DRUM RUNNIN' FOOL

There's an honest dusty sweat to this story of rodeo riding--Alverson's been there and back--with its breakneck lure for the ""brass ring"" some reach for. Like Anna Norman aboard her Jeep Honeycutt, the ""helluva barrel horse"" she's wanted from the time he was born and now is given by its owner--a sick man. With gentle patience they become a team, although Anna learns that ""T'aint just a matter of riding either. It's a matter of living."" The latter includes leaving her husband and youngster behind as she goes on the circuit, putting her whole life into one word--champion, spending miserable, lonesome, insomnia-ridden nights from town to town, and then almost losing Jeep. A fast track all the way, barely a sentimental nicker until the end, and a hellbent young woman who learns the hard way not to give up easy. A nice combo for sure.