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Wild Rovers

Play trailer Poster for Wild Rovers PG 1971 2h 16m Western Play Trailer Watchlist
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60% Tomatometer 15 Reviews 45% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Tired of his job at a ranch owned by Walter Buckman (Karl Malden), Frank Post (Ryan O'Neal) wants to pull a heist, and when his much older coworker, Ross Bodine (William Holden), sees nothing better on the horizon, the cowboys agree to team up for the crime. After filling their pockets with loot from a local bank, Frank and Ross ride toward what they hope is freedom. But the younger Buckmans, Paul (Joe Don Baker) and John (Tom Skerritt), pursue them over the rough land of the Southwest.

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Wild Rovers

Critics Reviews

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Richard Brody The New Yorker Bodine and Post exult in the transcendent wonder of the vast landscape and revel in the illusory joys of their outlaw freedom; their solitude and boredom on long rides through uninhabited country drive them to delusion and destruction. Oct 14, 2019 Full Review Variety Staff Variety The mood is broken regularly with pratfall humor, also some dehumanizing slow-motion ballets of death. Mar 26, 2009 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times A beautiful, dumb cowboy movie about two beautiful, dumb cowboys. Rated: 3/4 Jun 26, 2008 Full Review Siong-huat Chua Gay Community News (Boston) An enjoyable movie—a Hollywood Western with all the essential elements plus trimmings. Aug 31, 2022 Full Review Dilys Powell Sunday Times (UK) Perhaps it is this happy-go-lucky feeling which distinguishes the story from the majority of Westerns -- and which makes violence here less disturbing than in many a less lethal film. Mar 17, 2020 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Holden's lived-in performance is a thing of beauty. Rated: 3/4 Mar 9, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member This movie is said to be Blake Edwards' only Western. Compared to other Western movies, it is not surprising. On the plus side, the photography is beautiful, and the main cast are all top actors. The basic story is about two ranch hands who make a long trip to town carrying the body of a third who was killed in a horse accident and fall into conversation about mortality and old age and the poverty and poor futures that ranch hands can face, and they talk about robbing a bank with the idea of using the funds to have themselves better lives-at first as a joke, then seriously. They carry out their plan and flee-but their former employer ends up sending his own sons out as a posse for the lazy sheriff, so upset he was by their action. But the movie falls short. The subplot about the ranch owner's feud with neighboring sheep herders is barely touched upon, the bank robbery- forcing the banker to open his safe at night while his family are held hostage-is overlong and confusing, and moments of comedy, such as the young robber having a puppy he must give away and the scene where the older one captures and tames a wild horse with a lot of effort and stumbling, clash with rather than supplement the more serious moments in the story, such as the card game turning into a bloody gunfight. The story could have been much better using these raw materials, but it only winds up average at best. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review s r Potential squandered. Tacky. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member good combo western & caper movie Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member An undiscovered gem. Will Holden, the thinking man's John Wayne and Ryan O'Neal, the idiots Warren Beatty buddy up in a father-sone dynamic tale of fate, ambition and death set in the borderlands of the Wild West. Great fireside scene and the following line, "I'm sorry", says the shooter. "Me too" (head rocks back and he dies). All this and Karl Malden Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review david f A slow, tedious Western in which William Holden is wasted. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member It moves slow and has a very predictable ending. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Wild Rovers

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Wild Rovers

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Movie Info

Synopsis Tired of his job at a ranch owned by Walter Buckman (Karl Malden), Frank Post (Ryan O'Neal) wants to pull a heist, and when his much older coworker, Ross Bodine (William Holden), sees nothing better on the horizon, the cowboys agree to team up for the crime. After filling their pockets with loot from a local bank, Frank and Ross ride toward what they hope is freedom. But the younger Buckmans, Paul (Joe Don Baker) and John (Tom Skerritt), pursue them over the rough land of the Southwest.
Director
Blake Edwards
Producer
Blake Edwards, Ken Wales
Screenwriter
Blake Edwards
Production Co
Geoffrey Productions
Rating
PG
Genre
Western
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 9, 2017
Runtime
2h 16m
Sound Mix
Stereo
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