''Junior Bonner'' is a 1972 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Sam Peckinpah David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic ''The Wild Bunch'' received an Academy Award nomination and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Institut ...

and starring

Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and ...

, Robert Preston, Joe Don Baker and Ida Lupino. The film focuses on a veteran

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaq ...

rider as he returns to his hometown of

Prescott, Arizona Prescott ( ) is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the city's population was 45,827. The city is the county seat of Yavapai County. In 1864, Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona ...

, to participate in an annual rodeo competition and reunite with his brother and estranged parents. Many critics consider it to be the warmest and most gentle of Peckinpah's films.

Plot

Junior "JR" Bonner is a rodeo cowboy who is slightly past his prime though he won't admit it. Junior is first seen taping up his injuries after an unsuccessful ride on an ornery bull named Sunshine. He returns home to

, for the

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Many ...

parade and rodeo. When he arrives, the Bonner family home is being bulldozed by his younger brother Curly, an entrepreneur and real-estate developer, in order to build a trailer park. Junior's womanizing father Ace, and down-to-earth, long-suffering mother, Elvira, are estranged. Ace dreams of emigrating to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

to rear sheep and mine gold, but he fails to obtain financing from Curly or Junior, who is broke. After flooring his arrogant brother with a punch, Junior bribes rodeo owner Buck Roan to let him ride Sunshine again, promising him half the prize money. Buck thinks he must be crazy but Junior actually manages to pull it off this time, going the full eight seconds on the bull. Junior walks into a travel agent's office and buys his father a one-way, first-class ticket to Australia. The film's final shot shows JR leaving his hometown, his successful ride on Sunshine continuing to put off the inevitable end of his rodeo career.

Cast

as Junior 'J.R.' Bonner * Robert Preston as Ace Bonner * Ida Lupino as Elvira Bonner *

Ben Johnson Ben, Benjamin or Benny Johnson may refer to: In sports Association football * Ben Johnson (footballer, born 2000), English footballer * Ben Johnson (soccer) (born 1977), American soccer player Other codes of football *Ben Johnson (Australian foot ...

as Buck Roan * Joe Don Baker as Curly Bonner *

Barbara Leigh Barbara Leigh (born Barbara Ann Kish, November 16, 1946) is a former American actress and fashion model. Her breakthrough role came in 1972 with the film ''Junior Bonner'', which she starred alongside her then-boyfriend Steve McQueen. She later ...

as Charmagne * Mary Murphy as Ruth Bonner * Bill McKinney as Red Terwiliger *

Dub Taylor Walter Clarence "Dub" Taylor Jr. (February 26, 1907 – October 3, 1994),Dub Taylor, 87, Actor in Westerns, The New York Times, October 5, 1994, Section B, Page 12 was an American character actor who from the 1940s into the 1990s worked extens ...

as Del * Sandra Deel as Nurse Arlis *

Don "Red" Barry Donald Barry de Acosta (January 11, 1912 – July 17, 1980), also known as Red Barry and Milton Poimboeuf, was an American film and television actor. He was nicknamed "Red" after appearing as the first Red Ryder in the highly successful 19 ...

as Homer Rutledge * Charles H. Gray as Burt

Themes

The story explores one of Sam Peckinpah's favorite themes – the end of a traditional form of honor and the arrival of modern

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...

on the western frontier. In a memorable scene, Ace and Junior escape from the rodeo parade on Junior's horse, ending up at a deserted railway station where they drink and despair at the state of the world and their indigency. The film has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in the mid-2000s because of

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

s of Sam Peckinpah's work and the screenplay's predictions regarding capitalist development.

Production

In May 1971, weeks after completing '' Straw Dogs'' in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

returned to the United States to begin immediate work on ''Junior Bonner''. The lyrical screenplay by Jeb Rosebrook, depicting the changing times of society and binding family ties, appealed to Peckinpah's tastes. He accepted the project, concerned with being typed as a director of violent action (at the time, ''

The Wild Bunch ''The Wild Bunch'' is a 1969 American epic Revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates. The plot concerns an aging outlaw ga ...

'' was his most renowned film and ''Straw Dogs'' was in preparation to be released to theaters). ''Junior Bonner'' would be his final attempt to make a low-key, dramatic work in the vein of '' Noon Wine'' (1966) and ''

The Ballad of Cable Hogue ''The Ballad of Cable Hogue'' is a 1970 American Technicolor Western comedy film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Jason Robards, Stella Stevens and David Warner. Set in the Arizona desert during a period when the frontier was closing, t ...

'' (1970). Filmed on location in Prescott, Arizona, Peckinpah utilized many colorful locales and residents as extras in the film.

Reception

Released amidst a glut of rodeo-themed films, including ''The Honkers'' (1972), ''J.W. Coop'' (1972) and ''

When the Legends Die ''When The Legends Die'' is a 1963 American novel, written by Hal Borland; and a 1972 American Western film released in DeLuxe Color by Twentieth Century-Fox. Novel The novel, about the life of a Ute Indian young man, was written in 1963 ...

'' (1972), ''Junior Bonner'' performed poorly at the box office. It earned rentals of $1.9 million in North America and $900,000 in other countries, recording an overall loss of $2,820,000. Though the film was unwisely promoted as a typical Steve McQueen action vehicle, critical reception was still fairly good, but not enthusiastic. Peckinpah would remark, "I made a film where nobody got shot and nobody went to see it." Stinging from the financial failure of ''Junior Bonner'' but eager to work with Peckinpah again, McQueen presented him Walter Hill's screenplay to '' The Getaway'', which they would film months after completing ''Junior Bonner''. The second collaboration proved to be a financially successful one, as the action film would become one of the biggest box office successes of their careers.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

, writing for the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

'', gave the film two stars out of four and called it "a flat-out disappointment, despite Peckinpah's track record and his proven ability to elegize the West...the movie simply never comes together and works as a whole. The material is terribly thin." Gary Arnold of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' stated that McQueen was given "precious little written character to play or emotion to express" and that the film was "easy to take, yet so insubstantial that there's no compelling reason to see or remember it. The film sort of drifts across the screen and fades from your mind an instant later." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

wrote: "''Junior Bonner'', which looks like a rodeo film and sounds like a rodeo film, is a superior family comedy in disguise." Arthur D. Murphy of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote "The latterday film genre of misunderstood-rodeo-drifter gets one of its best expositions in ''Junior Bonner'', Sam Peckinpah's latest film, which makes another of his occasional shifts away from the bloodbath. Steve McQueen stars handily in the title role, with Robert Preston and Ida Lupino returning to pix in excellent well-turned characterizations as his estranged parents."

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the '' Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his ...

of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' gave the film three stars out of four, calling it "A decent picture from a fine director." Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' wrote: "This lively, affectionate contemporary western, which stars Steve McQueen in one of his finest performances, is one of the most enjoyable pictures Peckinpah has ever made and surely is his most appealing. What's more, it marks the return to the screen of Robert Preston and Ida Lupino, who also are at their best."Thomas, Kevin (June 21, 1972). "Gentle Western From Peckinpah". ''

''. Part IV, p. 1.

Home media

''Junior Bonner'' was released to DVD on May 25, 2004 by MGM Home Entertainment as a Region 1 widescreen DVD and on May 17, 2005 as a part of the box set ''The Steve McQueen Collection'', with ''Junior Bonner'' as the fourth movie of a 4-disc set. The film was released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art house films ...

on November 6, 2017.

References

External links

* * *
Vincent Canby review of ''Junior Bonner''
{{Sam Peckinpah 1972 films 1972 independent films 1972 Western (genre) films ABC Motion Pictures films American independent films American Western (genre) films 1970s English-language films Films about families Films directed by Sam Peckinpah Films scored by Jerry Fielding Films set in Prescott, Arizona Independence Day (United States) films Neo-Western films Prescott, Arizona Rodeo in film Cinerama Releasing Corporation films 1972 drama films 1970s American films