(1954)

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7/10
Pete Goes To The Rodeo
bkoganbing14 October 2008
This probably has to be one of the last Pete Smith specialty shorts ever done. MGM even splurged for color which we can be grateful for.

It's a nice instructive look at the sport of rodeo and the various event components. Fascinating for someone like myself who over the past several years has become a fan of the Professional Bull Riders.

8 seconds seems to be an accepted time. I learned it seems to be the standard for more events than bull riding. The bull doggers, calf ropers, and both saddle bronco horse and bareback bronco horse riders all have the 8 second stay on time for their events.

I even learned that some events can be timed for 10 seconds, that it was at least back in the day something that was occasionally done.

The PBR is looking for ways to spice fan interest. I expect one of these days a ten second ride on some kind of challenge dare to be offered. It would really be a dare because those riders have enough on their hands staying on a bull for 8 seconds.

Of course 8 or 10 seconds, it would all be in a day's work for such bovine athletes as Copperhead Slinger, Chicken on a Chain, Booger Butt, Doctor Proctor, and Cooper.

The newsreel footage of the rodeo in Casper, Wyoming was nice to see. And interesting to reflect on the kind of money that those cowboys rode for as versus what the PBR offers its bull riders now.
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6/10
"Now aboard a malicious mountain of meat . . . "
oscaralbert11 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
. . . is a line of narration that will give many if not most ROUGH RIDING listeners the impression that this live-action short is an NC-17 rated documentary about the revamped Pachyderm Parry POTUS caucus process as it will be conducted next year in such crucial early bird FFA and 4-H Red Rodeo States as Iowa. However, though the clowns pictured on-screen during ROUGH RIDING evoke comparisons with the revolving door parade of cabinet bozos endemic to our current rump cushion administration, the corresponding buxom bevy of Presidential soft- and hard-core stars and starlets serving as Third Ladies and Second-Fiddle Paramour mounts are nowhere in sight during ROUGH RIDING. Patrons are treated instead to bucking "Brahma bulls" on the hoof. Most of America's fast food eateries have recently featured "Angus beef burgers" on their menus. But can you recall the last time that your local Jack-in-the-Box outlet advertised "Brahma bits"? Maybe those of the Elephantine Persuasion will eat up ROUGH RIDING, but there's not much here to interest we Loyal Normal Patriotic Average 99 Per Center Blue-Staters.
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6/10
Pete Smith specialty in color will interest rodeo fans...
Doylenf16 May 2008
ROUGH RIDING is a brisk look at rodeo riders and the techniques needed to qualify as a rough riding cowboy. Of particular interest are the calf roping, bareback riding horses that obviously are on the wild side with cowboys attempting to stay on past 10 seconds, and roping bulls that weigh 1600 lbs. and require the use of "clowns" to distract the bull when the cowboy is tossed off his horse.

It concludes with segments from various rodeos, clips that show rough riding rodeo stunts and make you wonder what these adventurous guys find so appealing about their work. Most of them end up tossed off their horses but they still come back for more.

Of interest to rodeo watchers primarily.
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Decent
Michael_Elliott26 April 2008
Rough Riding (1954)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A Pete Smith short showing us various events at the Casper, WY Rodeo. This brief history lesson of the events describes the different types of events, the different bulls and the rules of how long the rider must stay on. I'm not really a fan of the rodeo even though I went to a couple as a kid. This 8-minute short is still fairly entertaining even if you aren't too curious about the subject. Once again Smith does a great job at making the events seem more entertaining than they actually are. The best stuff in the movie deals with the clowns who must distract the bulls whenever a rider falls off. The film is in Technicolor, which is another plus.
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