The Honkers

Ageing rodeo rider Lew Lathrop (Coburn) may not still be at his competitive best, but the cameraderie and womanising of the touring circuit continue to exert a strong pull when he makes a rare visit home to New Mexico to his estranged spouse Nettleton. Melancholy, slow, closely detailed post-Western drama which lets rip with the moralising at the close as Lew's partner Clete (Pickens) is trampled to death by a bucking bull. Coburn has a watchable charm, though Junior Bonner and J.W. Coop (both also from the early '70s) rode the same range with greater distinction.