RIDE
(director/writer: Jake Allyn; screenwriter: Josh Plasse; cinematographer: Keith J. Leman; editor: Owen Jackson; music: Those Who Ride With Giants; cast: C. Thomas Howell (John Hawkins), Annabeth Gish (Monica Hawkins), Jake Allyn (Peter), Josh Plasse (Noah Hawkins), Forrie J. Smith (Al, grandpa), Laci Kaye Booth (Libby), Zia Carlock (Virginia Hawkins), Scott Reeves (Deputy Sheriff Ross Dickons), Patrick Murney (Tyler), Liz Atwater (Ana); Runtime: 114; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Conor Allyn, Jake Allyn, Rob Allyn, Don Lepore, Josh Plasse, Keith J. Leman; A Well Go USA; 2024)
“Even if its rodeo scenes are excellently filmed, its preachy story is strained.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Jake Allyn is a former actor directing for the first time a feature film, a murky crime drama, where he’s also the co-star and co-writer with Josh Plasse.
It’s well-acted by the veteran thespian C. Thomas Howell, playing the emotionally challenged patriarch. But its mushy modern-day neo-noir Western on a third generation bull riding family is just soap opera-lite. It, however, captures the desperate cowboy scene in the rural small-town of Stephenville, Texas (who because of its central location for rodeos, is recognized as America’s “Cowboy Capital”).
But even if its rodeo scenes are excellently filmed, its preachy story is strained.
The drama centers around the Hawkins family, a troubled Texas rodeo family, who are hit with hard times over big medical expenses.
The 20something, ex-con, alcoholic, drug addict, Peter Hawkins (Jake Allyn), the problem son, returns home after released from prison (serving a 4-year sentence for an undefined crime, which is explained later on), to be bull riding for a chance to again buy drugs from the smarmy drug-dealer Tyler (Patrick Murney) he dealt with before–promising to pay him from his winnings.
Meanwhile Peter’s hard-pressed, rancher father, John Hawkins (C. Thomas Howell), and his estranged sheriff wife Monica (Annabeth Gish), want no part of him. It’s only his grandfather (Forrie J. Smith) who takes him home from prison and makes him feel part of the family.
John tries to find ways to pay for the expensive $160,000 cancer treatments for his hospitalized at a Dallas oncology center, 11-year-old daughter, Virginia (Zia Carlock). He sells off the cattle on his ranch and is willing to do anything he can to save her.
Ross Dickens (Scott Reeves), the pushy Deputy Sheriff, believes something is wrong when Virginia’s medical bill is suddenly paid. Suspicions about recent robberies in town has the teenager Noah (Josh Plasse, co-writer), who would do anything to help his sister, become a suspect.
The film is billed as a character study of ordinary cowboys faced with tough decisions. Its pearls of wisdom message delivered throughout the film is that real life is like bull riding, trying to survive it as long as possible before falling off and then getting up with dignity and acting as if a winner.
The pic’s best message is in its realistic take that the American Health Care system has failed to properly serve the public because of its high costs.
It played at the Dallas International Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 6/28/2024 GRADE: B-