My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys

HD has led a life of rodeo-ing and honky tonkin. An injury while bull riding forces him to return home to recupperate. When he gets there he finds that his sister and her idiot husband have put HD's dad into a nursing home and are trying to take the farm. HD's old girlfriend from childhood also comes back into his life and soon HD has to return to bull riding to win the $100,000.00 prize, fend off his sister, keep his dad from the old folks home, and win the love of his life.

This has become one of my most favorite films. I love Scott Glenn and Ben Johnson and this story always brings a tear to my eyes. A must see. Its a bit corny and low budget but damn worth your time.

"MY Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" is a very good film due to the fine acting. As for the story, it clearly is secondary.

H. D. (Scott Glenn) is an aging rodeo cowboy who has just gotten beaten up pretty badly by a bull. As a result, he returns home to recuperate. However, his time back home is anything other than relaxing as he has to deal with an aging father (Ben Johnson) as well as renewing an old relationship with an old girlfriend.

The story is not the main focus in the film. Instead, it's much more a character study with some excellent acting, particularly by Glenn and Johnson...though they are provided some amazing support by Clarence Williams III, Tess Harper, Cate Capshaw, Dub Taylor and Clu Gulager. Mickey Rooney is also in the film...but his role is a bit bizarre and unnecessary...much like his role in "Babe: Pig in the City".

As far as the story goes, there are some pluses. I like how the film talks about aging and the subplot involving nursing homes. It's a topic most films completely ignore. But the part that left me cold was the ending...it just seemed a bit arbitrary and nothing really seemed settled by the time the credits rolled. Still, the acting is so good, I can look past this.

I saw the movie when it came out, and I think perhaps it plays much better if you live in a rodeo state (I'm in Texas) so the audience really understands what's going on. They used real rodeo performers, too, like Leon Coffee, and that's the sort of detail the average movie-goer wouldn't notice. As to the movie in terms of plot, it's fairly predictable--hometown boy makes good and saves the day--but the subplots are what make this a good, underrated movie, I think. You have a hero who's almost an antihero till he's forced to grow up and take on a normal man's responsibilities; i.e., caring for his aging father. You have a young widow with a recalcitrant son, basically a good boy who needs a strong masculine role model. You have the dutiful daughter who stayed home and took on the care of her father, even though she's married and has a life of her own. The acting overall is very good. Scott Glenn is a charming scamp, and he has a flair for light comedy. Cate Capshaw--well, she could be better. Ben Johnson is excellent. Mickey Rooney does a star turn in a cameo role. And look for the old TV western character actors from the 1960s. It's a decent movie with very good moments throughout, very honest moments, too. Maybe it didn't play well in New York or Los Angeles, but in Nacogdoches, Texas, the theatre was SRO.

I am always looking for movies set in Texas/Oklahoma, etc. in modern times (post-cowboy days). I expected this one to be little corny, but I was not prepared for just how bad it was. Even though it had some decent actors, they all did a terrible job or were given a terrible script and direction in this flick. Ben Johnson is one of my all-time favorite actors. Compare this to "The Last Picture Show" and he comes off as a crude redneck with emotions that I'd expect in a kids movie. Characters changed moods and attitudes from one sentence to the next. The arguments were totally irrational and disconnected. Unless you're desperate to watch bull riding and wranglers, don't waste your time with this pitiful movie.

There isn't much to say about this rodeo 'Rocky' rip-off. In a nutshell: hard-drinkin', slow-talking', two-fisted bronco buster Scott Glenn has to ride the meanest bull on Earth to win the money needed to keep his ailing father out of a nursing home, and so forth and so on. The formula is copied right down to the inspirational training montage and sappy, uplifting music score, and there's even a little cowboy Zen philosophy from old wrangler Ben Johnson. Besides being sloppy and derivative, the film is also too influenced by the MTV aesthetic, hardly the appropriate style for a country-western ballad: the camera is too close to the actors, the scissors too handy in the editing room, and the volume of the soundtrack is cranked far too loud. Better talent has never been more wasted: Johnson and Gary Busey provide a measure of stability, but Tess Harper gives what has to be one of the most irritating performances of the year. Keep a sharp lookout for Mickey Rooney, playing Johnson's nursing home buddy…don't blink or you'll miss him.