Junior Bonner (1972)
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Reviews Counted: 17
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 1
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 2,902
My Rating
Movie Info
Sam Peckinpah eschews his slow-motion bullet ballets for this quiet character study of ex-rodeo cowboy turned drifter Junior Bonner (Steve McQueen), who returns home to Arizona to reconcile with the family he hasn't seen in years. Bonner is shocked to see that the solid family he was hoping to come back to is breaking apart. His parents, Ace (Robert Preston) and Elvira (Ida Lupino), have separated, and his brother Curley (Joe Don Baker) has turned into a heartless real estate tycoon, parceling
Aug 2, 1972 Wide
Mar 13, 2001
Cast
-
Steve McQueen
Junior Bonner -
Robert Preston
Ace Bonner -
Ida Lupino
Elvira Bonner -
Ben Johnson
Buck Roan -
Joe Don Baker
Curly Bonner -
Barbara Leigh
Charmagne -
Don 'Red' Barry
Homer Rutledge -
Rita Garrison
Flashy Girl in Bar -
Charles Gray
Burt -
Bill McKinney
Red Terwilliger -
Mary Murphy
Ruth Bonner -
Matthew Peckinpah
Tim Bonner -
Sundown Spencer
Nick Bonner -
Dub Taylor
Bartender -
-
-
Sandra Deel
Nurse Arlis
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All Critics (20) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (2) | DVD (9)
The movie simply never comes together and works as a whole. The material is terribly thin.
Top CriticJunior Bonner, based on an excellent original screenplay by Jeb Rosebrook, is Peckinpah in the benignly comic mood that, I suspect, is much more the natural fashion of this fine director than is the gross, intellectualized mayhem.
A film filled to overflowing with small, subtle beauties.
... a gentle character study and a lyrical portrait of family, respect and integrity in the face of adversity.
...the leisurely pace effectively prevents the viewer from wholeheartedly connecting with the material.
Gravy.
A trifle clumsy, but affecting nonetheless.
There's something essential about boys playing men in front of the women they love.
A superior rodeo movie.
One of Peckinpah's loveliest films, simmering with family animosity but also brimming with terrific moments of graceless quiet.
Sam Peckinpah presents a sharp look at the "new west" in contrast with the fading frontier scene.
[An] untypically gentle Peckinpah film.
Junior Bonner may be the least Peckinpah-like in content, but it's very much like his other work in spirit.
Audience Reviews for Junior Bonner
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