I don't really remember much about this movie because I was very young at the time. It was the first movie I saw in a theater. What's more, Casey Tibbs himself was in the theater lobby meeting people, and I shook his hand! I've still got an autographed page of photos of him somewhere. Casey Tibbs, of course, was a big rodeo star in the 1950-1965 era, back before Larry Mahan and Don Gay. He was on the cover of Life magazine. I guess he's mentioned in the book "Biting the Dust." I see that Rex Allen and Henry Fonda are in the credits. Roy Houck, of course, is the famous buffalo rancher. As for the movie itself, I guess the cowboys were herding the horses along the trail, and they swam them across the Bad River, and in the end they bucked the horses in a rodeo. I don't know if the movie really makes any sense and just why it was made, but I guess rodeo and Westerns were very popular back then.
2 Reviews
Big Plans, Some Great Footage, and Some Good Memories
madjc728 March 2007
Let's say from the outset that this is no great movie, but it's got some great features. I confess I'm prejudiced since my dad and two brothers appear in it--they're in the credits. I remember the making of the film.
Casey Tibbs managed to bring together enough talent and money to get the movie made, but some decisions seem downright bone-headed. Along with the great narration by Slim Pickens and Henry Fonda, there's good film of moving a herd of horses up along the Missouri River, where the plan was to swim across, but weather plagued the filming. One of the most dramatic scenes in the filming was where Casey manages, barely, to make it across the river by hanging on to his horse's tail as wind and rain pounded the river. Waves and wind kept everyone in the houseboat where the cameras were supposed to be filming, so the dramatic moment when Casey emerges from the river is a bad reenactment. Too bad.
Clips of elk and pine trees appear in the film, but they don't belong in this movie set in the river breaks. It does include some footage from the Ft. Pierre 4th of July Rodeo, along with some Native American dancers.
If you're interested in history of this area, central South Dakota, and its history and characters, you'll see some of them in this flawed but fun film.
Casey Tibbs managed to bring together enough talent and money to get the movie made, but some decisions seem downright bone-headed. Along with the great narration by Slim Pickens and Henry Fonda, there's good film of moving a herd of horses up along the Missouri River, where the plan was to swim across, but weather plagued the filming. One of the most dramatic scenes in the filming was where Casey manages, barely, to make it across the river by hanging on to his horse's tail as wind and rain pounded the river. Waves and wind kept everyone in the houseboat where the cameras were supposed to be filming, so the dramatic moment when Casey emerges from the river is a bad reenactment. Too bad.
Clips of elk and pine trees appear in the film, but they don't belong in this movie set in the river breaks. It does include some footage from the Ft. Pierre 4th of July Rodeo, along with some Native American dancers.
If you're interested in history of this area, central South Dakota, and its history and characters, you'll see some of them in this flawed but fun film.
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