starring Steve McQueen, Robert Preston, Ida Lupino
directed by Sam Peckinpah
100 minutes
Junior Bonner (Steve McQueen), a rodeo star and the son of rodeo legend Ace Bonner (Robert Preston), returns to his hometown of Prescott, AZ to take part in the local rodeo. He finds that some things have changed but others have not. His father is still lousy with money. He brother has become successful in the real estate racket and is getting ready to move their mother (Ida Lupino) into a mobile home.
I saw this film at the AFI Silver Theater. It was introduced by George Pelecanos and is part of a series of films that he is introducing this year, all of which are Peckinpah films that were made in the 1970s. Peckinpah was born exactly 100 years ago today, as Pelecanos pointed out in his introduction.
Ida Lupino and Robert Preston played the parts of Steve McQueen's parents but in reality they were both just twelve years older than him. Granted, neither of them looked like they were in good shape, unlike McQueen.
Joe Don Baker played the part of Curly Bonner, Junior's Brother. I've seen him in a number of other movies including other ones that George Pelecanos introduced in the past at the AFI Silver Theater: Charlie Varrick (1973) and The Outfit (1973).
None of the acting performances were spectacular. It was at times hard to hear conversations because of music or other sounds that were overlapping with the dialogue. This movie is more spectacle that story. There is a fair amount of footage of Prescott Frontier Days aka the World's Oldest Rodeo which has been an annual event in Prescott since 1888.
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