The Honkers | |
---|---|
Directed by | Steve Ihnat |
Written by | Steve Ihnat Stephen Lodge |
Produced by | Arthur Gardner Jules Levy |
Starring | James Coburn Lois Nettleton Slim Pickens Anne Archer Richard Anderson Joan Huntington |
Cinematography | James Crabe |
Edited by | Tom Rolf |
Music by | Jimmie Haskell |
Production companies | Brighton Pictures Levy-Gardner-Laven |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 102 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,500,000 [1] |
The Honkers is a 1972 American comedy western film directed by Steve Ihnat and written by Steve Ihnat and Stephen Lodge. The film stars James Coburn, Lois Nettleton, Slim Pickens, Anne Archer, Richard Anderson and Joan Huntington. The film was shot in Carlsbad, New Mexico and released on May 17, 1972, by United Artists. [2] [3] The film was the film debut for Anne Archer. [4]
It was one of several films set around rodeas made in the early 1970s, others including Junior Bonner and J.W. Coop. [5]
An aging rodeo rider thinks more of himself than he does of his wife, son, and best friend.
Writer-director Steve Ihnat was an experienced character actor who had just written and directed a self funded featre film Do Not Throw Cushions Into the Ring . [6]
Stephen Lodge wrote his first script with his new writing partner, Dave Cass. Inhat read it and asked Lodge if he would collaborate on a script about a rodeo rider. According to Lodge, the first draft took four weeks, after that they attended a rodeo for research and did original drafts. The script was originally entitled Home Town Boy then this was changed to The Honkers after a slang term used to describe a rough bull. The script sold to United Artists and Levy-Gardner-Laven became attached as producers. [7]
Ihnat wanted to play the lead role but the studio insisted on a star. [1]
Filming took place in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Harry Vold’s rodeo company was used to stage the rodeos. [7]
Ihnat died of a heart attack in May 1972, at the Cannes Film Festival, shortly after The Honkers was released. [8] [9]
According to Time, "Ihnat bears partial responsibility for writing this lackluster plot, although as a director he fares a good deal better. Unlike most fledgling film makers, Ihnat has an uninsistent and subtle style. He can catch the fleeting mood of a scene in a few shots, most impressively in a terse, brutal barroom brawl, and he has a good eye for local color." [10]
Louis Burton Lindley Jr., better known by his stage name Slim Pickens, was an American actor and rodeo performer. Starting off in the rodeo, Pickens took up acting, and appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows. For much of his career, Pickens played cowboy roles. He played comic roles in Dr. Strangelove, Blazing Saddles, 1941, and his villainous turn in One-Eyed Jacks with Marlon Brando.
James Harrison Coburn III was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career.
Anne Archer is an American actress. Archer was named Miss Golden Globe in 1971, and in the year following, appeared in her feature film debut The Honkers (1972). She had supporting roles in Cancel My Reservation (1972), The All-American Boy (1973), and Trackdown (1976), and appeared in Good Guys Wear Black (1978), Paradise Alley (1978) and Hero at Large (1980).
Francis Benjamin Johnson Jr. was an American film and television actor, stuntman, and world-champion rodeo cowboy. Johnson brought authenticity to many roles in Westerns with his droll manner and expert horsemanship.
Will Penny is a 1968 American Western film written and directed by Tom Gries and starring Charlton Heston, Joan Hackett and Donald Pleasence. The picture was based upon an episode of the 1960 Sam Peckinpah television series The Westerner starring Brian Keith called "Line Camp," also written and directed by Tom Gries. Heston mentioned that this was his favorite film in which he appeared. The supporting cast features Lee Majors, Ben Johnson, Bruce Dern, and Slim Pickens.
Bobby Dan Davis Blocker was an American television actor and Korean War veteran, who played Hoss Cartwright in the NBC Western television series Bonanza.
The Hall of Great Western Performers is a hall of fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is a 4,000-square-foot (370 m2) presentation that explores how the American West has been interpreted in literature and film. Each year, the museum inducts performers to the hall in conjunction with the awarding of the Western Heritage Awards.
Stefan Ihnat was a Slovak-born American actor and director. He emigrated to Canada when he was five years old, and later became a United States citizen.
Junior Bonner is a 1972 American contemporary Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Steve McQueen, Robert Preston, Joe Don Baker and Ida Lupino. The film focuses on a veteran rodeo rider as he returns to his hometown of Prescott, Arizona, to participate in an annual rodeo competition and reunite with his brother and estranged parents. Many critics consider it to be the warmest and most gentle of Peckinpah's films.
The Cowboys is a 1972 American Western film starring John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Bruce Dern, and featuring Colleen Dewhurst and Slim Pickens. It was the feature film debut of Robert Carradine. Based on the 1971 novel of the same name by William Dale Jennings, the screenplay was written by Irving Ravetch, Harriet Frank, Jr., and Jennings and was directed by Mark Rydell.
Cowboy culture is the set of behaviors, preferences, and appearances associated with the attitudes, ethics, and history of the American cowboy. The term can describe the content or stylistic appearance of an artistic representation, often built on romanticized impressions of the wild west, or certain aspects of people's lifestyle, such as their choices in recreation, apparel, and western or southwestern cuisine.
Larry Mahan was an American professional rodeo cowboy. He won six all-around world championships and two bull riding world championships in the Rodeo Cowboys Association circuit at the National Finals Rodeo.
The Story of Will Rogers is a 1952 American Comedy Western film biography of humorist and movie star Will Rogers, directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Will Rogers Jr. as his father. The supporting cast features and Jane Wyman. The film's screenplay was based on the true short story "Uncle Clem's Boy" by Rogers' widow Betty Blake, which was published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1940.
Something for the Birds is a 1952 American comedy film directed by Robert Wise and starring Victor Mature, Patricia Neal and Edmund Gwenn.
Kona Coast is a 1968 American drama film directed by Lamont Johnson, starring Richard Boone and Vera Miles.
Rodeo is a 1952 American sports drama film directed by William Beaudine and starring Jane Nigh, John Archer and Wallace Ford. The film was made in cinecolor.
Winner Take All is a 1939 American drama film directed by Otto Brower and starring Tony Martin, Gloria Stuart, and Henry Armetta.
Arthur Takes Over is a 1948 American comedy film directed by Malcolm St. Clair and written by Mauri Grashin. The film stars Lois Collier, Richard Crane, Skip Homeier, Ann E. Todd and Jerome Cowan. The film was released on April 7, 1948, by 20th Century Fox.
Do Not Throw Cushions Into the Ring is a 1970 American film. It was directed, written by and starred character actor Steve Ihnat.