Bullpen

By JAY COCKS

THE HONKERS

Directed by STEVE IHNAT Screenplay by STEVE IHNAT and STEPHEN LODGE

As The Honkers started its run in theaters round the country, Director Steve Ihnat died of a heart attack at the age of 37. Under other circumstances the movie might have been called promising. Instead, it becomes a legacy.

"Honker" is rodeo slang that freely translates either as "dangerous bull" (the animal, not the conversational variety) or as a particularly accommodating woman. Examples of each species are at large in The Honkers, and they cause no end of mischief. Whether of the two-or four-legged variety, they have a habit of throwing the feckless hero, Lew Lathrop (James Coburn), into a ringtail loop.

Lathrop enjoys modest fame in his occupation, which is rodeo riding, and immoderate success in his preoccupation, which is women. But his lust and insistent refusal to settle down prove his undoing. He loses his much abused wife (Lois Nettleton) and teen-age son just when he comes to realize he needs them both. He wrassles unsuccessfully with guilt when his best buddy, Clete (Slim Pickens), a rodeo clown who keeps an avuncular eye on Lew, gets his neck broken for his trouble. When last seen, Lew is wandering off over yonder hill, saddle over his shoulder, sadder but prob ably not much wiser.

This is a first feature for former Character Actor Steve Ihnat (remember the drunken Texan who beat up Mar lon Brando in The Chase'?). Ihnat bears partial responsibility for writing this lackluster plot, although as a director he fares a good deal better. Unlike most fledgling film makers, Ihnat has an uninsistent and subtle style. He can catch the fleeting mood of a scene in a few shots, most impressively in a terse, brutal barroom brawl, and he has a good eye for local color. A ro deo parade down the main street of Carlsbad, N. Mex., is rendered faith fully and affectionately, complete with floats, officials waving smugly, three different kinds of bands (country, Mexican, rock) and a farmer's pickup truck bearing the admonition "Buy U.S.-Made Products." Throughout, the photography (by Tom Rolf) is excel lent, capturing the bleached and blinding light of the Southwest. James Coburn seems to be relaxing and growing as an actor. Charming and bemused in The Carey Treatment (TIME, April 24), he is effectively ornery here. The rest of the cast fit snugly into their roles, too, with the exception of Anne Archer, who looks more like a Coppertone suntan model than the Indian girl friend of Coburn's she is supposed to portray. . Jay Cocks

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.