bkoganbing As a fan of the Professional Bull Riders which has the elite best of the bull riders participating in that league I was surprised that they let their imprimatur on a film as wildly inaccurate as Cowboy Up. There are two incredibly big inaccuracies and a whole lot of little ones.First while I've seen the riders get on bulls with injuries that would keep them out of competition in most sports, there ain't no way that the PBR doctors would allow a man with a plate in his head compete as a bull rider. But that's what we're led to believe.But also the Professional Bull Riders is an elite league and to get to the Las Vegas finals you compete in that league, be it in the USA or in Canada, Australia, Brazil, and Mexico the other countries where the PBR has taken root. Nobody like Marcus Thomas is going to get into those PBR finals by winning a bunch of regular rodeo events, sanctioned or unsanctioned.I wish I could rate Cowboy Up higher because it looks like a project that the participants put a lot of heart and soul into. It's the story of two cowboy brothers, Kiefer Sutherland who works as a bullfighter whose job it is to haze the bulls and keep them injuring the riders and the second is aspiring bull rider Marcus Thomas.As I said before Thomas has a plate in his head as a result of a bad fall and encounter with a bovine. This would be a career ending injury even in bull riding, but we're just not going to tell anyone about it. Thomas even though he's keeping company with Molly Ringwald also has an eye on rodeo groupie Darryl Hannah. Both the injury and the romance cause a break between the brothers.Sad to say that this film will not rank up there with 8 Seconds, The Lusty Men, J.W. Coop, or Junior Bonner as a great rodeo film.

sheila-martinez-1 "Cowboy Up" was done well. Having grown up in rodeo, I was very impressed with how realistic they made it. The characters and the way they lived were right on the money. The relationship between the two brothers was like many I have witnessed myself. I thought they did a wonderful job pulling you in and making you feel the emotion that each character possessed. You can tell that Keifer spent time in the rodeo circuit and has the knowledge needed to pull off a "true to life" movie about rodeo instead of the "Hollywood" version of cowboys and their lifestyles. good job!!! The average person may not appreciate the movie, but anyone that has lived behind the scenes will love it! Many bullriders that I know have seen the move and loved it

Artemis699 This movie is absolutely terrible. Even with a Redford, a Hannah, a Sutherland, and an incredibly knowledgeable bullriding instructor, this movie failed to deliver in story, plot, and reality.The main character is utterly unlikeable and many of his surrounding characters are so shallowly written that normally good actors can muster up, at best, USA movie of the week caliber performances. The writer did absolutely nothing to deepen the characters and as a result, the viewer knows nothing about Ely and could care less if he wins or loses.On top of that *SPOILERS AHEAD* The logistical details of teh rodeo life are pure fiction. He goes from riding PRCA to suddenly winning the PBR finals. He shows up for a rodeo with no intent to ride and is allowed on a bull at teh last minute, and many other things that a person with even a layman's grasp of rodeo would identify as pure fantasy. Even the tragic death at the end was so rushed and confused that I did not register any emotion. That and the ending made no sense what so ever. I'm sure he was trying to make some dramatic point about the sanctity of life, but at that point I was too bored to care.

alex1785 Production on this film took place in December of 1998 as Hearts and Bones. I was a production assistant on the film, and spent nearly a month on the set. I recently saw the film on DVD, and was pleasantly surprised. The film is actually a lot better than I expected, with decent performances by the stars and a good script from James Redford.The transfer to DVD was well done (at least on the German import disc I bought), and the film is presented in its original aspect ratio. The sound quality was also pretty good. The story is also very watchable. Unfortunately, this movie has only been shown on the big screen at film festivals, and widespread domestic theatrical release will probably never happen. However, the US DVD is slated for release on September 3rd, and it's probably worth the 4 or 5 bucks to rent it, even if you don't like rodeo. If you do like rodeo, though, this would be a good DVD to buy.