Buck (2011)
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Critic Reviews for Buck
All Critics (100) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (89) | Rotten (11)
If you have even a passing interest in horses, you may find yourself smitten with this meditative doc.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Audience Reviews for Buck
While not exactly the most substantial of documentaries, "Buck" still has plenty to say about the human condition, through horses, no less. As Buck Brannaman says in the clinics he conducts all over the country nine months out of the year, it is not the humans with a horse problem he is trying to help but horses with a human problem. Growing up, he and his brother were severely phyiscally abused by their father. With luck and the help of caring foster parents, Buck turned out okay and sensitive to the concerns of others and the odd episode of Oprah.(I had to check out the deleted scenes on the DVD to find out how Buck's brother turned out.) As a parent, Buck feels it is okay to discipline one's children but only in an encouraging, not discouraging way. As alone as he is a lot on the road, he looks forward to returning home to his family, with his eldest daughter, Reata, now joining him for the summer.
Super Reviewer
Sometimes people's stories are just leaps and bounds better than anything Hollywood could produce. This doc is a mesmerizing and heart-warming look at a good and gentle man who took the pain of his childhood and turned it into grace. It may sound cliche and boring, but I'll be damned it you can watch it and not be moved.
Super Reviewer
This documentary reveals the power of firm tenderness and trust -- not just with horses, but with people too.
Super Reviewer
Buck Quotes
| Buck, Himself: | Nobody's here to hurt you. |
| Buck, Himself: | Rather than helping people with horse problems, I'm helping horses with people problems. |
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