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Junior Bonner (1972)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writer:
Jeb Rosebrook (written by)
Release Date:
2 August 1972 (USA)
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Tagline:
"Tell 'em Junior sent you" more
Plot:
Ace Bonner returns to Arizona several years after he abandoned his family, Junior Bonner is a wild young man. Against the typical rodeo championship, family drama erupts. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
NewsDesk:
BFI Southbank London To Host Sam Peckinpah Festival In January
(From CinemaRetro. 3 December 2008, 4:13 AM, PST)
(From CinemaRetro. 3 December 2008, 4:13 AM, PST)
User Comments:
"To Those That Have The Road Ahead Of Them"
more (39 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | Steve McQueen | ... | Junior 'JR' Bonner |
 | Robert Preston | ... | Ace Bonner |
| Ida Lupino | ... | Elvira Bonner |
 | Ben Johnson | ... | Buck Roan |
| Joe Don Baker | ... | Curly Bonner |
 | Barbara Leigh | ... | Charmagne |
| Mary Murphy | ... | Ruth Bonner |
| Bill McKinney | ... | Red Terwiliger (as William McKinney) |
| Dub Taylor | ... | Del |
| Sandra Deel | ... | Nurse Arlis |
| Don 'Red' Barry | ... | Homer Rutledge (as Donald Barry) |
| Charles H. Gray | ... | Burt (as Charles Gray) |
| Matthew Peckinpah | ... | Tim Bonner |
| Sundown Spencer | ... | Nick Bonner |
| Rita Garrison | ... | Flashie |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
100 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Ida Lupino hired Sam Peckinpah to work on her series "Mr. Adams and Eve" (1957) after she found him living in a shack behind her property. He paid her back by casting her in this film some years later.
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Goofs:
Continuity: While they are sitting on the bench having a drink, Ace knocks Junior's hat off. The view from the rear shows the hat on the ground beside Junior, but when Aces gets up and picks up the hat, it is a few feet in front on Junior.
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Quotes:
Nurse Arlis:
[Ace checks himself out of the hospital] You just can't walk out of here!
Ace Bonner: You see my feet on the floor, don't you Arlis? Now watch my legs make 'em move.
Nurse Arlis: But you're not well enough.
Ace Bonner: Oh, I'm heaven bound, sweetheart, but not today.
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Ace Bonner: You see my feet on the floor, don't you Arlis? Now watch my legs make 'em move.
Nurse Arlis: But you're not well enough.
Ace Bonner: Oh, I'm heaven bound, sweetheart, but not today.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in Grindhouse (2007)
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Soundtrack:
Rodeo Man
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (39 total)
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Junior Bonner (1972)| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
|---|---|
| Age | global_global |
| Roy??? | mge-6 |
| Title Song 'Arizona Morning' | shabeen |
| bullriding | tonytonitone |
| Location photos online | MrLocation |
| does any one knows | easyrider020 |
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When Robert Preston makes that toast to his grandchildren at some level he knows his best days are behind him. But he's determined to live out his life to the fullest. Drinking, wenching, prospecting for gold and just hanging around the rodeo because it's his way of life.
It's the way of life for his son Steve McQueen and McQueen was 42 years old when Junior Bonner was made. Even if you figure he might be playing younger than his actual age by about five to seven, that's older than Methusaleh in the rodeo game. Especially as McQueen participates in the most dangerous of events.
In the intervening years since Junior Bonner came out, bullriding has spun out on its own as a single event competition and the best in that sport participate in the Professional Bull Riders as opposed to the all around rodeo events as you see depicted in Presscott, Arizona. As I write this review, the leading bull rider in the country right now is 20 year old J.B. Mauney in terms of point standings. The difference between young Mr. Mauney and the character of Junior Bonner is a whole generation. The skill and the know how is the same, the experience is on McQueen's side to be sure. But those cowboys can sustain some serious injuries and at J.B. Mauney's age he is capable of bouncing back a whole lot faster than Junior Bonner.
McQueen knows this, but it's the way of life that he and his father love dearly. They're active, vital, and vibrant men and no one's going to tell them to act their age, least of all Ida Lupino as Preston's wife and McQueen's mother or Joe Don Baker as her other real estate selling son to whose children Preston makes the title toast.
Junior Bonner is skimpy on plot, but long on characterization. Normally that's not something I like, but in this case it fits the film perfectly. The story is simply about a rodeo family's day at the Presscott Frontier Days Rodeo. It's about Lupino and Baker who have aged and accepted that times change and Preston and McQueen who haven't.
Preston's hoping that if McQueen wins some prize money, he'll stake him to a trip to Australia where there's still wild country to tame. McQueen though his best days are behind him, still loves the life and has a personal goal of riding an unridable bull, Sunshine. In fact he requests stock contractor and prime mover at the Frontier Days Rodeo, Ben Johnson, to make sure he draws Sunshine.
McQueen's goals are a longshot, but not unreasonable. Last year's PBR champion was 36 year old Adriano Moraes showing the younger riders the older men still have something. But how much is left in the cup, only the Deity knows.
Sam Peckinpaugh directed the film to perfection capturing the mood and ambiance of the rodeo scene. The casting is also to perfection with folks like Bill McKinney, Dub Taylor, Donald Barry all western regulars giving standout performances. The violence that usually characterizes a Peckinpaugh film is noticeably absent, but the rodeo is a good subject for his patented slow motion takes.
Junior Bonner joins a great pantheon of rodeo films like The Lusty Men, J.W. Coop, and 8 Seconds in depicting the hard, but rewarding life as a rodeo performer. And this review is dedicated to all the cowboys, to the Adriano Moraeses and the J.B. Mauneys who risk life and limb in the dirt arena trying to do their personal best at what they love.