueen was 42 years old when Junior Bonner was made. Even if you figure he might be playing younger than his actual age by about five to seven, that's older than Methusaleh in the rodeo game. Especially as McQueen participates in the most dangerous of events.

In the intervening years since Junior Bonner came out, bullriding has spun out on its own as a single event competition and the best in that sport participate in the Professional Bull Riders as opposed to the all around rodeo events as you see depicted in Presscott, Arizona. As I write this review, the leading bull rider in the country right now is 20 year old J.B. Mauney in terms of point standings. The difference between young Mr. Mauney and the character of Junior Bonner is a whole generation. The skill and the know how is the same, the experience is on McQueen's side to be sure. But those cowboys can sustain some serious injuries and at J.B. Mauney's age he is capable of bouncing back a whole lot faster than Junior Bonner.

McQueen knows this, but it's the way of life that he and his father love dearly. They're active, vital, and vibrant men and no one's going to tell them to act their age, least of all Ida Lupino as Preston's wife and McQueen's mother or Joe Don Baker as her other real estate selling son to whose children Preston makes the title toast.

Junior Bonner is skimpy on plot, but long on characterization. Normally that's not something I like, but in this case it fits the film perfectly. The story is simply about a rodeo family's day at the Presscott Frontier Days Rodeo. It's about Lupino and Baker who have aged and accepted that times change and Preston and McQueen who haven't.

Preston's hoping that if McQueen wins some prize money, he'll stake him to a trip to Australia where there's still wild country to tame. McQueen though his best days are behind him, still loves the life and has a personal goal of riding an unridable bull, Sunshine. In fact he requests stock contractor and prime mover at the Frontier Days Rodeo, Ben Johnson, to make sure he draws Sunshine.

McQueen's goals are a longshot, but not unreasonable. Last year's PBR champion was 36 year old Adriano Moraes showing the younger riders the older men still have something. But how much is left in the cup, only the Deity knows.

Sam Peckinpaugh directed the film to perfection capturing the mood and ambiance of the rodeo scene. The casting is also to perfection with folks like Bill McKinney, Dub Taylor, Donald Barry all western regulars giving standout performances. The violence that usually characterizes a Peckinpaugh film is noticeably absent, but the rodeo is a good subject for his patented slow motion takes.

Junior Bonner joins a great pantheon of rodeo films like The Lusty Men, J.W. Coop, and 8 Seconds in depicting the hard, but rewarding life as a rodeo performer. And this review is dedicated to all the cowboys, to the Adriano Moraeses and the J.B. Mauneys who risk life and limb in the dirt arena trying to do their personal best at what they love.

A modern-day Western, Junior Bonner is a director Sam Peckinpah's lovely effort, feeling look at the world of the rodeo. Steve McQueen, engagingly easygoing but obstinate , is the title character, a rodeo rider out to win a big bull-riding competition in his hometown called Prescott. The rodeo champion works rodeo circuit contest , as the has-been rodeo star trying to make it big again. McQueen is a drifter who returns his small town and he strives to preserve his values in an often harsh modern world. McQueen decides to raise money for his father's journey towards Australia by challenging a formidable bull whose owner is Ben Johnson.

Peckinpah's slow-motion camera , his usual trademark,is put to particularly nice utilization shooting the balletic movement of the rodeo, at once more splendidly and awe-inspiring than any gun battle. An enjoyable country-western , Junior Bonner is lovely directed by Sam Peckinpah as an elegiac perspective at the world of the rodeo . Steve McQueen turns in an excellent acting as a drifting rodeo star who is searching in a changing world for values that have long time disappeared. He also must deal with his feuding parents, and selfish brother wonderfully performed by Robert Preston, Ida Lupino and Joe Don Baker. Robert Preston is particularly fine as the old veteran, he and Ida Lupino strike real sparks. Furthermore, it contains an emotive score by Jerry Fielding , Peckinpah's usual, and colorful cinematography by Lucien Ballard. An agreeable country-western with marvelous interpretations and exciting rodeo footage including slow-moving images and a much quieter movie than habitual from ¨Cross of Iron¨,¨The getaway¨, ¨Wild bunch¨ , ¨Major Dundee¨ director Sam Peckinpah.

The plot for JUNIOR BONNER is so simplistic you could just use the brief description offered by TCM and you have the whole story in a nutshell: "An aging rodeo rider returns home for a comeback and discovers that his parents are separated." STEVE McQUEEN is the rider and JOE DON BAKER is his more successful brother with other plans.

He also discovers that he and his brother don't see eye to eye on how to build a future. His brother has some real estate plans on his mind while he's content to keep at the rodeo circuit as long as he's able to ride a horse. Naturally, they argue and fight throughout the story.

There's plenty of background flavor but absolutely nothing much going on in the plot department. A weak sub-plot involving his estranged parents (ROBERT PRESTON and IDA LUPINO) is no help. Both of them are wasted, particularly Lupino who has little to do. BEN JOHNSON is another wasted cast member.

If Fourth of July rodeos out west are your thing, along with occasional barroom brawls, you may find something to enjoy in this really dull Steve McQueen enterprise where he's determined to follow his destiny along a lonely path. He looks tired and says little as the aging rodeo rider, giving one of his most laconic performances.

Summing up: A Sam Peckinpah film that is nothing to shout about.

Sam Peckinpah is usually stereotyped as a director who is mainly concerned with violence and confrontation. This is only part of the picture. If you look past the violence of 'The Wild Bunch' you'll see a movie concerned with old age, loyalty and changing values. 'Straw Dogs' deals with masculinity and ethics. 'Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia' contains a vivid picture of traditional Mexican culture confronted with modern America's greed and corruption. These sub-texts and themes are often overlooked because of the blood and gore.

'Junior Bonner' leaves out the gore, and what happens? Peckinpah detractors who criticise the aforementioned movies ignore it and dismiss it as "slow" and "boring"! It is anything but. 'Junior Bonner' is a thoughtful character study of an aging rodeo performer (Steve McQueen at his best) and his relationship with his estranged family (veterans Ida Lupino and Robert Preston and character actor legend Joe Don Baker - all first rate). It moves at its own pace, which will alienate the MTV-generation, but anyone with a love of good movies will be fascinated. 'Junior Bonner' may not be as widely discussed as Peckinpah's more controversial efforts, but it's just as good in its own way, and shows once again, that he was one of THE greats of American cinema. Don't overlook this one!

On the surface, "Junior Bonner" has everything to please a fan of the New Hollywood period: from the panoramic shots of Arizonian landscapes to characters belonging to a dying breed, as to complete the authentic end-of-an-era feel. Movies like "Junior Bonner" resonate like tender and poignant eulogies to a certain idea of America, begging to be dusted off in our cynical money-driven days.

And unsurprisingly, "Junior Bonner" comes from the most defining artisan of that era: Sam Peckinpah, the maverick director who borrowed from John Ford and Huston, before his very work would be revered as much as his glorious predecessors. Using his favorite setting, the Old West, and populating his films with true-to-life people, his movies poetically chronicled the struggle of men trying to play in old fields with the games' new rules. Their imminent exit, whether natural or not, is both an exhilaration and inspiration for us to express the most repressed appetites devouring our souls, before wisely leaving.

What I just described now was the mindset while watching "Junior Bonner", the story of a rodeo player with a personal score to settle with the most dangerous bull of the show (a black one, naturally). The film opens with a sumptuously edited rodeo sequence concluding with Junior falling before the crucial eight seconds. I knew they'd meet again, but twenty minutes later, I had already forgotten about the bull and focused more on Junior's personal life in Prescott (Arizona) and the apparent dislocation of his family in which he plays the role of a passive observer. At that point, I just waited for him to get out of his laconic detachment and play a more active role, not that I didn't want to see his eventual triumph over the bull, but I didn't care.

I didn't care because there were so many premises of great subplots in "Junior Bonner" but it seemed like Peckinpah was never quite sure in which field to play. Take one of his greatest trademarks: the editing, while it's pertinent for the first and last rodeo sequence (with a honorable mention to the stunt doubles who did a great job by hiding their faces from the camera), the same editing is randomly used in other parts such as a weird confrontation with a bulldozer destroying the house of Junior's father Ace, and an embarrassingly dizzying fight sequence in a bar. Over-edited or awkward are the most diplomatic word I can use.

There is one scene though where Peckinpah's touch works. It happens during a 4th July celebration, when suddenly, both Junior and Ace (Robert Preston) gets on a horse and escapes from the parade to have a beer-driven father-and-son discussion in a deserted place. Some moments like that redeem the film, and God, I wished they were more. There was something in Preston's performance that reminded me of the character portrayed by Ben Johnson in "The Last Picture Show", Sam the Lion, and indeed, there was something of a lion, in that old coot of a man, mourning a vanished existence, and still holding his last hopes on his dream to emigrate in Australia, breed sheep and find gold… like the good old days, as it's implied.

Preston's revival of that Old West feel helps us to understand through the father, the son's personality. And while Preston alone could have carried the film, the film also shines from Ida Lupino's aura as Elvira, the struggling mother who accepted her husband's lust for women, and lack of responsibility and resigned to what life could offer us. Her constantly sad-looking eyes are those of a woman who suffered a lot, but without adversity drying heart out. And the pay-off of these two great performances, which would have been Oscar-worthy had the film been more ambition, occurs in the saloon scene where the flirtatious Preston confronts his ex-wife and can't refuse her the first dance. The chemistry between Lupino and Preston is so intense and believable, it almost make you forget this is a McQueen's film.

And the family portrait is completed by the closest character to an antagonist, the brother Curly, played by Joe Don Baker who became a rich entrepreneur and real-estate agent. Curly embodies the destruction of the frontier spirit by capitalism, after it swept off the Native civilization, a redundant theme in Peckinpah's film. Curly could help both Bonner and Ace, financially, but we understand these men of honor would never surrender to the very system that destroyed their spirit. So many great themes the film tackles, but while we expect more human depth to come out of these interactions, the film gets back to its earlier point and doesn't leave our hearts much to be hooked on. "Junior Bonner" features some cool-looking shots and magnificent performances but for some reasons, Peckinpah didn't know whether it was a rodeo film or a family drama he had to male.

That hesitation probably explains some weirdly inexcusable scenes, poorly directed from Bloody Sam' standards, a fight scene where you can see some extras laughing or possibly the most fake-looking punches in any film. The worst thing is not that the film is overly directed, sometimes, it's the total opposite. It's possible to enjoy McQueen's magnetic presence, the solid casting and the whole nostalgic atmosphere but not without ignoring these flaws. And it's a real shame that the film doesn't quite work, because Peckinpah could have assembled the two subjects. Rodeo could have been a way to show how cowboys' traditions became reduced to a bunch of crowd-pleasing games, instead of inserting that personal story with the bull, which sounded like an artificial plot device, with a predictable conclusion.

It's just as if Peckinpah was in a rush to finish the film, as if his own material was like a bull trying to eject him. Sometimes, the film resist, sometimes it falls, and you can ever hear the buzzing.

Get a slice of life of the fading west in the cult movie Junior Bonner.

Directed by Sam Peckinpah he eschews his violent style apart from a rip roaring bar fight. This is a character study of Junior Bonner (Steve McQueen) an ageing modern day rodeo cowboy who may be over the hill, he goes back to visit his dad Ace Bonner (Robert Foster.)

Junior finds that his father's home is being bulldozed after selling it to his brother Curly (Joe Don Baker) who is buying land and selling it to developers. He is also making a fortune selling mobile homes. Curly even wants to put his mother Elvira (Ida Lupino) in a mobile home. Ace has plans to go to Australia to mine gold but first he needs money and escape his hospital bed.

Junior Bonner rides in the annual rodeo parade on a formidable bull and hopes to last 8 seconds to earn some big bucks for his father.

The film is a change of pace for both McQueen and Peckinpah. Nothing much happens apart from the build up to the annual parade and the various rodeo action scenes. It is really a portrait of an honourable, proud but headstrong man in a fading west. It features some nice ensemble acting.

The film itself is interesting enough, even to those not interested in its core subject of Rodeo, and it's a story that I think most viewers can get onside with. The title character played wonderfully by Steve McQueen returns to his home town of Prescott, Arizona, to find that the family he left behind is now fractured and that age has caught up with him and his Rodeo life.

It's a very up and down piece that on the surface doesn't seem like a directed effort from Sam Peckinpah. But there's some very special treats in the film to look out for. I have never been to a Rodeo so I have no frame of reference as regards the power of the Rodeo scenes here, but they certainly hit the spot of this particular viewer, in fact, I was transfixed by them. The film is also dotted with interesting and nicely drawn characters that are thankfully well realised by the acting talent on show. Ida Lupino, Robert Preston & Ben Johnson all help to keep the film way above average, but ultimately it's Steve McQueen turning in a memorable lead performance that actually deserves a better film than the one it ends up being. So 7/10 for the film as a whole, but a genuine 10/10 for the affectingly deep turn from McQueen.

I grew up with these people, and watched, with them, the end of the mythic West and the beginning of traffic-clogged urban West. When Junior watches the bulldozers flattening the old ranch, I can empathise completely.

This is a melancholy film, superbly acted (everyone was completely authentic in the movie), and a tragic document of the West as it once was, when there were stll heroic bull riders and classic vistas unpolluted by smog.

Old blood and guts Sam Peckinpah said of this film of his that no guns were fired and nobody died in it but also that nobody went to see it. Even so, it's still his readily identifiable movie with trademark cross-cutting, slow-motion action and split-screen devices all to the fore.

Steve McQueen is the title character, a latter-day cowboy born about a hundred years too late who lives for the next rodeo show which he follows around from town to town. There's one mean old bull he's determined to ride for the requisite eight seconds to claim the prize and when he fails to do it at one show, he rolls onto the next one to try again.

He has a wastrel pa, Robert Preston, who spins tall tales and dreams of going to Australia to prospect for gold, ma Ida Lupino is the definition of long-suffering and a younger brother on his way to making his first million selling real estate. Shot on location in Arizona, Junior follows the travelling circus to the next rodeo location, flits in and out of his kin's dysfunctional lives, raises a little hell and takes love where he can find it, usually a one-night-stand with another man's girl, but his conquests don't seem to mind.

Me, I don't care for the rodeo much, mainly because I don't like the way the animals are treated at the shows and I care for country and western music even less but it's obvious that Peckinpah and McQueen do. Steve sure rocks the old double-denim look while Sam does a good job encapsulating small-town life out west especially when the show hits the town.

Light in content as well as characterisation, we don't learn much more about Junior after the first five minutes or so, but by then we've identified him as a tough, lonesome but likeable old cowpoke and are happy to spend some time with him even if nothing much happens to him and we don't really get to know him. Still, the rodeo scenes and requisite bar-room brawl are entertainingly filmed, the latter only coming to a halt when the band starts playing "The Stars And Stripes Forever".

The shooting and killing would return for the following collaboration between star and director, the contemporary heist movie "The Getaway" but this was an entertaining if not compulsory stopping-off point, although as someone says in the film, if you've seen one rodeo you've pretty much seen them all, even as I don't doubt the same people watch and participate in them in the same towns to this day.

I cannot believe this movie is not rated higher. It should be in the Top 250 IMDB movies. I guess most viewers are not really into sociology.

This movie is about telling the tale of a dying breed--the cowboy, and it is about a man who is chasing a disappearing lifestyle.

This movie is about folklore, about the American traditions. I realize that the mass media has wiped out our past; thanks to them we are in a sense, "tabula rasa."

We have forgotten our past. And the media recreates it for us.

Thank goodness for movies like Junior Bonner. They keep the past alive for us. This movie is like an oral storyteller sitting around the fire 10 thousand years ago, telling the tribe the myths of their ancestors.

Long live Junior Bonner!

"Junior Bonner" (Steve McQueen) is a rodeo cowboy who has clearly seen his best days but is trying to hold on and remain competitive in spite of it all. That said, having just unsuccessfully finished one rodeo his traveling schedule brings him back to his home of Prescott, Arizona for another competition there. Yet, even though he is back in his hometown, there are issues with his family that he has to contend with which don't particularly ease his troubled spirit. For example, his father "Ace Bonner" (Robert Preston) and mother "Elvira Bonner" (Ida Lupino) have essentially separated and his brother "Curly Bonner" (Joe Don Baker) seems more interested in money than anything else. But even so, Junior is determined to continue his way of life despite everyone and everything. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay film made better by the performance of Steve McQueen and the presence of several other solid actors including Ben Johnson (as "Buck Roan"), Bill McKinney ("Red Terwiliger") and the other aforementioned folks. In short, while it wasn't a great film by any means, it still managed to maintain my attention and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Prescott AZ is much liked by filmmakers because our near-perfect weather and multiple architectural styles (Old West, Art Deco West, Modern Southwest, New England) lend themselves to reliable locale shooting. The famous lightning-strikes-clocktower scene from "Back to the Future" was filmed at our courthouse square. Tom Mix owned a ranch here and filmed more than a hundred silent Westerns here. But, to my knowledge, "Junior Bonner" is the only movie made with Prescott as the film's identified locus.

The eponymous Junior (Steve McQueen) is an over-the-hill rodeo star returning to his hometown for Prescott's annual Frontier Days Rodeo (a real event here--the oldest professional rodeo in the US). He's also catching up with his family: rapscallion father Ace (Robert Preston), prey to get-rich-quick mining schemes; long suffering mother Elvira (Ida Lupino); and unscrupulous brother Curly (Joe Don Baker), who bought his father's last acreage cheap to build a trailer park while Ace blew the money in Nevada. Junior has an agenda other than to make some money at the rodeo: he wants another chance to ride a particularly nasty bull that threw and injured him in an earlier rodeo.

This is yet another example of how excellent acting hoists a nothing movie. McQueen turns in a patented laconic but credible performance, while Preston, Lupino and Baker are just right for their roles. The inimitable Ben Johnson has a small role as a rodeo official. Johnson enhanced every film he was in, and this is no exception. It's hard to believe that Sam Peckinpah had the sentiment in him to make the feel-good ending, but he did.

"Junior Bonner" is liberally sprinkled with filmings of our rodeo and our Fourth of July parade, a 10,000-calorie slice of Americana which (to paraphrase Shakespeare) is "a hoot--a very palpable hoot." Another big chunk is filmed at the Palace Bar and Restaurant on Whiskey Row, which bills itself as "America's Oldest Continuously Operating Saloon." I enjoyed seeing what my hometown looked like 36 years ago. But other than that, there's not much to commend it.