BRONCO BILLY (2+ outta 5 stars) Kind of an odd, little movie for Clint Eastwood... not really funny enough to be called a comedy and not really dramatic enough to be called a drama. This quirky character study of the people involved in a modern day "wild west show" has decent enough dialogue and the performers (most from the usual Eastwood stable of the time, including soon-to-be-ex-wife Sondra Locke) make viewing the film painless enough... but by the time it's over it will have you pondering exactly what the point of this movie could have been. I guess it was just the kind of movie Clint wanted to make at the time (he produced and directed) and after his huge success with "Every Which Way But Loose" who was going to tell him "no"? Clint plays the lead character, the star and owner of a traveling western show (filled with some of the most unconvincing "frontier" characters that you could imagine). After a long string of female assistants that don't quite work out, he happens upon a depressed, spoiled rich girl who is going through some bad luck of her own. The expected personality clashes and romance ensue. (It's kind of hard to accept Eastwood and Locke's romance in view of their later domestic problems... much like it's hard to watch anything with Woody Allen and Mia Farrow without cringing.) It's all pleasant enough if you're in the mood for this sort of thing... but not a career high for Clint by any means.
Review of Bronco Billy
