J.W. Coop (1971)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Cliff Robertson co-wrote, co-produced, directed and stars in this unassuming rodeo drama-cum-character study, a movie he personally financed for distribution through Columbia Pictures by keeping costs down and paying most of his actors scale. It's a handsome, occasionally laconic piece of work, crisp and not dawdling, helped immeasurably by Frank Stanley's sometimes good-sometimes brilliant cinematography. The star of a Texas prison rodeo, having just served 10 years in the jug for writing bad checks, is paroled and hits the rodeo circuit, where he works his way up to second-best cowboy (just behind an airplane-chauffeured hotshot who barely has to break a sweat to be number one). Robertson directs himself very well--it is one of his finest performances--though the same can't be said for many of the supporting players, many of whom are real-life rodeo performers portraying themselves. An air of detached amateurism coats the project, with much of the background and sideline action coming off as needless, over-the-top, or just plain sloppy. Still, when Robertson zeros in on a sequence--such as a rough fist-fight in a men's washroom or an idyllic getaway for Coop and his hippie girlfriend--the results can be stunningly effective. Robertson is contemplative and unafraid to allow curious scenes to run their course; Geraldine Page, as Coop's mother, has just one long sequence that doesn't appear to do much for the picture, yet Robertson finds the rhythm in the dialogue and eventually gets to the meditative payoff. I'm not quite sure what the final scene is meant to say, except that "a loner is a lonely man"...still, the artiness which underlines the film's climax is a bit alienating. It doesn't make for a big night at the movies. ** from ****

Cliff Robertson has always been one of the hugely underrated actors of stage, TV & film. Anyone who saw his original performance in Days of Wine & Roses on Playhouse 90(with Piper Laurie) or saw him doing Tennessee Williams on Broadway knows that this is someone who for whatever reasons missed out on the major stardom that was his natural due. J.W. Coop is one more surprise from Mr. Robertson. This movie is the closest approximation I've ever seen on the screen to a Hemingway story. It's full of the rich true details of place and incident, and the aching pain of the fighter/cowboy/soldier/man rubbing up against life, trying to make some kind of mark, some kind of sense, before his end comes, & it always comes too soon for these guys.

Excellent story about a cowpoke who wants to be the number one rider in the nation. He worked hard at it, and made his name well known on the circuit, even getting to the point of acquiring his own airplane. A good look at the rodeo from behind the scenes. Near the end was a very graphic scene of a cowboy caught up in the harness of a raging bull. I heard it was not a setup take, but was real footage from a rodeo. I know it made me cringe to watch it. 4 stars.

Growing up in the Mid_West, the concept of `art' film was quite foreign to me in 1971. The first time I saw J.W. Coop, it struck me like a thunderbolt. Lots of ambin' around, reaction shots, quiet confidence, pseudo-documentary style, unspoken sub text…WOW.A labor love for Cliff Robertson, JW COOP is an indie-like movie developed in the 1970's studio system, where titles like POSEIDON ADVENTURE and TOWERING INFERNO were the only things that made sense at the time.As a result, studio-type compromises are evident throughout--Christina Ferrare is atrocious as the hippie-chick who interjects JW's dust covered mind-set to the present. I'm certain the original script-by Gary Cartwright and the ingenious Bud Shrake was likely funnier…and edgier.What's left is still engaging, and the rest of the supporting cast is solid, the story interesting--spiced with wonderful little vignettes throughout. I highly recommend.