Bronco Buster *** (1952, John Lund, Scott Brady, Joyce Holden, Chill Wills) – Classic Movie Review 11,662

Bronco Buster (1952) stars John Lund.

Director Budd Boetticher’s 1952 Technicolor Western film Bronco Buster is based on a story by Peter B Kyne, and stars John Lund, Scott Brady, Joyce Holden, Chill Wills, and Don Haggerty.

Novice bronco rider Bart Eaton (Brady) misbehaves under the care, charge and tutelage of old rodeo champ Tom Moody (Lund), and Lund pays the price when Brady muscles in on his lover Judy Bream (Holden), and the two men end up competing against each other.

Universal Pictures studio’s typical Fifties Western co-feature film is just a tiny bit above run-of-the-mill, mainly because it is more than decently made by expert director Boetticher.

The lusty screenplay, sturdy performances, nice Technicolor photography and resonant rodeo atmosphere add up to a very solid B-Western, even if they cannot lift a too-familiar story any higher than the routine average.

It is written by Horace McCoy and Lillie Hayward. The plot is similar to that of another 1952 Western, The Lusty Men, which Horace McCoy also co-scripted.

Also in the cast are Bill Williams, Casey Tibbs, Dan Poore, Jerry Ambler, Pete Crump, and Manuel Enos.

Lund’s first film To Each His Own (1946) had him starring with Olivia de Havilland for Paramount, who put him a long-term film contract. Then he was the romantic lead in Billy Wilder’s film A Foreign Affair (1948) but later his career descended into minor Westerns. Lund was vice-president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1950-1959. He retired from the screen in 1963.

The cast are John Lund as Tom Moody, Scott Brady as Bart Eaton, Joyce Holden as Judy Bream, Chill Wills as Dan Bream, Don Haggerty as Dobie Carson, Casey Tibbs as Rodeo Rider, Pete Crump as Rodeo Rider, Dan Poore as Dick Elliot, Bill Williams as Rodeo Rider, Jerry Ambler as Rodeo Rider, and Manuel Enos.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,662

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