Junior Bonner

081028 / 12 / US / 1972 / Peckinpah, Sam / / modern western
Junior Bonner / Nuori Bonner. © ABC Pictures; Wizan Productions; Solar Productions. P: Joe Wizan. D: Sam Peckinpah. SC: Jeb Rosebrook. DP: Lucien Ballard. M: Jerry Fielding. Songs ”Arizona Morning” and ”Rodeo Man” by Rod Hart. CAST: Steve McQueen (Junior Bonner), Robert Preston (Ace Bonner - father), Ida Lupino (Elvira Bonner - mother), Joe Don Baker (Curly Bonner - brother), Barbara Leigh (Charmagne), Ben Johnson (Buck Roan). Filmed on location in Prescott, Arizona. 100’. Todd-AO 35 scope. TV Nelonen PAL transmission of a cropped-to-full-frame version with commercial breaks on Friday, 6 March 1998. Finnish subtitles by Tuula Felin / Pre-Text. Caught on VHS in Helsinki. **** Junior Bonner is a wandering rodeo star, a former champion who returns to his home arena in Prescott. He has been almost killed by a ferocious bull named Sunshine. This blow is to him a veritable memento mori. He faces the fact that he’s ”busted”. But he won’t accept steady jobs. ”I gotta go down my own road”. His parents’ relationship is broken, and his brother is about to make his first million in real estate. In the Fourth of July rodeo parade Peckinpah crystallizes strong images of America. Junior keeps losing - the wild cow milking he loses because of his drunken father and his barking dog. In the final confrontation he meets Sunshine again. - Solid performances by everyone bring psychological credibility to the stoical vision about success and failure in America.