Friday, July 11, 2008

Bucked: the rodeo movie

My mother has taken up the curious habit of watching rodeo and bull riding on television. I suppose it's a connection to her country childhood. I would love to see the country-saying-spewing announcers for the bull riding get called in to do Olympic events. It would make them so much more fun to watch.

But it made me wonder - whatever happened to the rodeo movie? In its heyday surrounding Urban Cowboy, it was such a natural source of action, drama, and real-man romance. The stories are pretty simple. Guy rides a bull, attracts girl, pursues girl, feels friction, gets injured riding, girl comes to his side, comes back, wins the rodeo. Perfect 100 minutes of entertainment.

Is there any country that could more use a dose of that sort of masculinity in its film culture today? Can you imagine Jonah Hill in the lead role? I rest my case.

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