The Rounders

This movie is far from a classic of the western genre but, to use a far-fetched metaphor, watching it is like putting on a very comfortable pair of old, worn slippers. The story line is hardly earth-shaking - two modern day, never-quite-making-it, just-over-the-hill cowboys spend another year treading water in their line of work and wind up pretty much where they started, not that it matters a whole lot to them. But the story is worked out with just right the combination of charm, humor, pathos and whimsy to make it a thoroughly enjoyable hour and a half. The main key to the movie's success is the work of old hands Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford; their chemistry is just right, and a joy to watch. Also worth mentioning is the gorgeous cinematography of the western setting. This little charmer is minor gem of its type.

Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda star in this slowly paced but amiable picture of two modern cowboys who just drift through life. They are older but only in a chronological sense--as they drink, bust broncos and party through life. At the same time, there are a couple of women who want to get them to settle down and grow up--and this is the main theme throughout the film.

What works best in the film is the dialog--particularly the repartee between the two leads. While the film itself never really seems to go anywhere, it seems enough just to sit back and watch this relationship unfold. An odd but satisfying film.

I was quite surprised when I watched this, thinking it was a western when actually it wasn't. The picture is set in 1950s or 60s and the locations at times makes you wonder if it was set in 1800s.

The director makes some interesting comparisons between the lonely west and the modern town. The performances are good, especially the horse. The director made excellent use of the widescreen frame. This is unwatchable in pan and scan.

Not a great film but certainly worth watching for locations and direction. Could've done with a better screenplay.

The Rounders is one of those oddly well-crafted movies which seems to have benefited from a fortunate gathering of the stars at its making. Good movie-making alone seems insufficient to account for its success; every frame of the film seems almost hand-painted; every minute scripted with more than common care (if not with up-to-date cinematic technique).

Director and screenwriter Burt Kennedy is the center around which this gem of a movie formed - the same wry humor that has characterized most of his movie and TV productions shines through here (Kennedy created a small swath of "Simon and Simon" episodes, a span of "Combat" episodes, little, memorable Westerns like "Dirty Dingus Magee," a little of almost every genre before passing on in 2001.) The cast, though, was one of those companies of actors you didn't often see together in low-budget Westerns then (1965) and still don't often see thirty-some years later. And, for a wonder, every actor and actress - from a remarkable cast - pulled his or her weight.

Denver Pyle ("Bull") would go on to anchor "The Dukes of Hazzard" as "Uncle Jesse" after a life in Westerns; Edgar Buchanan (as the irascible "Vince Moore," creator of "that wonderful stuff" in a still located under his barn floor) was just embarking on a long stretch of soft duty as "Uncle Joe" in "Petticoat Junction," plus a number of cameo roles in various other TV and movie projects after spending a good career in movies; Sue Ane Langdon was playing one of a number of sexy/innocent ingenue roles that ran from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s, then after a short hiatus, she would go on to play a series of older roles); Chill Wills would stay with the role of tightwad ranch owner "Jim Ed Love" for the movie AND the TV show which spun off of it the following year.

"The Rounders - The TV Series" ran in the 1966 and 1967 seasons, not a bad run, considering the two leads were replaced by younger, less seasoned actors (including Patrick Wayne as "Howdy Lewis"); not only do we see Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda as the stars of this rollicking epic but as a bonus, Peter Ford and Peter Fonda (sons of the stars) appear in uncredited roles.

The production, if it can be said to have a weak spot, suffers from Disney Disease - that bogus-homespun touch which afflicted Disney's Wonderful World of Color's series of outdoor documentaries (in which announcers with wrinkly, familiar old voices narrated carefully-edited wildlife documentaries in which little baby animals hardly ever got caught by predators). Fortunately, the screenwriter played off of this ambiance for laughs, so that the overall feel is something like "Mister Roberts Goes West."

Fonda ("Howdy Lewis")and Ford ("Ben Jones") work well together on screen as a pair of itinerant, half-clever cowboys who seem always to get the worst from every deal they make with Jim Ed Love. Both actors spent time with the novel, apparently, and their performances benefited from the extra work. This compensates for clumsy special effects (clumsily faked double takes from the "plug-head" horse who is the bane of "Howdy's" existence, for example).

But "The Rounders'" main failing is also its saving grace - an artlessness which makes the show much more enjoyable (to me, anyway) than if it had been a little more polished. It earns a solid eight out of ten points for a great off-beat Western comedic style.

"The Rounders" may just be the last good OLD Western movie; the genre lay in a restless, unquiet coma with brief flashes of lucidity (and a few unlamented "electric westerns") until Clint Eastwood and a handful of other talented directors brought it back to vibrant life. But "The Rounders" is a valedictory for all of those great westerns (and all the not-so-great ones that were worth having, anyway) that Henry Fonda, Glenn Ford, Chill Wills, Edgar Buchanan, Denver Pyle and all the rest of those guys gave us.

Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda are pals that corral horses, or whatever cowboy/rustlers do with horses. Round them up. But they don't ever seem to get ahead. Chill Wills gives a memorable performance, and almost steals the show, in his white suit as a rich owner of horses and land, but who's notoriously cheap and who has a way of talking them into working for him again, despite the fact Glenn said, never again. They always complain, especially Glenn, about working and never getting anywhere, but after a while you get the feeling, he's been the way he is all his life and he's just one of those who like things as they are, despite all his talk to the contrary. With a good cast, including Denver Pyle and Edgar Buchanan as two characters they try to give a wild horse to, and Sue Ane Langdon and Kathleen Freeman, this is one laid-back film that's short on story but is long on good company. "Whatever suits you just tickles me plumb to death." For good old fun with Ford and Fonda, just yourself a horse and hold on, tight.