VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

bkoganbing James Coburn stars in and dominates The Honkers the story of a veteran rodeo cowboy who really ought to settle down with his wife Lois Nettleton and son Teddy Eccles. But Coburn likes the life too much especially the partying and those rodeo bunnies. Something about those bowlegged cowboys gets to them I guess.So Coburn makes one of his many pit stops at his home and he and Nettleton have their usual argument about that final divorce decree he won' t sign so she can marry steady and reliable Richard Anderson who has a used car dealership. But there's a nearby rodeo so he and best friend Slim Pickens who is a rodeo clown are off to it.The Honkers takes an honored place beside such rodeo films as The Lusty Men and Junior Bonner. Steve Ihnat really captures the ambiance and feel of the rodeo as an American institution.Before he went into films Slim Pickens was a rodeo clown and this is the only film he actually gets to play one. Like his buddy Coburn this is the life he knows though he's not the party animal that Coburn is. I guess someone has to be the designated driver and it seems to have fallen to Slim to be that for Coburn in all situations. Being a clown requires the same kind of reflexes it does when riding a bull or a bucking horse. Slim too has slowed up a might. Anne Archer makes her film debut as a rodeo bunny whose father is a big oil millionaire. As a kind of Indian rodeo hippie, Archer makes a fine debut in The Honkers.I did like the ending which was most vague and you have to decide for yourself what the future holds for Coburn. This one is really worth checking out.

moonspinner55 James Coburn is a devilish, lady-loving rodeo-circuit rider down New Mexico way; Anne Archer is a smitten fan who bats her eyes at him; Lois Nettleton plays his wife who puts up with all his comings and goings. The early 1970s were rife with these kind of cowboy character pieces, and all of them have the same scenes: the unloading of the horses at sunrise, the sizing up of the competition, the aged cowpoke sidekick chiming in with his two cents (here it's Slim Pickens), the parade down Main Street and, that old standby, the protagonist getting caught with another man's woman (and escaping with his pants down). Co-written by Steve Ihnat, who also directed, and Stephen Lodge, the lackadaisical film probably made an inoffensive co-feature at drive-in theaters but, on its own terms, the clichéd results are pretty thin. Coburn is energetic and amiable--he's always good when cast as the wily scalawag--but the movie depressingly stacks the deck against him. The western milieu in general doesn't feel like a natural fit for Coburn, who looks like he might be more at home sitting on the Riviera plotting someone's demise. ** from ****

jjnxn-1 Meandering but enjoyable comedy/drama of a rodeo rider who is coming to the end of his wandering days.The narrative seemingly rambles more than necessary but at the end of the film it makes sense since the protagonist has lived his life drifting from one place to another never answering for the consequences of his actions.James Coburn is well cast in the lead his craggy features suiting a hard living cowboy and his laconic style a natural fit. He is well supported by two performers who were often better than the projects they found themselves in. Chill Wills gives his good old boy sidekick role a lot of shading that makes the character more than was intended. Lois Nettleton, a fine actress whose quiet style was often unappreciated, adds her easy warm presence as Coburn's patient wife. A bit surprising to see Anne Archer just starting out and cast as a Native American. She's fine but it's jarring to see her miscast considering her future fame and knowledge of her very Causian complexion.Similar in spirit to Nicholas Ray's superior The Lusty Men and Sam Peckinpah's Junior Bonner, this a good film with a very effective ending.

zzzskipper The Hookers was to me a great everyday people story, Like someone you might have known. Just trying to make it, my big shot is right around the corner. Then Life's little temptations creep in, the spoiler, stumbled again. How much, can your love take, and give, to the guy who's really not so bad, after all, just Human. I liked it, I was also a paid extra in the movie. Played the drums in the bar shots, with the band, did several walking shots, my green 66' corvette was in the motel party shots. Wonderful cast and crew, first rate people, down to earth movie. I had lunch with James Coburn, on Mother's Day, what a wonderful man, just like I've known him for years, I'll never forget him. My father spent the day with Slim Pickens, and swapped horse stories, Slim also was really down to earth, love those guys, we really miss them. Real people making movies about real people, Thanks Levy, Gardner, and Laven.