Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Ace bonner returns to arizona several years after he abandoned his family junior bonner is a wild young man. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 05/13/2008 Starring: Steve Mcqueen Robert Preston Run time: 100 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Sam Peckinpah

Amazon.com essential video:
Junior Bonner is director Sam Peckinpah's lovely, elegiac look at the world of the rodeo--and his only film with nary a bullet wound. Steve McQueen, engagingly easygoing but determined, is the title character, a rodeo rider out to win a big bull-riding contest in his hometown. Even as he confronts his dwindling days on the circuit, he also must deal with his feuding parents, marvelously played by Robert Preston and Ida Lupino. Preston is particularly good as the randy old con artist; he and Lupino strike real sparks. Peckinpah's slow-motion camera is put to particularly good use filming the balletic violence of the rodeo, at once more terrifying and awe-inspiring than any gun battle. A lovely country-western valentine to a dying breed. --Marshall Fine

After completing two of my favorite Peckinpah films, The Wild Bunch in 1969 and Straw Dogs in 1971, Sam Peckinpah turned his attention to Junior Bonner in 1972, before going on to make other great films like The Getaway, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. Although I am a fan of Peckinpah's films, Junior Bonner is not among my Peckinpah favorites. Still, it is a worthwhile experience. Filmed in Prescott, Arizona, the film chronicles a week in the life of veteran rodeo rider Junior "JR" Bonner (Steve McQueen), who returns to his hometown to compete in the annual Independence Day parade and rodeo competition, and to reunite with his brother and estranged parents. Upon his arrival in Prescott, he finds his family home being bulldozed by his younger brother Curly (Joe Don Baker), a sleazy real-estate developer. His hard-drinking father Ace (Robert Preston) dreams of moving to Australia to raise sheep and mine gold. Junior bribes rodeo entrepreneur Buck Roan (Ben Johnson) to ride Sunshine, the same bull that just threw him in a previous rodeo, promising to give Roan half the prize money. Sunshine proves to be the last ride of Junior's career. The film is an elegy for aging rodeo riders in a changing world (symbolized by bulldozers and earth-moving equipment). Steve McQueen brings an engaging performance to the film, and his scenes with Robert Preston during which they drink and despair over modern times and the state of the world are especially memorable. Junior Bonner could have been titled No Country for Old Cowboys.

G. Merritt

Average Rating:

Rating: - No Country for Old Cowboys.
After completing two of my favorite Peckinpah films, The Wild Bunch in 1969 and Straw Dogs in 1971, Sam Peckinpah turned his attention to Junior Bonner in 1972, before going on to make other great films like The Getaway, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. Although I am a fan of Peckinpah's films, Junior Bonner is not among my Peckinpah favorites. Still, it is a worthwhile experience. Filmed in Prescott, Arizona, the film chronicles a week in the life of veteran rodeo rider Junior "JR" Bonner (Steve McQueen), who returns to his hometown to compete in the annual Independence Day parade and rodeo competition, and to reunite with his brother and estranged parents. Upon his arrival in Prescott, he finds his family home being bulldozed by his younger brother Curly (Joe Don Baker), a sleazy real-estate developer. His hard-drinking father Ace (Robert Preston) dreams of moving to Australia to raise sheep and mine gold. Junior bribes rodeo entrepreneur Buck Roan (Ben Johnson) to ride Sunshine, the same bull that just threw him in a previous rodeo, promising to give Roan half the prize money. Sunshine proves to be the last ride of Junior's career. The film is an elegy for aging rodeo riders in a changing world (symbolized by bulldozers and earth-moving equipment). Steve McQueen brings an engaging performance to the film, and his scenes with Robert Preston during which they drink and despair over modern times and the state of the world are especially memorable. Junior Bonner could have been titled No Country for Old Cowboys.

G. Merritt

Rating: - Stunning!
This is a superb movie with excellent performances. I lived in Pendleton, Oregon, the home of the famous Pendleton Roundup, for nine years, and I think that this is the best rodeo movie ever made. The actors all give true to life performances, and it seems so real that one can smell the dust of the arena. There is no sparkling, brittle dialogue, because rodeo men don't talk that way; but a great deal is said in a few words.

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Rating: - if you like rodeo
If your crave rodeos you might take a seat in the stands for this one. Otherwise there aint that much to it!

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Rating: - Jr Bonner
If you liked the original music from the film like I did, don't buy this DVD, they've changed the music! Otherwise the movie's fine. But I was very disappointed with this change.

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Rating: - Junior Bonner
Sam Peckinpah's most subtle, gentle movie is a perfect showcase for the mellowing McQueen, who wears the part of Junior like a pair of old jeans. "Junior" also boasts a fabulous late career turn from Preston, who steals the movie as Ace. Appropriate for older children, who should enjoy the bucking bronco scenes. Terrific Americana, not to be missed.

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