Bull Busters: The All-Stars of Rodeo (2000)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Starring Bob Tallman, Ty Murray, Tuff Hedeman, and Terry Don West

Features:

• Helmet Cam
  
• Hard Luck Awards
  
• Bodacious, the World's Most Dangerous Bull
  

Rating: NR

Anamorphic: N/A

My Advice: Skip it unless you're a die-hard rodeo fan, or curious about what it is

Bull Busters presents highlights of the rodeo sport of bull-busting--a sport where grown men choose to get on the backs of resistant bulls and see who can stay on the longest before they are thrown, gored, trampled, etc. The disc presents ride after ride, some more successful than others, and includes a selection of truly, phenomenally bad rides, as well as some rides considered successful in the sport.

I know nothing whatever of rodeo and cannot tell you if the chosen riders are famous in their field and therefore well-chosen or not. What I can tell you is that they seem quite competent to me, and that bull Bodacious seems, well, bodacious, as well as beautiful.

As an animal rights activist, I was horrified beginning this disc. I don’t think it’s exactly kosher to demonstrate one’s manhood by “subduing” another creature. The men here have a choice about being there in that dangerous place, but the bulls, of course, do not. What happened to celebrating our humanity by displaying our intelligence, our compassion, or our other higher functions, instead of just being brutes? I was, however, rather interested--I would not say charmed--in spite of myself. It does, quite obviously, take a large measure of dedication to excel at such a demanding, if brief, sport. They’re certainly braver than hunters who shoot their prey from a distance; these men get up close and personal with their quarry. Perhaps the word “courage” is not quite as appropriate as “insanity,” but these riders surely have some kind of mental fiber, enabling them to face these dangers by choice.

The extras on this disk are quite nice. It’s fun, if alarming, to see the bloopers, known as the “Hard-Luck Awards.” It’s kind of an interesting study in male psychology, watching these men have to eat their egos on national television. The helmet cam was very cool, also--it’s a nice way to see the bulls from the point of view of the riders and get a feel for how very long those eight seconds (at most) can feel. I would have loved to learn more about those rodeo clowns, actually--they’re the ones who aren’t out there to prove their superiority over a fellow creature, but have to face even more danger than the bulls. A glossary or brief rodeo primer would have been nice for those viewers like myself who have little context for what they’re seeing, but given that this disc was produced for current fans, that kind of educational information might have been deemed unnecessary.

All in all, Bull Busters seems to do a good job of presenting some exciting rodeo moments and doesn’t neglect to say a bit about the bulls in the process. You won’t learn a great deal about the sport, but it’s probably safe to say that you won’t pick this disc up unless you’re already a fan.