I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Strong and Moving!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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.

Junior (JR) Bonner is a rodeo cowboy who returns to his home town of Prescott Arizona to take part in the annual Frontier Day rodeo; he will take place in several events but the one he wants to win is the bull riding; not only that he is determined that he will ride the fearsome Sunshine; a bull considered to be unrideable. When he gets back he goes to see his father Ace but discovers he has sold his land to his brother Curly hoping to finance a move to Australia where he is convinced he will make his fortune. Curly meanwhile is making his fortune buying land and selling mobile homes; he even wants to put his mother in one so he can acquire her land. Not that much really happens until the rodeo then we see a variety of events before everybody retires to the bar during the break. Then after a brawl the rodeo concludes and Junior gets to see if he can stay on Sunshine for eight seconds.I got this film on DVD free with the newspaper and was intrigued by the idea of a film made by 'Bloody Sam' Peckinpah, starring Steve McQueen that was only a PG certificate! It is indeed very different to Peckinpah's better known films; the pace is slow but this gave the film an intimate feeling, as though we were just looking in on the lives of real people for a few days. There were moments of action including the brawl and a couple of brief punch-ups between Junior and Curly; these were more comic than brutal though. The rodeo scenes captured the action well making it look genuinely tough for the participants and when Junior finally rode Sunshine I had no idea whether he'd stay on for the eight seconds or die trying. Steve McQueen does a fine job as Junior, the cowboy who is getting a bit old for the game but is determined to carry on. He is ably supported by the rest of the cast; most notably Robert Preston and Ida Lupino who play his parents and a young Joe Don Baker who plays his brother Curly.This may be very different to what one would expect from Sam Peckinpah but I'd recommend it to his fans and detractors alike for precisely that reason; it shows that he is more than blood and guts!

A modern-day Western, Junior Bonner is a director Sam Peckinpah's lovely effort, feeling look at the world of the rodeo. Steve McQueen, engagingly easygoing but obstinate , is the title character, a rodeo rider out to win a big bull-riding competition in his hometown called Prescott. The rodeo champion works rodeo circuit contest , as the has-been rodeo star trying to make it big again. McQueen is a drifter who returns his small town and he strives to preserve his values in an often harsh modern world. McQueen decides to raise money for his father's journey towards Australia by challenging a formidable bull whose owner is Ben Johnson.Peckinpah's slow-motion camera , his usual trademark,is put to particularly nice utilization shooting the balletic movement of the rodeo, at once more splendidly and awe-inspiring than any gun battle. An enjoyable country-western , Junior Bonner is lovely directed by Sam Peckinpah as an elegiac perspective at the world of the rodeo . Steve McQueen turns in an excellent acting as a drifting rodeo star who is searching in a changing world for values that have long time disappeared. He also must deal with his feuding parents, and selfish brother wonderfully performed by Robert Preston, Ida Lupino and Joe Don Baker. Robert Preston is particularly fine as the old veteran, he and Ida Lupino strike real sparks. Furthermore, it contains an emotive score by Jerry Fielding , Peckinpah's usual, and colorful cinematography by Lucien Ballard. An agreeable country-western with marvelous interpretations and exciting rodeo footage including slow-moving images and a much quieter movie than habitual from ¨Cross of Iron¨,¨The getaway¨, ¨Wild bunch¨ , ¨Major Dundee¨ director Sam Peckinpah.

From director Sam Peckinpah (Straw Dogs, The Getaway), this sounded like a worth-trying film, even if I didn't know the theme or concept, I guess the star tempted me. Basically it is a film spent in the company of professional rodeo rider Junior 'JR' Bonner (Steve McQueen) heading to his home town of Prescott. He has his gold-hunting father Ace (Robert Preston), his mother Elvira (Ida Lupino) is wandering by her husband's side, and his brother Curly (young Joe Don Baker) is making it big in real estate. But he is trying to hang on to a bucking bull for more than eight seconds to earn enough for another week's rodeo, and spend more time with love interest Charmagne (Barbara Leigh). There isn't a plot as such, but it is interesting to see Junior living his life, lonely,speaking few words and on the road, how he like's it, in the old West. Also starring Mary Murphy as Ruth Bonner, Ben Johnson as Buck Roan, William 'Bill' McKinney as Red Terwiliger, Sandra Deel as Nurse Arlis, Don 'Red' Barry as Homer Rutledge, Matthew Peckinpah (Sam's son) as Tim Bonner and Charles H. Gray as Burt. The bull riding scenes are of course highly watchable, and McQueen puts on a very cool, quiet but likable performance, and accompanied by some stylish music by Jerry Fielding it is quite an alright find. Very good!