Junior Bonner

UPC: 027616905765

Studio: MGM

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Language]

Summary: Sam Peckinpah eschews his slow-motion bullet ballets for this quiet character study of ex-rodeo cowboy turned drifter Junior Bonner (Steve McQueen), who returns home to Arizona to reconcile with the family he hasn't seen in years. Bonner is shocked to see that the solid family he was hoping to come back to is breaking apart. His parents, Ace (Robert Preston) and Elvira (Ida Lupino), have separated, and his brother Curley (Joe Don Baker) has turned into a heartless real estate tycoon, parceling off sections of his parent's land for quick money. With nowhere to turn and nowhere to run, Bonner has to face himself and try to find a way to regain his self-respect. He is given that opportunity at the town's Fourth of July Rodeo, where he is determined to mount and ride and unrideable bull. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Category: Drama

Features: ccAudio commentary by Sam Peckinpah, authors Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons, and David Weddle, with moderator Nick Redman
Original theatrical trailer

Junior Bonner

Format: DVD

Release Date: 05/25/2004

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 100 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Main Title/Rodeo Life [7:35]
2. Progress [5:43]
3. The Competition [5:10]
4. Slowing Down [6:53]
5. Selling Out [6:27]
6. Kinfolks [6:30]
7. Horse Thiefs [5:39]
8. Frontier Days [7:45]
9. Busted [6:36]
10. Seven Seconds [5:32]
11. Bulldogging [6:52]
12. A Friendly Drink [6:12]
13. Bar Brawl [5:51]
14. Last Chance [7:01]
15. Sunshine [5:59]
16. Moving On/End Credits [4:27]

Lucia Bozzola

His first film after the controversially brutal Straw Dogs (1971), Sam Peckinpah's Junior Bonner (1972) is gun-, gore-, and death-free. Jeb Rosebrook's sweetly comic screenplay explores familiar Peckinpah themes of masculine individuality and the end of the West, but this time in a modern-day rodeo setting; the rituals are literally for show, but the cowboy values endure. Aging competitor Junior and his former rodeo champ father Ace would rather go down riding bucking bulls and mining for gold rather than retire in a mobile home park built by Junior's greedy brother on the bull-dozed remains of the family ranch. Though Rosebrook and Peckinpah illuminate the Pyrrhic victory inherent in their quests, Junior and Ace's shared integrity makes them the sentimental heroes. Peckinpah's signature slow-motion montages and zooms simultaneously energize and eulogize the rodeo action, as well as the destruction of Ace's old home. Steve McQueen, Robert Preston, and Ida Lupino turn in finely tuned performances as Junior, Ace, and resigned Bonner matriarch Elvira. Mis-marketed as just another McQueen actioner rather than the gentle character study that it was, Junior Bonner was a box-office disappointment; the Peckinpah-McQueen pair would thrive financially with their more conventional vehicle The Getaway (1972). ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Rod Hart  Actor 
Casey Tibbs  Actor 
Matthew Peckinpah  Actor 
Charles Gray  Actor 
Sundown Spencer  Actor 
Mary Murphy  Actor 
Rita Garrison  Actor 
Bill McKinney  Actor 
Don "Red" Barry  Actor 
Dub Taylor  Actor 
Sandra Deel  Actor 
Michael Borofsky  Producer 
Jerry Fielding  Composer (Music Score) 
Sam Peckinpah  Director 
Jeb Rosebrook  Screenwriter 
Joe Wizan  Producer 
Steve McQueen  Actor 
Robert Preston  Actor 
Ida Lupino  Actor 
Ben Johnson  Actor 
Joe Don Baker  Actor 
Barbara Leigh  Actor 

Country: USA