THE ROUNDERS amiably trotted out of 1965’s comedy-packed corral, a modern day cowboy lark written & directed by western pro Burt Kennedy. ‘Bucked’ is more apt than trotted, since the easygoing pokes played by genre vets Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda spend much of the 85 minute lollygag trying to tame an ornery roan that plumb refuses to be rode. Bring on that sour mash moonshine! And if a couple of Vegas strippers need a lift, well, the West is still The West and a man’s gotta do his due.

BEN: “It comes to me that we ain’t  the smartest cowboys ever lived.”  HOWDY: “You could say that.”

Career cowboys ‘Ben’ (Ford, 48) and ‘Howdy’ (Fonda, 59) are aces at breakin’ broncs, roundin’ up steers and ridin’ in rodeos, but they’re boneheads when it comes to saving money, settling down and doing more than dreaming about life beyond a battered pickup, squeaky bunks and spare jugs of eye-crossing hooch. They repeatedly get hornswoggled by ‘Jim Ed Love’ (Chill Wills), a folksy b.s. spreader. Vainly trying to tame Jim Ed’s horse-from-Hades, they get some relief visiting ‘Vince Moore’ (Edgar Buchanan) and his daughters ‘Meg’ (Joan Freeman, 23) and ‘Agatha’ (Kathleen Freeman, 45), nice gals sweet on Ben & Howdy. And heck, Vince’s home-brewed Who-hit-John? is too good to be legal.  Further temptation is around the next curve bend, in the Heaven-formed forms of ‘Mary’ (Sue Ane Langdon, 28) and ‘Sister’ (Hope Holiday, 34) a pair of ‘exotic dancers’ whose dim grasp of reality is exceeded only by their aim to please.

Missed Misses: Holiday and Langdon

Plot, who needs one? Ambiance is the taste tester in this one, keyed by the reassuring familiarity of the iconic stars, the clean-air Arizona locations (in & around Sedona—years before it became a mystical money-making ‘thing’—and the beguiling Coconino Natl. Forest) and thru the delightful supporting performances. Granted, the earthy/cornball ‘hick’ humor may give ‘serious’ critics 3rd-degree burns, and today’s over-enlightened thin skinners risk re-rending septums over the dated sex-tease material. Tsk away, guardians of the phallusy.

Kindred but not kin Freeman’s: Joan and Kathleen

Not breaking a sweat, Glenn & Hank glide thru the tissue-thin vacation from seriousness, gracefully leaving the choice cuts to their castmates. First off, the Freeman’s, unrelated except for charm: peaches-pretty Joan and ever-dependable Kathleen. Their down-home welcomers contrast with the va-voom escapadettes of Langdon (a total fave) and Holiday, perfectly self-aware as the hapless bimbos who get heroes Ben & Howdy to instantly surrender before anyone thinks, let mentions, negotiating. The whole ‘dumb blonde’ trope demands precise tightrope wobbling between endearing and insulting; sunny Langdon and moon-shot Holiday cheerlead for the A-team.

But the real blue ribbon champs at line milking and scene swiping are Edgar Buchanan and Chill Wills, pulling the slyest laughs and vessels of comic truth from their characters. Buchanan, 61, was in midst of a seven-year run on TVs Petticoat Junction; this was the 11th time he’d worked with Ford. He could get as much honesty growling “Like hell” as bigger stars could wrench from a soliloquy of existential gnashing. When it came to poning corn, Wills, 62, had few equals. In flicks since the early 30’s, he’d drawled up goofy fame in the 50’s voicing ‘Francis’, the Talking Mule in that comedy string. Playing Texas-broad added flavor to Santiago, Giant, The Alamo and McClintock! but his honey-speading conniver Jim Ed Love from The Rounders bids unfair be his edgiest sharpie. Did a passel of budding Holy-Joe’s see this at drive-in’s and feel ‘the call’?

Trying to decide whether to tell curious kid the location of Petticoat Junction or just let him find out on his own

First unceremoniously dumped by myopic MGM so-sniffticates onto a double-bill (with Get Yourself A College Girl, yet) it gradually found favor in rural playdates, turning into a happy camping sleeper, $3,900,000 worth, 69th in ’65.

Jeff Alexander chimes in with an Americana-ish score, complete with cartoon’y cues for the critter characters. Wander-in mosey’s come from Warren Oates, Denver Pyle, Barton MacLane, Doodles Weaver, Chuck Roberson and a 1949 Dodge B100—red beneath the dust, beat-to-death and too damn tough to die.

Ya oughta know by now that saloons ain’t just fer drinkin’

* Laurel resting in 1965—Fonda was picking up paychecks from Battle Of The Bulge, In Harm’s Way and The Dirty Game. Ford and director Kennedy immediately followed up with The Money Trap.

The shame. Almost too much to…bare

Fillies? FILLIES! Ye who are without sin cast the first woke.