General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

The Rounders

The Rounders is a 1965 American comedy Western directed and written by Burt Kennedy for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda as two itinerant horse wranglers locked in a running battle of wits with an unbreakable roan horse named Ol' Fooler. It is an adaptation of Max Evans's 1960 novel of the same title.¹

Key fact	Detail
Release	Los Angeles opening 10 March 1965; New York opening 28 April 1965¹
Runtime and format	85 minutes, Metrocolor, Panavision widescreen, English¹
Source	Novel The Rounders by Max Evans (New York, 1960)¹
Lead roles	Glenn Ford as Ben Jones; Henry Fonda as Marion "Howdy" Lewis; Chill Wills as rancher Jim Ed Love¹^•²
Principal photography	4 May to 11 June 1964, on location in Sedona, Flagstaff, and Coconino National Forest, Arizona¹^•³
Television spin-off	ABC series The Rounders, September 6, 1966 to January 3, 1967, with Chill Wills repeating his film role⁴
Critical standing	Tomatometer 52% from three reviews; IMDb user rating 6.1/10⁵^•⁶

Spoilers

Plot

Ben Jones (Glenn Ford) and Howdy Lewis (Henry Fonda) are two aging bronc-busters (cowboys who tame unbroken horses) who drift from job to job in a battered Dodge pickup, forever broke and forever in debt to their stingy, double-dealing employer, the rancher Jim Ed Love (Chill Wills). Tired of wintering in the hills rounding up stray horses and cattle, they vow to give up carousing and save their earnings.¹^•⁷

Their other persistent problem is Ol' Fooler, a blaze-faced roan that stubbornly refuses to be broken and has a taste for alcohol. They trade the horse to the moonshiner Vince Moore (Edgar Buchanan) for corn liquor, but the horse drinks the whiskey and is returned. Over time the two men develop a grudging admiration for the animal, accept him as partial payment for their winter's work, and plan to enter him as a bucking bronco in a rodeo, betting that no other cowhand can stay on him.¹^•⁵ Along the way they romance two sisters, Agatha and Meg Moore (Kathleen Freeman and Joan Freeman), daughters of the moonshiner, and enjoy a fling with two showgirls, Mary and Sister (Sue Ane Langdon and Hope Holiday).⁵^•⁸

Production

The project was announced on 27 January 1964 as the next picture for Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda, with MGM confirmed as the production company the following day. Director Burt Kennedy and producer Richard E. Lyons scouted locations in three states beginning in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and continuing through Arizona and California, and filming began on 4 May 1964 in Arizona.¹

Sedona on screen. Production got underway in Sedona, Arizona, where 250 locals were hired as background actors, including rodeo performers, prep school students, and the Arizona State College Band. According to the Los Angeles Times of 15 May 1964, the film was the first to use Sedona to stand in for itself onscreen. The town staged its first "Western Days" celebration, with a parade and rodeo, for the cameras on 22 and 23 May 1964. The company moved to Flagstaff for additional exteriors, and several sequences were filmed in Coconino National Forest between the two towns before interiors were shot at the MGM studio; principal photography was completed on 11 June 1964.⁴

The horse playing Ol' Fooler left a mark on the production: on 8 May 1964 it kicked Kennedy in the foot, breaking two of his toes.¹ Peter Ford and Peter Fonda, the actors' sons, visited the set and were discussed for a cameo in a barroom-brawl scene; the cameo was never filmed as planned, but both young men appear onscreen as spectators in a street sequence.⁴

Before release, filmmakers censored a scene showing the bare bottoms of Sue Ane Langdon and Hope Holiday after objections from the Catholic Legion of Decency. Promotion included a tie-in with the Rodeo Cowboys Association, with personal rodeo appearances by the stars.⁴

Reception

Contemporary reviews were mixed but generally warm to the stars. TIME called it "an amiable knuckle-headed western" and noted that Ford and Fonda, "clearly relishing their antiheroic roles, perform with the brisk assurance of men who have won the West so often that they know just how to spoof it."⁷ The Cleveland Press found it "practically plotless" but praised the characterizations and the outdoor color photography, "better than some done for bigger films."⁹ The New Zealand Listener was harsher, judging the two stars handicapped by the screenplay and Kennedy's direction, and observing that "the film's most satisfactory performance happens to be turned in by a horse."¹⁰ Judith Crist of the New York Herald Tribune described it as "one of those utterly relaxed comedies that make ideal entertainment because there's tender loving care every step of the way and no sweat."⁵

Later assessments have been similarly divided between affection and reservation. Leonard Maltin's guide called it "one of the sleepers of its year," with cast and scenery making it "a pleasant way to kill an hour-and-a-half."¹¹ The Cinefile review saw a "pleasant but unambitious Western, carried by its amiable stars," in which the horse serves as a metaphor of unbending endurance in a changing world.¹² Dennis Schwartz rated it B−, calling it a leisurely, amiable, offbeat western comedy that "never mind[s] too much that nothing much happens."⁸ On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 52% Tomatometer from three critics.⁵

Afterlife

MGM planned a sequel for Ford and Fonda based on Max Evans's follow-up novel The Great Wedding, but it was never made.⁴ The story instead reached television as The Rounders, a half-hour ABC series running from September 6, 1966 to January 3, 1967, with Chill Wills again playing Jim Ed Love.⁴ The character of Jim Ed Love later returned to the screen in a companion film, played by Sam Elliott.¹³ The film has remained available on home video and streaming, including a 2017 Warner Blu-ray release.¹⁴

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Westerns before 1980 › Released 1961 to 1979

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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