PamelaShort
Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda play two ageing bronco-busters, making a meagre living breaking wild horses. They fantasize about a wonderful retirement of a island paradise- but their weakness for wild girls and booze leaves them forever with no money in the bank. The hilarity in this film comes in the the form of a stubborn, old roan horse, who causes the two endless frustration trying to break him and finally a back-firing scheme to make some real dough entering the wild horse as a bucking bronco in a rodeo. Ford and Fonda are a pair of perfectly matched characters in this film, with riotous comic antics and witty dialogue, this western is very funny from start to finish. Sue Anne Langdon and Hope Holiday play two floozy type girls the cowboys pick-up along the way. A very risqué scene for the time takes place as Ford and Fonda cleverly hide the girls bare derrières using their cowboy hats as they manoeuvre their way through a crowd. Chills Wills, Edgar Buchanan and Denver Pyle along with other characters help to round out this very amusing western comedy. I really enjoyed this lighthearted film with Glenn Ford's dreamer character and Henry Fonda's character being a little more sensible, but gullible enough to still go along with Glenn Ford's cockeyed ideas.
moonspinner55
Burt Kennedy adapted Max Evans' book and directed this utterly unassuming, pleasant time-filler which keeps tongue-in-cheek and deep thoughts in neutral. Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda play two horse-tamers in Arizona who bond with a bucking roan horse; Sue Ane Langdon and Hope Holiday are two tootsies they tangle with. Sleeper hit from 1965 offers Glenn Ford more room to shine than his co-star; Fonda is so non-aggressive and laid-back, it's easy to forget that he's around. Overall, Kennedy's approach is a bit mundane, and the picture doesn't have a big impact, but the scenery is certainly nice and the ladies--in and out of their clothes--are lively. ** from ****
lancekoz
It's true what most commenters here have said...this is well acted by the two leads, and the scenery is spectacular. But the sad sack situations and the outdated sexist humor wears on the viewer after a while, parts of it seeming like a slow version of Benny Hill. The art direction, casting and photography are all so realistic and good, it would have been interesting to see these qualities used on a "real" story about the misfortunes of modern ranchers. There might've been an Oscar in there somewhere if these resources were put to serve a story by one of a number of Western writers, and it would've rung true.
Robert D. Ruplenas
This movie is far from a classic of the western genre but, to use a far-fetched metaphor, watching it is like putting on a very comfortable pair of old, worn slippers. The story line is hardly earth-shaking - two modern day, never-quite-making-it, just-over-the-hill cowboys spend another year treading water in their line of work and wind up pretty much where they started, not that it matters a whole lot to them. But the story is worked out with just right the combination of charm, humor, pathos and whimsy to make it a thoroughly enjoyable hour and a half. The main key to the movie's success is the work of old hands Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford; their chemistry is just right, and a joy to watch. Also worth mentioning is the gorgeous cinematography of the western setting. This little charmer is minor gem of its type.
AD
