Steve McQueen, who was looking for a change of pace role, signed on to play Junior and the film was rushed into production to shoot during the real-life Frontier Days Rodeo in Prescott. Peckinpah hurried back to the states from England, where he had been editing Straw Dogs, and quickly cast the supporting roles. Robert Preston plays Junior's father Ace, a former rodeo champion now coasting on his glory and fantasizing about prospecting for gold in Australia. Ida Lupino is Junior's mother, tired of Ace's irresponsibility but still fond of the old charmer. And Joe Don Baker plays Junior's wheeler-dealer of a brother, who buys out the family homestead and builds a housing development on it.
The film was shot on location in Prescott. As many as nine cameras were brought in to film the town parade and real-life rodeo footage. Peckinpah had his actors play their roles against these real events to give the film a sense of authenticity (production secretary Katy Haber described Peckinpah's planning for the parade scene, which featured many of the film's stars, as "like a military arrangement"). Rodeo legend Casey Tibbs, an advisor on the picture and the film's stunt coordinator, and co-star Ben Johnson, a rodeo champion and veteran stunt man in his own right, brought their own experiences to screenwriter Jeb Rosebrook and helped Peckinpah capture the reality of the rodeo life. Extras were cast locally and Peckinpah made use of real-life locations for key scenes, notably the Palace Bar, a second home to the characters and the site of a comic barroom brawl, a scene that recalls many a John Ford movie.
It was by most accounts an amiable set, at least by Peckinpah standards. There were, of course, Peckinpah's irascible nature and inevitable clashes with actors and crew members. Ida Lupino almost walked off the picture after a disagreement over her make-up escalated into an argument, until Peckinpah apologized with flowers and a witty note. "What can you say to that," recalled Lupino in an interview. "So I stayed on the picture and loved it." Otherwise, the greatest tension on the set came from McQueen's constant rewriting of his scenes, which frustrated his co-stars and led to a major disagreement over a key scene. According to Peckinpah biographer Garner Simmons, McQueen refused to let Preston knock his hat off in an argument in the train yard, thinking it made his character seem less manly. When McQueen stormed off the set, screenwriter Jeb Rosebrook intervened, explaining to McQueen that "just sitting there and taking your punishment, if you want to call it that, from your father made you more of a man." McQueen considered his perspective and played the scene as written. It's one of the film's most moving and bittersweet scenes.
Peckinpah's signature style telephoto and zoom photography, slow motion shooting during the rodeo scenes, razor sharp editing is used to excellent effect. McQueen was allowed to do a few of his own stunts but was doubled for the most potentially dangerous scenes. But for all the rodeo action, Junior Bonner is really a gentle character study and a lyrical portrait of family, respect and integrity in the face of adversity. It wasn't what audiences were expecting from the first collaboration between Peckinpah, master of violence, and the taciturn action hero McQueen and it was a commercial failure, in part due to an ill-considered releasing strategy. Peckinpah and McQueen both urged a slow release to let a word-of-mouth campaign build. Instead Junior Bonner was opened wide and audiences expecting a violent film were frustrated with the gentle drama onscreen. Initial reviews were mixed and many papers ignored the film entirely, but its reputation has grown over time as critics see the film for what it really is: one of Peckinpah's loveliest and most personal films.
Producer: Joe Wizan
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Screenplay: Jeb Rosebrook
Cinematography: Lucien Ballard
Art Direction: Edward S. Haworth
Music: Jerry Fielding
Film Editing: Frank Santillo, Robert Wolfe
Cast: Steve McQueen (Junior 'JR' Bonner), Robert Preston (Ace Bonner), Ida Lupino (Elvira Bonner), Ben Johnson (Buck Roan), Joe Don Baker (Curly Bonner), Barbara Leigh (Charmagne), Mary Murphy (Ruth Bonner), William McKinney (Red Terwiliger), Dub Taylor (Del), Sandra Deel (Nurse Arlis), Donald Barry (Homer Rutledge), Charles Gray (Burt), Matthew Peckinpah (Tim Bonner), Sundown Spencer (Nick Bonner), Rita Garrison (Flashie).
C-101m. Letterboxed. Closed Captioning.
by Sean Axmaker
