THE ROUNDERS [1965 / 2017] [Warner Archive Collection] [Blu-ray] [USA Release]
The Wild’s West Biggest Fall Guys Go Head Over Heels . . . and Some Frisky Fillies!
What do you call a cowboy with his brains kicked out, a bronco rider. Ben Jones and Howdy Lewis, heaven help them, are bronc riders. Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda portray a pair who is cowboy enough to do just about any job, except for the one at hand. That job: Saddle a clever, ornery, blaze-faced horse named Old Fooler and makes him as gentle as a milk-pen calf, which can't be done and that gets the cowpokes to thinking. Maybe they can make a dollar or two by wagering that no one at the rodeo can stay atop him either. Place your bets as filmmaker Burt Kennedy matches the warmth of his two stars with an unadorned ease that makes this modern Western as welcome as a get-together with old friends at a Sunday social. ‘THE ROUNDERS’ is a light-hearted 1965 western film directed by Burt Kennedy. It is based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Max Evans.
Cast: Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda, Sue Ane Langdon, Hope Holiday, Chill Wills, Edgar Buchanan, Kathleen Freeman, Joan Freeman, Denver Pyle, Barton MacLane, Doodles Weaver, Allegra Varron, Casey Tibbs, The Camp Verde Saddlebags (uncredited), Bill Catching (uncredited), Peter Fonda (uncredited), Peter Ford (uncredited), Bill Hart (uncredited), Charles Horvath (uncredited), John Hudkins (uncredited), Troy Melton (uncredited), Ralph Moody (uncredited), Warren Oates (uncredited) and Chuck Roberson (uncredited)
Director: Burt Kennedy
Producer: Richard E. Lyons
Screenplay: Burt Kennedy (screenplay) and Max Evans (novel)
Composer: Jeff Alexander
Cinematography: Paul Vogel, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Panavision)
Audio: English: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English SDH
Running Time: 85 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Warner Archive Collection
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: Once upon a time films like ‘THE ROUNDERS’ [1965] would have been classified by movie industry insiders as a "sleeper." In other words, a film that had no expectations attached to it but surprised everyone by being an unheralded little gem. Unfortunately, studios rarely knew how to market these films and as a result, they got stuck on the bottom of double bills with negligible companion features. ‘THE ROUNDERS’ is a perfect example of this. Nevertheless, it is now regarded as one of Henry Fonda's most popular films from the 1960s era.
The premise is simple but slightly cockeyed. Two aging cowpokes Ben Jones [Glenn Ford] and Marion 'Howdy' Lewis [Henry Fonda] hit on a scheme to get rich taming wild broncos and then retire to Tahiti with their savings. Never mind that they are hopeless at saving money, squander every penny on loose women and booze, and aren't even very good at picking champion horses. Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford play the none-too-bright cowhands in question and part of the film's pleasure comes in watching these two pros have fun with these bewildered characters as things go from bad to worse, especially when you see Glenn Ford at the start of the film falls off the bucking bronco horse at regular intervals and each time you wince as he lands hard on the ground. For the record, a rounder is a wastrel or dissolute person but you won't see a more whimsical treatment anywhere of two complete losers of the actors Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford.
Vince Moore [Edgar Buchanan] excels as a moonshiner with, ahem, “eligible” daughters. Sometimes the comedy gets a bit low, especially when Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford meet up with some seriously dumb blondes, which of course would not be allowed these days. One thing we can also say: as a dancer, Glenn Ford is not at all a good twister. Henry Fonda doesn’t even try, much wiser. There is a nod to The Duke [John Wayne] when Henry Fonda is asked the origin of his name “Howdy,” and John Wayne says he was christened Marion so he changed it to something more Western.
It is an amusing little film and well worth the occasional watch. Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda were both supreme Westerners and here they are frankly great as cowboys going nowhere. There is rather a poignant part where Glenn Ford tells his girl that he might settle down one day, and as he is 50 years old, by just looking at him in this film, we realise that is never going to happen. On top of all that, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer mishandled it badly and released it on a double bill with some rubbishy college comedy. It was only later that it became the favourite of aficionados that it is today.
‘THE ROUNDERS’ was filmed on location in the Coconino Forest in Arizona and was produced by Richard E. Lyons who was also responsible for another excellent western in an entirely different vein a few years earlier, the film ‘Ride the High Country,’ and was directed by Sam Peckinpah. That film also suffered the same fate as ‘THE ROUNDERS,’ because it was buried in double bill at drive-ins and second-run theatres because the studio brass at M-G-M didn't know what to do with it.
Off-screen, during the making of ‘THE ROUNDERS,’ Henry Fonda and his son Peter Fonda were going through a very turbulent time in their relationship, something attributed by the counterculture movements of the sixties. In the book “The Fondas: A Hollywood Dynasty” (G. P. Putnam's Sons), author Peter Collier relates an incident that happened on the set of ‘THE ROUNDERS,’ "When Peter Fonda went to the Arizona location of ‘THE ROUNDERS,’ to visit the son of Henry Fonda's co-star Glenn Ford, he discovered that the cast was planning a surprise birthday party for his father. When he was not invited, he sent Henry Fonda a nasty and illogical note of blame, and he would have left in a huff had the director Burt Kennedy, did not stop him and pointed out the obvious: Since it was a surprise party, Henry Fonda could not have been the one who excluded him."
The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer release is solidly flavoured throughout with excellent, unobtrusive Metrocolor photography and some wonderfully persuasive dialogue. It also bucks a pretentious scenario, especially with the musical background that is pure Hollywood. And there are such contrivances, as the heroes' droll dalliance with two curvy showgirls, but also see them both with a slightly drawn-out and wedged between the splashy rodeo finales that almost tilt the entire film off balance. Still, ‘THE ROUNDERS,’ is a good all-round small Western genre, but far from perfect but beautifully personified by two wise, winning veteran actors.
* * * * *
Blu-ray Image Quality – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Archive Collection presents you this cowboy film in a 1080p Metrocolor and also in a 2.35:1 Anamorphic Panavision aspect ratio, that really shows of the awesome landscape of Arizona's Coconino National Forest and especially the equally spectacular cinematography by Paul Vogel, A.S.C. (Director of Photography), which is on par with the landscape you would see in a John Ford film. Warner Archive Collection have recently manufactured interpositive and was scanned at 2K by Warner's Motion Picture Imaging facility, followed by necessary colour-correction and clean-up. Sharpness and detail are excellent in close-ups and medium shots, but they fall off slightly in many long shots, which probably reflect its limitations of the source. But because it is in Metrocolor [poor man’s Technicolor] it seems to give off a strange palette contrasts that is not too rich and the earth tones with a bright blue sky is not too blue. But stand out colour is the blacks that are solid, and the film's grain patterns are well-resolved and free of any digital manipulation. Despite this slight down grading of the colours, it is still a good effort, but I have seen Metrocolor in other films that were much nearer to Technicolor standard.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Archive Collection brings you a nice and pleasant 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio experience that has been taken from the original magnetic master, cleaned up of any age-related interference or distortion, to give you a moderate audio experience, and when the guns go off, it is all very solid sound. The emphasis of this film is of course the dialogue, which is clear and sonic rendered, and on the jaunty music film score by Jeff Alexander, which plays with good fidelity and acceptable dynamic range. So all in all a good effort all round.
* * * * *
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Theatrical Trailer [1965] [1080p] [2.35:1] [2:43] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘THE ROUNDERS,’ and luckily this trailer shows off its full potential and the announcer informs us that this film is for "The New West." It also informs us on the screen with the words “Nowadays it’s the gals who . . . make the West WILD! And nobody knows it better than Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda.”
Finally, ‘THE ROUNDERS’ is where we find two ageing bronc-busters cowboys who try to make their meagre money by breaking in wild horses. They dream of better days and possibly retiring to some island paradise, but they never put any money in the bank because they spend it all on booze and girls. They think their no-dough days are done until they acquire a wild drunkard horse which they enter in a bucking bronco contest and no one can ride the wild, hiccupping nag. This is a delightful light-hearted Western in which Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda shine as two down-on-their-luck rodeo riders, who are none too bright cowboys who always end up working for the sharp rancher Chill Wills. Ben Jones [Glenn Ford] says, “It comes to me that we ain’t the smartest cowboys ever lived” and Marion 'Howdy' Lewis [Henry Fonda] replies, “You could say that.” This is a pretty funny 1960’s western-style comedy. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
