J.W. Coop

Usually when a movie star is the key force behind a movie being made, it's a good thing. They feel so strongly about the subject that the feeling is transferred to the movie. One example, John Wayne's The Alamo in which Wayne starred, directed, produced and helped fund. People say its too long, but I love it. Made early in the 1970s, J.W. Coop comes from a similar background.

Underrated Cliff Robertson wrote, produced, directed, and starred and had his company back the movie about an aging rodeo star. While Robertson is good in the title role, the movie never quite lives up to expectations. It's like so many other 1970s road movies that you've seen before and most likely will see again.

Robertson plays J.W. Coop, a rodeo star fresh out of prison after a 10-year stint for passing a bad check, a little severe if you ask me. Coop returns home to see his mother (Geraldine Page, actually a year younger than Robertson), only to find she's lost her mind. With nothing holding him down at home, JW hits the road with hopes of making up for lost time on the rodeo circuit. It's when he finds out how another cowboy is making a living, flying to countless different rodeos, that Coop decides he wants to be the champ.

Nothing too far-fetched here, but the movie bounces around so much with little explanation. First, Coop just wants to return to the rodeo. But then he meets an attractive hippie (model Cristina Ferrare) and changes his mind for no reason that's ever really explained. That's my problem with much of the movie. It tries too hard to be creative or innovative, whether it be in the storytelling or just how things are shot. Quick cutting isn't necessary in most cases, it just calls attention to itself.

As the title character, Robertson gives a quiet performance where he takes in all the action around him. Not much dialogue for Coop, but the actor/director is content to show where JW's at through long shots that remain on the aging rodeo star. He's a tired man who isn't always quite sure how much things have changed in the years he was in prison. Ferrare is the only real co-star here as Bean, the young hippie who starts a relationship with JW. Page appears in just one scene and is frighteningly effective, but that's the first 15 minutes of the movie. R.G. Armstrong makes an appearance as a fellow cowboy, but it's nothing memorable other than to say 'Hey, that's R.G. Armstrong!'

I'm just not quite sure about this movie. The middle section, about 30 minutes to 90 minutes is good, but the bookends just don't work. The opening takes much too long to build up any speed, and the ending has so much going on in the last 20 minutes that everything feels rushed. The ending works even if it's apparent about halfway through the movie how it's going to end. Still, I'm not sure how we're supposed to interpret the ending. It goes two ways, either J.W. lives or he dies, and I think it's Option No. 2, but that could just be me.

Released the same year as J.W. Coop, Sam Peckinpah's Junior Bonner is a similar movie, an aging rodeo star, Steve McQueen instead of Robertson, returns home to find that so much he knew growing up has changed. Comparing the two movies though, Junior Bonner knows what it's trying to say and doesn't waver from beginning until end. J.W. Coop has a similar message, but has it's fair share of trouble getting that message across. Worthwhile for Robertson in a strong part and some cool rodeo footage, but otherwise an average movie. Here's a cool montage done of stills from the movie, SPOILERS though, so be forewarned.

J.W. Coop (1972): **/****