The Rounders (MGM) (1965)

THRILLS AND LAUGHS IN “THE ROUNDERS,” WITH GLENN FORD AND HENRY FONDA AS BRONC-BUSTERS OF MODERN-DAY WESTERN When the main titles of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “The Rounders” appear on the screen and you see first Glenn Ford, then Henry Fonda, being tossed high into the air by a bucking bronco and biting the dust, you have an idea of the laughs and exciting action in store in this wonderfully entertaining modern-day western. A sly and cynical brown-and-white roan named “Ol’ Fooler” is the villain of the story. It is this ornery piece of horseflesh, addicted to whiskey mash, that dislodges the veteran cowpokes, Ford and Fonda, in the beginning of the film and continues to harass them throughout the wild and hilarious hap Se Se Se Se ae ae ee ae eee Dt ae ot BRONC-BUSTER ee SS oe Se a Se ae ant Se St OD tS De othe ole # Glenn Ford enacts a modernday cowpoke who teams up with Henry Fonda to break in wild range horses in MetroGoldwyn-Mayer’s action-filled western, ‘‘The Rounders,” in which the two popular stars appear together for the first time. Sue Ane Langdon and Hope Holiday, as Las Vegas striptease artists, add to both the romantic interest and laughs in the Panavision and Metrocolor attraction, filmed on locations in Arizona. The Rounders Still 1825-15 Mat 1-B (ast Benvlonesis ee eee Glenn Ford Howdy lewisis eee Henry Fonda MOI csc. cos tease os eee aceneres Sue Ane Langdon Sis teres tegen eters Hope Holiday Nimmgedelioves<-tosexe eeeeee Chill Wills Vince:Moore: 2 2322202 t 8 Edgar Buchanan Agatha Moore -..---.-.--------Kathleen Freeman ING G MOONE) = osse 2s on ae mere nnce a= nasen= Joan Freeman Sy] Nee pe coe a ee A a eeepc Denver Pyle CUI tpee es no tees cece cases Barton MacLane TN LESSER NS et Be ee Doodles Weaver IMipseINORS ON 2. 25. anen soe oeccaee Allegra Varron Produced by Richard E. Lyons. Directed by Burt Kennedy. Screen Play by Burt Kennedy. From a novel by Max Evans. Music by Jeff Alexander. Director of Photography: Paul C. Vogel, A.S.C. In Panavision and Metrocolor. Art Direction: George W. Davis and Urie McCleary. Set Decoration: Henry Grace, Jack Mills. Film Editor: John McSweeney, A.C.E. Assistant Director: Al Jennings. Recording Supervisor: Franklin Milton. MakeUp Supervision: William Tuttle. Hair Styles by Sydney Guilaroff. Presented by MetroGoldwyn-Mayer. 4 penings dreamed up by Burt Kennedy who wrote the screen play and also directed, with Richard E, Lyons producing, The two horse wranglers, fed up with lonesome winters in the New Mexico hills, gathering stray cattle from the mountain range and gentling freshlybroken horses, dream of accumulating enough money to spend a life of ease under the palms of a tropical island. But fate keeps them under the bondage of rancher Jim Ed Love, who no sooner pays them off after a season’s work than manages to sign them on again after they have gone through their earnings via a few nights of high living in the town of Sedona. After a series of narrow escapes from annihilation in their attempt to bust “Ol’ Fooler,” they vow this time will be the last. Once they have garnered the year’s wages they are going to sell the roan to a glue factory and take off for Tahiti. But this is not to be. Instead, Ford and Fonda find themselves inextricably bound to the high-rearing horse which leads them from one adventure to another, including a memorable escapade with two uninhibited striptease artists from Las Vegas. The story’s rousing climax takes place at a Sedona rodeo complete with a colorful parade, bands and all the trimmings. And when in the course of tossing one rider after another into the sky, “Ol’ Fooler” himself is knocked out, it appears that the two cowpokes are finally rid of their nemesis whom by this time they grudgingly have begun to admire. Get rid of “Ol Fooler” ? That’s what they think! Wait until you see the end of this rib-tickling (or should we say rib-cracking) western. It’s sheer, uproarious deviltry. Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda, who rose to screen stardom together, co-star for the first time in “The Rounders,” and audiences will be asking for more. Although they are permitted to see quite a bit of the provocative striptease girls, enacted by Sue Ane Langdon and Hope Holiday, they’ll be wanting to see more of them, too, Others who add to the laughs are Chill Wills as the obsequious Mr. Love, Edgar Buchanan as a moonshining rancher, and Kathleen Freeman and Joan Freeman as his daughters who put a new twist into an old barn dance. As the background to the happy hijinks of “The Rounders” is the magnificent scenic country of Arizona’s beautiful Sedona and Flagstaff area, filmed in Panavision and color, It is an extra bonus to a movie which spells ENT ERTAINMENT from opening reel to final fadeout. THEY'RE KOOKY! When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer producer Richard E. Lyons began a search for two “kooky” actresses to play Las Vegas striptease artists opposite Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda in “The Rounders,” there was no shortage of applicants. However, Director Burt Kennedy, who wrote the screen play for the modern-day comedy-action Western, was looking for more than stereotype, gumchewing, blond bombshells. “We wanted comediennes,” he said, “not just hip-swingers and vamps.” Lyons remembered an off-beat girl who rated big laughs in “The Apartment” and “Irma La Douce.” She was Hope Holiday, a young stage comedienne whose motion picture career was also going into high gear. Eager to work with Ford and Fonda, Miss Holiday cancelled a projected tour and joined the cast of the movie. This left the role of her sister, “Mary,” still to be filled. Enter Sue Ane Langdon, who won national prominence when she replaced Audrey Meadows as Jackie Gleason’s honeymooner-wife. A quick demonstration of her Brooklyn accent and the role of “Mary” was filled. As Mary and Sister, Sue Ane and Hope bring both glamour and trouble into the lives of “rounders” Ford and Fonda. Case in point: a midnight swim in the State Fish Hatchery—au naturel. “There were 72,000 trout in that pond,” said Miss Holiday. “That’s 144,000 eyes!” added Miss Langdon. Together with their two rounder boy friends, the shivering girls spent two hours climbing in and out of the hatchery pond on the Arizona location. Discovered by the Game Warden, whose appearance sends the foursome scrambling for an old pickup truck, Sue Ane and Hope succeed in grabbing only their shoes, leaving more important articles of clothing behind. The next problem of smuggling the dancers into town—through a parade— in order to get them a more complete wardrobe makes bronc-busting look pretty easy to the two cowpokes. Needless to say, Hope Holiday and Sue Ane Langdon bring much added “color” to MGM’s “The Rounders”’— some of it turning up in the cheeks of Mr. Ford and Mr. Fonda. Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford team for the first time in “The 99 Rounders, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s hilarious modern-day western, in which they portray itinerant cowpokes hired to round up a string of wild range horses. Not only do they meet their match in a rambunctious roan named OV Fooler, but there are added complications when they encounter a pair of hitch-hiking Las Vegas striptease artists in the persons of Sue Ane Langdon and Hope Holiday. The action-filled comedy was filmed in Panavision and Technicolor on locations in Arizona. Still 1825-35 The Rounders Mat 2-D HITS THE AIR AND BITES THE DUST Henry Fonda takes to the clear Arizona air after a brief encounter with a bucking bronco in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s hilarious modern-day western, ‘‘The Rounders.”’ Glenn Ford plays his fellow cowpoke in the action-filled comedy of two itinerant ranch hands hired to round up a string of wild range horses. Adding to the hilarity are Sue Ane Langdon and Hope Holiday as hitch-hiking Las Vegas striptease artists. The picture was filmed in Panavision and Technicolor on locations in Arizona’s ruggedly beautiful Monument Valley. Still 1825-21 T R “THE ROUNDERS” :: The Rounders Mat 2-C Sioefonfonfoofeofeobenleclenfenfonfeeleeleelecenfoofeeleebeeleelefoefoeleeleeleeleloefonfoelseleelaslefoofoofeoleoleeleeefoofeolcoleeleeleoelets The year is 1935, The country, nearly recovered from the depression, hungers for entertainment. A handsome, young Canadian with the first name of Gwyllyn — soon to become Glenn — is trodding the boards with the West Coast of “The Children’s Hour.” On the opposite coast, another new company comer, a tall, lanky youth named Henry, overnight success in the Broadway play, “The Farmer Takes a Wife,” and is summoned to Hollywood to recreate his role in the motion picture version of the comedy hit. Thirty years have passed since Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda began careers on opposite sides of the United States SCOFeS: an CHANGE THAT NAME! The prospect of leaving several thousand dollars worth of lighting equipment for Metro-GoldwynMayer’s “The Rounders” outside the town of Sedona, Arizona, during the night with only a few guards worried producer Richard Lyons until it was suggested he consult the local sheriff, The latter assured Lyons that he and his men would personally check the valuable equipment several times each night during the movie location company’s stay in Sedona. After returning to the set, the producer realized he had failed to get the cooperative sheriff’s name. Pulling into a service station, he told the attendant of his quandary. “Sheriff’s name?”, the attendant grinned, “Will Steele.” WOULDN'T YOU KNOW Less than an hour after having been appointed a deputy of Coconimo County, Arizona, Henry Fonda found himself signing a $35 speeding ticket on the outskirts of Phoenix—Coconimo County. During location filming in Sedona, Arizona, Fonda and Glenn Ford, his co-star in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “The Rounders,” was made an official deputy at a dinner given by the Sedona Chamber of Commerce. He was still wearing the deputy badge when he was arrested by a fellow deputy ! oe that were to establish them as consistent box-office attractions throughout the world, For more than twenty of these years they have been close friends. Yet, they had never appeared together ina movie. Offers often were made, but either the scripts were not right or the timing found one or both unavailable. When producer Richard E. Lyons decided to make a modern-day, comedyaction western, “The Rounders,” for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he had two stars in mind. Knowing the problem of finding them both free and agreeable, he personally took director Burt Kennedy’s screen play to each. Fortified with persuasive speeches and even prepared to wait for their availability, the producer was relieved to hear nearly identical answers. “T like it... what does Hank think?” “Terrific... what does Glenn think ?” A brief meeting involving all concerned settled that and “The Rounders,” starring Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda, was on its way. The way was via Arizona back-country, with scenery that was made-toorder for these two popular outdoor stars, Three of Ford’s 15 western films had been photographed on the same rugged plains near Sedona. Fonda, with 10 westerns notched on his Hollywood guns, had visited the area in 1937 and came back loaded down with cameras and color film. How would Ford and Fonda work together ? This question was in the eyes of the location crew who stood behind the cameras and watched their first scene. The answer came in short order when Director Kennedy called “Cut and print.” Ford and Fonda were ideally teamed and there was no stopping these two pros. The month of location filming that followed continued to prove this fact scene by scene, day after day. The resultant film, rushed back to MGM daily, brought bravos from the studio. Producer Lyons began to search for another script to team Ford and Fonda. Whether Kennedy will write a sequel to his “Rounders” screen play, or whether Lyons finds another script, one thing is certain. Ford and Fonda aren’t going to wait another 30 years to appear together in a movie. “Tf necessary, we'll write our own story,’ says Glenn. “We've had too much fun to stop now,” affirms Hank.