The Rounders (1965 film)


The Rounders is a 1965 American western film directed by Burt Kennedy and starring Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda. It is based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Max Evans.

Plot

Ben Jones and Marion "Howdy" Lewis are two easygoing, modern-day cowboys who make a meager living breaking wild horses. Their frequent employer is Jim Ed Love, a shrewd businessman who always gets the better of them. After they bring him a string of tamed horses and spend the winter rounding up stray cows, he talks them into taking a nondescript roan horse in lieu of some of their wages.
To his great and frequent discomfort, Ben finds that the horse is unrideable. Rather than turning the horse into soap or dog food, he decides to take it to a rodeo and bet other cowhands that they cannot ride it, thereby doubling his and Howdy's earnings. Along the way, the duo stop to help two dimwitted strippers, Mary and Sister, with their car, which has broken down. Not knowing much about cars, they give them a ride to the nearest garage, but end up getting to know them better and taking them along to the rodeo.
Everything goes as planned; nobody is able to stay on the horse. However, the horse suddenly collapses and Ben spends all the money that he and Howdy have won on veterinary help—and a new stable to replace the one destroyed by the roan when the horse recovers. In the end, Ben and Howdy end up where they started, with only the roan to show for their efforts.

Cast

The film was a sleeper hit.
In a contemporary review, the New York Times found the film to be a "...good, small Western—far from perfect but beautifully personified by two wise, winning veterans." Reviewing The Rounders for the Los Angeles Times, Margaret Harford wrote: "The plot is thin, the comedy rather forced and the casting is unbelievable but at least it's a pleasant change from all those psychological westerns and attempted satires on same."