Le rodéo de la dernière chance

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.

I cannot count the number of movies that I have seen with Scott Glen. But not one of them, with maybe the exception of the role of Alan Shepard in The Right Stuff has stuck with me. I saw him the other night in what I though was an outstanding performance, so I thought I would take another look. I was not disappointed.

Playing a role that many of us have been in, a man with a difficult relationship with his father, Glen (H.D.) really showed the right stuff in this film. he left his father, his high school sweetheart, and all responsibility to do his thing. Now, he is back trying to see if he truly is all hat and no cattle as his girlfriend Jolie (Kate Capshaw) accuses him of being. Complicating the problem is a sister (Tess Harper) that was left with all the responsibility when he left. H.D. has to get it all together to save his father and his relationship with Jolie.

Scott Glen has the right stuff and I will be revisiting a lot of films that I've seen.

I go to the Rodeo every weekend and that HD fellow is the oldest bullrider I've ever seen. That's a young man's game.

H D Dalton (Scott Glenn) is a former rodeo champion with his career ruined by a bull that gored him. He returns in his hometown in Oklahoma only to discover that his father is in a nursing home, his sister is now a widow and the farm is now abandoned. After returning his dad in the farm, H D discovers that the ranch would be sold unless he obtains 100,000 $ after participating in a rodeo and ride a bull for 32 seconds. So H D has a gruesome training for winning the rodeo and save his ranch and dad.

While this is now an obscure movie available only on YouTube, it's still great. Scott Glenn gives a great performance as a former rodeo star that tries to win a bull riding context despite his past scars, and succedds. The other cast members (Clarence Williams III, Ben Johnson and Mickey Rooney) are very entertaining and the movie itself is inspiring and gives the message of never giving up on your past passions despite injuries or thoughts of the other people, I nearly cried towards the end when H D managed to ride the bull for 32 seconds.

If you stumble on this movie during a YouTube search, don't miss it because it's one of those films that goes for the say... they don't make 'em like this anymore!

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.