Bull-Ridin' Movies

A few months ago, I ordered My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (1991) starring Scott Glenn, Kate Capshaw, Ben Johnson, Gary Busey and Tess Harper.

From Wikipedia:

Scott Glenn is H.D., a champion bull rider whose career is ruined after being gored by a bull. He returns to his hometown of Guthrie, Oklahoma to discover things have drastically changed — the family farm has been abandoned, his old girlfriend Jolie (Kate Capshaw) is a now a widowed mother, and his sister Cheryl (Tess Harper) has put his father (Ben Johnson) in a nursing home. H.D. rescues his father from the home and returns him to the ranch. But when H.D. leaves the farm to visit Jolie, his father seeks out Cheryl. Cheryl retaliates by threatening to return her father to the nursing home and sell the ranch. At this point, H.D. takes notice of a rodeo which would give him $100,000 if he can ride four bulls for a total of 32 seconds.

My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys is an entertaining rodeo movie with one of the more interesting actors of our generation, Scott Glenn (it is hard to believe he's now 82). Kate Capshaw was good in this movie (not irritating as she was in the second Indiana Jones movie) and the great Ben Johnson. Gary Busey was good in this as well (I met him 11 years ago and saw him regularly when I worked in Zuma Beach). Clarence Williams III also was in this and he looked the same to me as he did in Mod Squad of the late 1960s. I didn't think much of his acting in that. It seemed that every other sentence he uttered in that show was, "I can dig it" and that's it. Here, he played a lively cop friend of Scott Glenn.

I'd give this movie a A-.

It was dedicated to the memory of bull-riding champion Lane Frost, who was killed two years prior in a freakish accident following a 85-score ride. Lane was to do some stand-in stunt work for this movie, but his death prevented that.

More on Lane Frost.

Yesterday, my order of 8 Seconds (1994) arrived in the mail. It is a biopic of the life and career of Lane Frost.

It stars Luke Perry as Frost, Cynthia Geary as Kellie Kyle Frost, Stephen Baldwin as Tuff Hedeman and Carrie Snodgress as Elsie Frost. It also includes an early appearance of actress Renée Zellweger as Buckle Bunny.

From Wikipedia:

8 Seconds is a 1994 American contemporary Western biographical drama film directed by John G. Avildsen. Its title refers to the length of time a bull rider is required to stay on for a ride to be scored. It stars Luke Perry as American rodeo legend Lane Frost and focuses on his life and career as a bull riding champion. It also features Stephen Baldwin as Tuff Hedeman, and Red Mitchell as Cody Lambert.

The film was completed and premiered shortly after what would have been Frost's 30th birthday, in late 1993.

On Frost's death, Wikipedia posted:

On July 30, 1989, at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyoming, after completing a successful 85-point ride on a Brahma bull named Takin' Care of Business, Frost dismounted and landed in the dirt. The bull turned and hit him in the back with his horn (although he was not gored), breaking several of his ribs. He initially rose to his feet, waving at Tuff Hedeman for help. As he took a couple of steps, he fell to the ground, causing his heart and lungs to be punctured by the broken ribs. He was rushed to Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was 25 years old. No autopsy was performed. He posthumously finished third in the event.

Seeing bull-riding in New Mexico got me curious about this dangerous sport and prompted me to get these movies. I vaguely remember the death of Lane Frost in 1989. There are videos on YouTube that captured Frost's death.

Oddly, the critics didn't much like 8 Seconds (garnering a 31% score in Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences loved it (garnering a 94% score).

I give it an A-.

Both movies are worth viewing.