Bronco Buster

My vote is somewhat biased as my Father was in this movie. But, this picture was a fairly accurate depiction of rodeo life in the late 40's early 50's. All of the riding was real and done by my Father and Casey Tibbs including the crazy scene with two bulls in the arena at the same time, anyone with a fair idea of rodeos would realize the craziness of that stunt! The storyline is a familiar one, new guy on the scene looks to old pro for guidance, gets rich and famous, becomes arrogant and then learns his lesson.

The difference between this movie and some of the more modern rodeo movies is the reality factor. The characters are not made out to be "larger than life" Bronco Busters showed what it was like to live the rodeo lifestyle in that era. Cowboys were down to earth, honest and solid people. They were on the road almost all of time going from one rodeo to the next, living out of trailers (sometimes horse trailers) motel rooms etc.. I know this for a fact, I was there.

The first of the films of Boetticher to win real praise, Bronco Buster has an ease about it that prefigures the majestic Westerns he was to make with Randolph Scott later in the decade. Even the rivalry between the Lund and Brady characters, as they compete in the ring and out of it for the Hand of Holden, prefigures that between Scott and the series of amiable villains Boetticher confronts him with in classic films like 'Ride lonesome'(1959) and Comanche Station (1960). Lund is quietly effective in the Scott role while Brady is more hammy as the 'villain'. Real-life rodeo stars Casey Tibbs, Pete Crump, Bill Williams and Jerry Ambler supply strong support. But in Boetticher's hands it is less the actuality of the rodeo that matters than its closeness to the bullring and the metaphor of the closed circle that is so powerfully present in Boetticher's movies. The result is an assured film.

Phil Hardy