Junior Bonner (1972)

Junior Bonner is a left turn for director Sam Peckinpah and a really fantastic and criminally underated film. This is a character study of an aging rodeo cowboy who returns home and the dynamics and relationship that he has with his family. Steve McQueen is great as Junior Bonner and his presence is immense, he conveys a lot of emotion with his facial expressions and says little. While this is a drama, it is very much a western, but without the gunplay. The film is very gritty, but beautifully photographed . This plays out in a very real, natural and honest manner. Junior Bonner is a very good film and is very solid and unpretentious entertainment.

Penned by then-neophyte screenwriter Jeb Rosebrook and shot by Sam Peckinpah's best cinematographer, Lucien Ballard, on location in Prescott, Arizona, 'Junior Bonner' stars Steve McQueen in the title role as an aging, battered bull rider returning to his hometown to participate in Prescott's 4th of July "Frontier Days." (As the world's oldest rodeo, founded in 1888, Prescott's annual event epitomizes the mythic cowboy culture of the Old West). Expecting to find his family unchanged after many years, J.R. "Junior" Bonner discovers that his father, Ace (Robert Preston)—a former rodeo star gone to seed—and mother Elvira (Ida Lupino) have since separated and that his younger brother Curly (Joe Don Baker) has become a venal real estate tycoon selling off parcels of the family land holdings for a fast buck. A poignant look at the dissolution of the modern American family, Junior Bonner is also obviously another installment in Sam Peckinpah's long string of elegiac movies (e.g., 'Ride the High Country'; 'The Wild Bunch'; 'The Ballad of Cable Hogue') about the passing of a freer, tougher, and more independent America, superseded by domesticated, money-grubbing conformists. Concomitant with the demise of rugged individualism is the deterioration of the kind of stoical, circumspect, and physically courageous masculinity that Peckinpah and McQueen held dear. To recuperate said masculinity, Junior Bonner undertakes to ride "Sunshine," a fearsome bull he has never been able to master for the requisite eight seconds in order to achieve at least a symbolic kind of redemption for himself and all his ilk—and to win sufficient prize money to send his father to Australia to prospect for gold (a gesture toward a new frontier). Good natured by Peckinpah standards, 'Junior Bonner' is one of his finest and most underrated films and Steve McQueen's wry, understated rendition of Junior Bonner ranks among his best performances. The film also features the great character actors Ben Johnson and Dub Taylor, Barbara Leigh as Charmagne, Bonner's enigmatic love interest, and Peckinpah and two of his children in cameos. Similar in many ways to Cliff Robertson's rodeo movie, 'J.W. Coop', 'Junior Bonner' provides a more upbeat ending. VHS (1998) and DVD (1999).

Woe! This is a Steve McQueen film made by Sam Peckinpah. The latter always thrived on violence to get his points across in motion pictures. For Peckinpah, this film makes "Mary Poppins" extremely exciting.No wonder Robert Preston and Ida Lupino, the parents of McQueen in the film, are separated. Both are terribly miscast in their respective roles. By 1972, Lupino, with her red hair, had terrible bags under her eyes. Her time as the great actress she was had long come and gone.Where is the real story development in this yarn? The potential is there as brother Joe Don Baker wishes to sell off the land to developers in order to make trailers. Sounds great for modern day real estate. This issue is never fully realized. Preston has the foolish notion of going to Australia to do some mining there. The fact that his son Junior buys him a plane ticket there has meaning, but really no value.The rodeo riding scenes were authentic, but the film lacks punch-even with the bar room brawl. Was Peckinpah trying to say farewell to western films by doing this film? Had they become passé?

There are many actors who are willing to go that extra mile to convince you the character which they are playing is genuine. Junior 'Jr' Bonner Steve McQueen is such a man. Playing him with the stoic silence as a 8 second ride on the back of a Brahma bull and with the explosive outcome of the trill, McQueen is a simple but aging rodeo star with little to say except when it comes to what is important to him. One aspect is his father Ace Bonner (Robert Preston) whom he deeply respects and quietly emulates. Ida Lupino plays Elvira Bonner, his mother and Joe Don Baker, his ambitious older brother out to become rich. Even though his brother wants him to quit the rodeo and come to work for him, Jr seeks to remain his own man. A noted old timer to Bonner's ambitions is Ben Johnson who plays Buck Roan, the owner of the dynamite animal called "Sunshine", a huge bull which really challenges Bonner. The movie is a superb vehicle for McQueen who is unquestioningly suited for the part. The story does him well and could easily have been his real trade. Excellent film. ****