Goldenrod

This is based on a novel, but the movie carried on like it was the true story of Canadian rodeo cowboy Jesse Gifford and his family. They traveled from rodeo to rodeo pulling an Airstream trailer singing "We ain't got a barrel of money..." Jesse likes to collect belt buckles. Of course cowboys like to WIN belt buckles. I guess Jesse got hurt and his wife left him and he must raise his two sons. He takes up farming. "Tractorin'," he calls it. But he detests it. The reason this is called Goldenrod is because when Jesse was courting his wife, he gave her a bouquet of goldenrods. What could be a happy ending to this movie? Would Jesse and his wife ever get back together and live happily even if Jesse didn't rodeo any more?

This low budget Canadian film was carried by stars Tony lo Bianco and Donald Pleasance in roles that sharply contrast the many roles undertaken over the course of their careers. I found this particular movie to be very realistic in its portrayal of prairie poverty. The truth about rural living is that not every farm or Farmer is successful and in those days there was a natural tendency for most of the educated children to leave the battered farm for a new life elsewhere while others stayed to make a go of it with what they have....usually a little bit of nothing....and perhaps a chance to make it in the local Rodeo circuit. This movie captures the impact of bad luck and the despair of failure, lost hope and more bad luck on the rural poor. The actors play their roles extremely well and each was able to make an emotional connection to the viewer. It has a "Its a wonderful life after all" ending. I rooted for Tony all the way through the film. I felt his pain. I was in awe of how Donald Pleasance pulled off the realistic portrayal of the older farmer living defiantly in poverty on a beat up farm. Gloria Carlin played the part of Shirley, Tony's wife, who left him when offered a hand up to a better life by a man who had been shadowing her for years. Its a movie that will have you suffering the fate of the characters. You might even cringe from time to time. Yep its that good. No one will fault you if you drop a tear or two. You just have to find the film to watch it.