THE ROUNDERS
US, 1965, 85 minutes, Colour.
Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda, Sue Ane Langdon, Hope Holiday, Chill Wills, Edgar Buchanan, Kathleen Freeman, Joan Freeman, Denver Pyle, Barton Mac Lane.
Directed by Burt Kennedy.
Burt Kennedy directed a number of very entertaining comic westerns in the late 60s and early 70s. This was his first. He went on to make films like Dirty Dingus Magee, Support Your Local Sheriff as well as the more serious Welcome to Hard Times, also with Henry Fonda.
Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda play a pair of ageing cowboys who prefer to spend their winters in the high mountains rounding up horses. However, two sisters want to marry them. They find a white roan horse which they think no one can ride and decide to bet all their money on the fact that nobody can tame the horse – getting enough money then to marry the sisters. Will they, won’t they?
1. The meaning of the title, reference to Ben and Howdy? An enjoyable Western, comedy?
2. Comment on the quality of the conventions used for this Western, cattle and horses, rodeo, the two cowboys wandering?
3. The contribution of colour photography, Arizona locations, the mountains? The music?
4. The opening with the emphasis on Ben and his falling from the horse? Rowdy and his falling from the horse? The theme of the horse right throughout the film?
5. How enjoyable was the plot? The two aging cowboys wanting to retire, spending all their money, their attitude towards their job, their attitude towards Jim and his employing them? Their going to the mountains, the relationship with the family, their relationship with the strippers?
6. How strongly developed were the personalities of Ben and Rowdy Their characters in themselves, their relationship and partnership, the fact that they weren't too successful, their principles? The character of their boss, his employing them, his wanting them to work for him? The women and their father and their hospitality? The strippers?
7. Were there any memorable scenes to make this a distinctive comedy Western?
8. The importance of the horse? Comment on the various tricks Ben used to get rid of the horse, the horse's continual return?
9. Comment on this Western as a presentation of the languid and easy-going way of America? The themes about men and their work, their endeavour and their laziness, friendship, achievement? Was this a valuable, if light, Western?
