J.W, Coop is an early 1970s blend of bitter-sweet drama and contemporary western. It regards the titled character, an all-in-denim blue cowboy who gets released after nearly ten years inside, to retake up his rodeo career- the film mixes in road movie elements, as well as fairly extensive real rodeo footage. Here from Imprint is a bare-bones Blu-ray release of the film.

J.W. Coop is from 1971- it started, directed, and co-written by LA-born Cliff Robertson, who had an impressive one hundred and seventeen acting credits to his name- these went from roles in political thriller Three Days Of The Condor (1974), and playing Uncle Ben in Sam Raimi’s three Spider-Man films.

The film rolls in at a few minutes shy of the two-hour mark. It has a decidedly episodic, at times wandering quality, with our just out of the slammer meeting a selection of characters, who more often than not appear, then disappear with little explanation.

We kick off with footage of J W riding a bucking horse in a prison-connected rodeo, then the teethy smile and sleeked back hair prison warden saying goodbye to him at the slammer's gates, where he was forced to stay an extra two weeks to take part in said rodeo.

He then heads back to his parents' overgrown house, where just his mother( who looks around his age) is suffering from the onset of early dementia.  He hangs around his hometown for a bit, then next we see he’s on the road, where he has a series of largely brief encounters- there’s a twitching cop who stops him for a smoking exsoiste, two separate lifts from two rather dull road users, a black American rodeo rider and a bunch of rednecks, beer spurting & food fight cowboys, a man on a speed boat,  and unexplained shots of our lead flying a plane.

The other lead/ frankly unbelievable romantic pairing is younger hippy Bean( Cristina Ferrare), who hooks up with J W, while hitchhiking. She is fine in the role, though at points comes off somewhat flat/ vacant.  Robertson's acting is also somewhat mixed, as he shifts between meant to be moody, but comes across bland, to effectively emotional and nuanced, but truly, from scene to scene, you don’t know what you're going to get.

The real rodeo footage is shot in a gritty/on-the-guff manner, moving between close-up riding on the back of a bucking horse or cow, dust rising and hoof battering slightly distant shots, and getting ready at the gates tension.

At the beginning of J W Coop showed real promise as the cowboy returns home to try & deal with his mother's issues in her overgrown house, but like much of the film, it pushes forward, before properly resolving what it’s started.

Surprisingly for an Imprint release, this is an extremely bare bones affair with just the film itself. The film has been given a 1080p HD scan- it looks fine and clean for most of the picture, with decent colour clarity- it’s only later in the film we get some print damage.

 I really wanted to like J.W. Coop more than I did, as there are memorable/ effective scenes/ moments within its length, but unfortunately, the whole thing is too episodic, with the acting shifting between emotionally effective & somewhat flat. I’d say if the idea of a loosely wandering ’70s drama and rodeo documentary appeals, then give this a go.