thomas196x2000

I will admit, I was never a big musical lover as a kid or adult. However, I did enjoy a few, particularly "The Sound of Music" and "Oliver". I was always going to movies with my family and found myself exposed to all sorts of genres.

I remember this being specially broadcast on TV, and I was looking forward to it. I loved Dick Van Dyke, Paul Lynde and so many others in the cast, including Ann Margret. But this monstrosity was just awful.

The ingredients are all there. An Elvis-type figure that is going to get drafted. Everyone going crazy over that. Some music thrown in there. It looked so appealing on the coming attractions.

But it doesn't work on any level. First off, the "Elvis" personality. "Conrad Birdie", had no presence whatsoever. He wasn't particularly handsome, and came off as a goober. And everyone, including males, pass out with desire for him when he walks by, literally. It's too broad to be satire on the whole celebrity thing, which would have been an interesting take. It is just, for lack of a better word, stupid.

I didn't care about the plot, there is no place the film goes, it just meanders around. It's one of those movies you sit wondering just when is it going to pick up.

And as much as I love the insanely talented Ann Margret, her wailing the theme song TWICE in this film got on my nerves so bad I can STILL hear it.

Absolutely one of the worst major musicals ever. YECH!

It is amazing that the director, star and co-star of "The Getaway", released the same year, made this movie as well immediately after it. Yes, this is a Sam Peckinpah film.

I saw the posters of this at the movie theaters growing up but never saw the movie, and don't remember it on TV. I remembered it as being some type of western. I just watched it today.

Some would say this is a character study, and maybe that is a good way to describe it. The "characters" in this film are exactly that, and the cast is great. McQueen, Ida Lupino, Robert Preston, Ben Johnson, and others round out the cast on hand and everyone was superb.

This is not an action movie, not a soap opera, but a real, in-depth look at a rodeo star who does not want to change his life and get a safer, more secure job. He is in town for Prescott, Arizona's annual rodeo, which I knew nothing about before screening this film, and it is a rodeo that goes on today.

McQueen's character, the titled JR Bonner, has just come from another event when he is bested by the meanest bull anyone has ever seen, owned by Buck Roan, played by Ben Johnson. He is needled good-naturedly by friends and strangers alike by letting the bull throw him, and he is determined to win the next rodeo event on that same very bull.

Robert Preston plays the senior Bonner, who himself was a famous rodeo star and is still beloved. You can see why. Although unsuccessful after his rodeo career and a hard drinker, he exudes charm and fun and everyone from little kids to the nurse at his hospital loves the guy. Ida Lupino plays his ex-wife, who still has a soft sport for him but cannot live with him and his antics anymore.

Joe Don Baker plays their other son, who is making a killing selling mobile homes to people off the land he purchased from his dad for a steal. That sets up conflict with JR, as he feels he took advantage of his dad.

There are all sorts of dynamics here, but aside from a small fight and a huge one in a bar room, the film doesn't have any violence. In fact, there are no real villains either! The big bar room brawl is more about letting off steam than hurting anyone. There are no antagonists. This is really about dynamics and relationships between people and trying to live the life they want to have. No one is is against JR, in fact both his brother and Buck offer him jobs. One may not be used to a western where there are no guys in black hats, yet here we are.

Of course, the centerpiece of all this is the rodeo, and the associated activities in Prescott, during the actual real radio. Because this is directed and shot realistically, you feel like you are really there. The stars melt into their characters. Some may not like this as the film takes it time in many scenes, but it feels like real life. The only thing that feels Peckinpah-ish about it is his use of zooms, split screens, and other similar techniques you will recognize. I felt like I was dropped into Prescott and was experiencing this.

Watch this when you just want to relax and you are not in the mood for an action film. It is, for want of a better word, rather fun and pleasing.