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The Movie:
 I think, sadly,
that the time when young boys were overwhelmingly fascinated with
cowboys has come to an end. It's hard for me to imagine, in
today's day and age, that any youngster dreams of becoming a
cowboy when he has all these video games and superheroes and
various indoor activities to eat up his time. The lore of the
legendary cowboy has, unfortunately, passed. I remember a time,
however, when wanting to be a cowboy was just about the coolest
thing you could ever want to be. Riding horses, roping cattle,
and driving the range was all so macho. It was John Wayne. It was
Cowboys and Indians. And it was the roughest men of them all: the
Bull Riders.
As many times as I'd wished, as a kid, that I could move out West
and get a couple horses, I never really thought much about it as
I grew up. What was once a dream of my childhood soon became just
another nostalgic memory. That said, I grew to know very little
about the sport of Professional Bull Riding. In fact, I knew next
to nothing about the sport until I saw Adrenaline Cowboys:
Eight Seconds to Glory. For someone with barely any
knowledge of the sport, I have to say that the film definitely
succeeds in that it gives a good introduction to one of the
toughest, and most lethal, sports in the world. Not only does it
provide a nice primer for the uninitiated, but it also works to
spark a fair amount of interest in bull riding.
 Hosted by Bo
Derek, Adrenaline Cowboys follows rookie Mike Lee on his
rise from the challenger circuit up to the PBR World
Championship. While the film also takes a few others threads, by
following other riders and stories, Lee's is the most interesting
and exciting to watch. Only 18-years-old, the young rider seems
like just about the nicest guy you're likely to meet on the
ranch. That is, until he sits atop an enormous bull that wants
nothing more than to get him off its back. You can see the focus
and intensity of the sport right there in the eyes of one of its
youngest competitors. Writer/Director Steven Dieveney wisely
chooses to give Lee plenty of screen time and allows the
youngster to show just how important confidence is in a sport
like bull riding.
Although Lee is easily the best part of Adrenaline Cowboys,
the other riders that Dieveney chooses to follow also provide a
wide range of personalities that each personifies the life of the
cowboy in their own way. We see as Tuff Hedeman basically smashes
every bone in his face while riding on the baddest of the bulls -
Bodacious. We watch as two-time PBR Champion Adriano Moraes and
the hard-luck Mike White try to overcome injuries on the PBR Cup
Tour. And Dieveney shows the reverence and appreciation of fellow
riders, and fans alike, as Ty "The King of Cowboys"
Murray - who is coincidentally the boyfriend of singer Jewel -
decides it's finally time to hang up the spurs. Dieveney shows
not only the events that these cowboys participate in, but also
provides a glimpse into their home lives. He allows the viewer to
learn a little more about these men, thereby only ratcheting up
the tension as they risk their lives and mount the huge bulls.
 There are
certainly moments in Adrenaline Cowboys that feel
clichéd or stilted (especially those segments involving Host Bo
Derek), but for the most part, this is a richly engaging
documentary about a sport has seen a significant rise in interest
in the past few years. It provides an intimate look into the
lives of some of the toughest real cowboys you're ever likely to
find, and shows just what kind of family atmosphere surrounds a
sport that asks its participants to risk their lives every time
they compete. My childhood dreams of being a cowboy may now be
long gone, but watching Adrenaline Cowboys reminded of
the bravado and charm, of the cowboy lifestyle, that initially
made me wish I could ride a horse and rope some cattle. That
feeling alone is enough to make this film worth your time.
The DVD
Video:
 Adrenaline
Cowboys is presented in a letterboxed 1.66:1 format that,
even aside from the fact that it's non-anamorphic, has some major
issues. Many of the problems with this transfer may be the result
of poor source material, but some are just inexcusably
distracting. I didn't expect a perfect visual presentation for a
documentary such as this, but I also didn't expect to see
blooming colors, pixelation, motion artifacts, and a myriad of
other blemishes all over the film. Some of the film is
intentionally made to look like vintage, stock footage - complete
with scratches and spots - but it's clearly intentional when this
appears. I'm not sure what the excuse is for the rest of the film
looking so poorly. The opening sequences with Bo Derek are so
bright and shimmering that they are nearly unwatchable. Whites
bloom so badly that the rest of image actually looks washed out.
That's not to say, however, that this transfer is a complete
and utter mess. Some of the action scenes of the bull riders in
the arena look nice. They even appear to have a touch more detail
than the rest of the film. Sure, this isn't a visually stunning
film to begin with, but a better effort could have been made with
this transfer. The film is definitely watchable, but this sub-par
visual presentation becomes quite irritating at times.
Sound:
 The audio on
this disc is presented in a Dolby 2.0 stereo format that also has
its fair share of problematic areas. Dialogue is mostly clear and
concise throughout, though there is a low-level hiss that becomes
apparent several times during the film. The opening sequences
with Derek - the same sequences that look horrendous -
sound pretty horrible as well. Not only is her speech slightly
muffled for a portion of the segment, but also the overwhelming
sound of wind blowing is very distracting. This annoying ambient
sound makes another appearance later in the film as Kelly
Armstrong is driving his big-rig to an event. The soundtrack, for
the most part, is loud and well balanced with the rest of the
track. Even though I hated the actual soundtrack of the film, it
is presented fairly nicely on this audio track. Louder moments in
the film also become a bit muffled at times, and are sometimes
accompanied by a slight rumbling. Despite all these shortcomings,
this audio presentation succeeds in that it does exactly what it
needs to for a film like Adrenaline Cowboys. Dialogue is
always discernable (no matter how distractingly muffled) and, for
a documentary, that is paramount.
Extras:
There are only two short extra features on this disc. The first
is a very brief featurette on Mike White that
basically gives the viewer a few extra tidbits about the life of
Mike White. Some of this information is actually repeated from
the film, so there's little to be gained here. It would have been
nice if this feature had actually delved even more deeply into
the life of White.
Also included on this disc is another short featurette
that details the life of a cowboy. This feature (vaguely titled
"DVD Extras" on the Special Features menu) also
retreads some of the same ground covered in the film itself with
a little extra emphasis on what's important to leading the cowboy
lifestyle. What we have here is another feature that has the
potential to be very insightful, but ultimately ends up being too
brief and fleeting.
Final Thoughts:
Nearly everyone, undoubtedly, has seen those wacky sports
bloopers shows at one point in their life. It seems like every
installment has to have at least one clip of some poor bull rider
being thrown up in the air and gorged by a bull. For those
unfamiliar with the sport of Professional Bull Riding, these
clips (and the ever-present baseball-to-the-groin) are always a
source of hilarity. Watching a film like Adrenaline Cowboys,
however, will change your viewpoint on those clips forever. The
documentary not only shows the obvious risks of such a dangerous
sport, but also provides a glimpse into the lives and families of
the people who absolutely love risking their lives on
the back of a bull. Not only will you learn a lot about the sport
and its competitors, but you'll also never look at bull riding
the same way again. With such a sub-par audio-visual
presentation, and the lack of any very significant extra
features, I was tempted to tell you to skip this disc. The power
of the film itself, nevertheless, is what makes this disc worth
at least a rental. |
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