Buck Reviews
Top CriticIf you have even a passing interest in horses, you may find yourself smitten with this meditative doc.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Cynics beware: Darned tootin', we're home on the range here, where seldom is heard a discouraging word and don't nobody be yappin' that Buck is too good to be true.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Interviews with horse people, Brannaman's very funny, elderly stepmother and director Robert Redford help round out the doc, but all we really need is time with Brannaman, and Meehl doesn't disappoint.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
The result is a portrait that expertly mirrors its subject: Buck is shaped with the same economy, restraint, and unfussiness as the man, to unexpectedly inspiring effect.
Full Review
| Original Score: A-
One of the most valuable things a film can do is to take you to a place or introduce you to a character you haven't encountered before.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
It's well and good to hear Buck and others tell his story, but the film wouldn't come to much if you didn't feel the connection between his present and past in every frame.
You don't have to be a horse nut to fall for "Buck," one of those rare documentaries whose subject is so inherently fascinating that a fictional character could hardly compete.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Documentaries have a wonderful way of making us care about people and things way outside our own experience, and "Buck" is a prime example.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Never has the special relationship between people and horses appeared more magnificent and even lyrical on film than in "Buck."
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Brannaman is a fascinating character, but Buck is so tightly focused that only avid horse lovers will find it appealing.
The man's mythology precedes him, and it's the movie's failing that we don't understand how or whether he uses that mythology because he knows it's good business.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
What I was left with was the goodness of Buck Brannaman as a man.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Buck has the air of a beautiful little mystery; even knowing the uplifting outcome, you wonder at the strength that brought him to this place.
A haunting, beautifully told tale about a genuine American original, who survived a childhood of violent abuse to become a leading figure in new-school horse training.
It celebrates a communion between man and animal that runs deeper than any division.
Full Review
| Original Score: A-
I don't know why, but I just can't get all worked up over Dan (Buck) Brannaman, subject of the documentary "Buck."
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
What a relief in times saturated with news of the worst of humanity to see something of the best.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
It keeps you fascinated, even enthralled; elicits astonishment, even wonderment, and makes you grateful for the chance to meet someone remarkable.
Holds your attention and heart for a tight 88 minutes.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
Even if we can't live his cowboy life, Buck Brannaman's world is well worth visiting.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
This film's effectively wrought communion between once-spooked man and animal is more than enough for any entertainment. It rides easily into your heart.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Despite these odds, Brannaman grew into a preternaturally gentle adult who channels hard-earned patience and compassion into his work.
This is going to sound corny, but here goes: "Buck" will make you want to be a better person.
... a rare documentary as intellectually and philosophically rewarding as it is emotionally moving.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4.5/5
Doc about the real-life Horse Whisperer holds fascination both inside and out of the corral.
Much of the movie - too much of it - is just Buck in the corral, riding, working with ropes and flags, conditioning a horse to behave.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
First feature for Cindy Meehl is confidently assembled, with attractive contributions from the two cinematographers and composer David Robbins.
