GOLDENROD

The Erich Segal genre of the masculine maudlin marches west in this tale of a has-been rodeo hero's comeback as rancher and family man. At 35 Jesse's washed up: the horse that broke his pelvis broke his spirit and put him out of the rodeo action; his wife's run off with a stud, leaving him to care for their two sons, who regard him with anger and disappointment as he founders in self-pity and fails even at suicide. It's the boys who find the ranch they've all dreamed of, trick Jesse back into the saddle to win the purchase price of the ranch and reclamation of his manhood vis-a-vis the errant Shirley. The foregone conclusion is held off for a run of wooden theatrics.