The Rounders (1965)

Just what I expected

Absolutely the worst movie.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Burt Kennedy adapted Max Evans' book and directed this utterly unassuming, pleasant time-filler which keeps tongue-in-cheek and deep thoughts in neutral. Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda play two horse-tamers in Arizona who bond with a bucking roan horse; Sue Ane Langdon and Hope Holiday are two tootsies they tangle with. Sleeper hit from 1965 offers Glenn Ford more room to shine than his co-star; Fonda is so non-aggressive and laid-back, it's easy to forget that he's around. Overall, Kennedy's approach is a bit mundane, and the picture doesn't have a big impact, but the scenery is certainly nice and the ladies--in and out of their clothes--are lively. ** from ****

It's true what most commenters here have said...this is well acted by the two leads, and the scenery is spectacular. But the sad sack situations and the outdated sexist humor wears on the viewer after a while, parts of it seeming like a slow version of Benny Hill. The art direction, casting and photography are all so realistic and good, it would have been interesting to see these qualities used on a "real" story about the misfortunes of modern ranchers. There might've been an Oscar in there somewhere if these resources were put to serve a story by one of a number of Western writers, and it would've rung true.

This movie is far from a classic of the western genre but, to use a far-fetched metaphor, watching it is like putting on a very comfortable pair of old, worn slippers. The story line is hardly earth-shaking - two modern day, never-quite-making-it, just-over-the-hill cowboys spend another year treading water in their line of work and wind up pretty much where they started, not that it matters a whole lot to them. But the story is worked out with just right the combination of charm, humor, pathos and whimsy to make it a thoroughly enjoyable hour and a half. The main key to the movie's success is the work of old hands Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford; their chemistry is just right, and a joy to watch. Also worth mentioning is the gorgeous cinematography of the western setting. This little charmer is minor gem of its type.

So said the agreeable Henry Fonda to just about every suggestion Glenn Ford or other cast members made to him.This the first of a series of very agreeable entertaining comic westerns that Burt Kennedy directed and/or wrote starring some of Hollywood's great but aging male stars. I think for the first and only time both Ford and Fonda play a pair of losers. They seem to forever be in financial bondage to their off-and-on employer Chill Wills. Wills just out-slickers Ford and Fonda just goes along with that line that must have been repeated about 8 times in The Rounders.But their biggest problem comes from a white-faced roan horse that Wills has talked the gullible Ford into taking. The horse named "Old Fooler" has a streak of cunning malevolence that provides most of the laughs in this comedy. If there was a special award given to animals for performances Old Fooler should have won it in 1965. In fact that horse created his own acting genre, the animal anti-hero.Burt Kennedy gave us a lot of good laughs starting in the mid60s with his films and this is one of the funniest.