kimbistrups This movie is a rather quaint combination of a very thin plot idea stretched way too far and the seldomly successful occurrence of the writer, the producer, the director and one of the main characters being the same person, in this case Gregory Christian. Now sometimes people get away with doing that, but through watching "Cowboy Junction" I think it is obvious that Gregory Christian would have more than just a hard time getting the opportunity to do any of those four jobs in anything but a very low budgeted indie for the simple reason that he does not show mentionable talent in any of the four fields of work! To be fair Gregory Christian was not the only bad thing that happened to this movie (all though he happened a lot) the other two principal actors are not much better although James Michael Bobby compensates greatly for lack of acting skills by his very good looks and sexy/charming smile! The plot in it self is so thin that it didn't take too long to figure out the "big secret" that "turns out" to be pivotal to the plot towards the end! Another disappointment to me was that the sex scenes weren't even that good for a movie that tries to play the sexual notes. I would actually go as far as to say that the best thing about this movie was the music, and the music wasn't even that good!!!

Arthur vos Savant As with Streetcar Named Desire, I've seen this twice now, and still can't say I'd recommend it, except for James Michael Bobby (the Cowboy) as its seductive, off-kilter Blanche Dubois. Whether he's pursuing his fate by lolling, cavorting, or chopping wood in desert heat, the Cowboy is an odd, heartfelt portrayal of a tender, lost boy on the edge of crazy, especially in scenes with Elyse Mirto as the crazy, lost Mrs. who's still tender, despite being crazed by Gregory Christian as her manipulative, cowardly, deceitful Hubby (imagine Jeff Goldblum without charm).Still, the second time I watched it I rewound the last 5 minutes and finally figured out that this is a fairy tale right from the opening scene, where a hustler lets us know that money can't buy him. Since the entire show could be put on under a big tree in the back yard, the words matter most here, so that the performances have characters to inhabit in telling their story. But the story settles for the tinsel of a fairy tale rather than their timeless truths, sometimes dark, that make the great ones memorable.Dialogue develops the role of the Mrs. as a woman who's been cruelly convinced it's her fault she's been denied even affection for the last year, doing her best to set things right. Her fantasy is that things ever were. The script is good in showing that Hubby, who calls her a bitch at her least expression of frustration, does so as a cruel excuse for his stunted humanity. Hubby's fantasy is that he can stuff married respectability down his wife's throat and still have a piece of its expected decency to tempt the Cowboy. But rather than tempt, taunt, and twist, as Hubby is clearly born to do, he's rushed by the author's fantasy into surrendering to the Cowboy, who's wish for a fateful, fairy tale romance is at least granted in a fairy tale's traditional trickster manner.Too bad this surrender to tinsel rather than truth slams the door on the potential dynamics for tragic tension, leaving a melodrama limply collapsed like the deflated bosom of a disheveled belle in a dim parlor, teasing her damp wrist with a letter opener.

mmenke-1 This film is set in a surreal landscape where hustlers sell themselves in a desert wasteland and an estranged straight couple keep a houseboy in a cramped and garish L.A. tract house. Perhaps these sparse locales were originally chosen due to budget constraints, but nonetheless, they serve to deliver the viewer from mundane normalcy into a Lynchian dreamworld of subconscious emotion and symbolism.Though the plot is vague and the characterizations sketchy (probably intentionally so) the strength of the film is the passionate and confused erotic and emotional intensity that is maintained throughout.The two final scenes (climax and denouement) are surprising but also come off as forced and gimmicky. In my opinion a preferable ending is the one shown in the 'deleted scene' section of the DVD.

NormaDesmond69 Just rented this from the store, and I didn't really know what to expect...I don't really rent these "independent" pictures. But I was putting on my spurs and getting ready to water the flowers by the end. It was an impressively gripping and moving "classic melodrama", with acting turns that you just wouldn't expect from the genre! The impression that I got was that it was going to capitalize on Brokeback Mountain, but the plot and narrative were fresh and focused: The story of husband and wife at odds with nature (and earthly temptation) had me engaged and moved. Gregory Christian was a strong and commanding lead (a real man), and I really felt sorry for the faithful wife (Elyse Mirto). The Cowboy (James Michael Bobby) was impish at best, but I feel he did not pull his weight in what was otherwise a stellar ensemble. He would have been more believable were his accent sustained through the scenes. The production was handsomely tailored to the budget, making it a classy parlor room suspense thriller that delivered with effective directing and cutting dialogue. A shot out of the corral for all orientations, Cowboy Junction is a must!