''Cowboy Up'' (also known as ''Ring of Fire'') is a 2001 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Xavier Koller Xavier Koller (born 1944, Schwyz, Switzerland) is a Swiss film director and screenwriter. He is most known for his work on the Disney live action film '' Squanto: A Warrior's Tale'', an adventure historical fiction film based on the life of Squa ...

. It stars

Kiefer Sutherland Kiefer William Sutherland (born 21 December 1966) is a British-Canadian actor and musician. He is best known for his starring role as Jack Bauer in the Fox drama series '' 24'' (2001–2010, 2014), for which he won an Emmy Award, a Golden Glo ...

, Marcus Thomas,

Molly Ringwald Molly Kathleen Ringwald (born February 18, 1968) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. She was cast in her first major role as Molly in the NBC sitcom '' The Facts of Life'' (1979–80) after a casting director saw her playing an or ...

, and

Daryl Hannah Daryl Christine Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is an American actress and environmental activist. She made her screen debut in Brian De Palma's supernatural horror film '' The Fury'' (1978). She has starred in various movies across the years, i ...

. It won the Crystal Heart Award at the 2001

Heartland Film Festival The Heartland International Film Festival is a film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana. The festival was first held in 1992, its goal is to "inspire filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion pictu ...

Plot

Rising rodeo star Ely Braxton ( Marcus Thomas) is recovering from injuries that almost took his life. Against the wishes of his mother Rose Braxton (

Melinda Dillon Melinda Dillon (born October 13, 1939) is a retired American actress. She received a 1963 Tony Award nomination for her Broadway debut in the original production of ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'', and she was nominated for the Academy Award ...

) and girlfriend Connie (

), Ely starts riding bulls again to achieve his dream of becoming a champion bull rider like his estranged father, Reid Braxton (

Pete Postlethwaite Peter William Postlethwaite, (7 February 1946 – 2 January 2011) was an English character actor. After minor television appearances, including in '' The Professionals'', his first major success arose through the British autobiographical film ...

). Ely's older brother, Hank (

), is a champion

bullfighter A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activit ...

and stock contractor, and the two use each other to better their rodeo skills and work together at their family ranch in

Santa Maria, California Santa Maria (Spanish language, Spanish for "Mary, mother of Jesus, St. Mary") is a city near the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California in northern Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara County. It is approximately no ...

. As Ely's rodeo career becomes highly successful, he starts a relationship with Celia Jones (

), who is a barrel racer and Hank's love interest. Hank is consumed with anger and jealousy at Ely's betrayal and the brothers become estranged. At the championship rodeo in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, Ely, having ended his relationship with Celia, draws Hank's unridden and greatly feared bull Zapata and asks for Hank's help. Hank tells Ely to let go of the past memories he has been carrying around his entire life, and gives Ely the address of their father's house in Las Vegas. Ely meets his father, but his father does not recognize Ely and thinks he is a rodeo reporter, but Ely says he is just a bull rider. Ely realizes his father is not the hero he has idolized. Ely successfully rides Zapata, but is injured; in the process, Hank rushes to save Ely from Zapata, but is killed when Zapata crushes his chest. When the Braxton ranch hand and family friend Joe (

Russell Means Russell Charles Means (November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012) was an Oglala Lakota activist for the rights of Native Americans, libertarian political activist, actor, musician, and writer. He became a prominent member of the American Ind ...

) brings Zapata back to the Braxton ranch, Rose grabs a shotgun and almost shoots Zapata in her grief over Hank's death, but Joe and Ely talk her down. They say they will shoot Zapata, but Ely remembers Hank's pride in the bull and shoots into the air as Zapata calmly walks into the pasture. Joe tells Ely that Hank would not have shot Zapata.

Cast

as Hank Braxton * Marcus Thomas as Ely Braxton *

as Celia Jones *

as Rose Braxton *

as Connie *

as Joe *

Anthony Lucero Anthony Lucero (born November 1, 1967) is an American poet. He is also known for his work as a screenwriter, director, actor, producer and journalist. He is the founder and co-creator of the circus outreach organization, Circus Remedy. Career ...

as Jed *

Bo Hopkins William Mauldin "Bo" Hopkins (February 2, 1938 – May 28, 2022) Issucover/ref> was an American actor. He was known for playing supporting roles in a number of major studio films between 1969 and 1979, and appeared in many television shows and ...

as Ray Drupp *

as Reid Braxton, Hank's estranged father * Donnie Gay as himself *Pam Minick as herself

Production

The film was shot in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

and

previously co-starred in ''

The Last Days of Frankie the Fly ''The Last Days of Frankie the Fly'' is a 1996 crime film directed by Peter Markle, written by Dayton Callie and starring Dennis Hopper, Michael Madsen, Kiefer Sutherland, and Daryl Hannah. Plot Frankie ( Dennis Hopper) is a leg man for the m ...

'' (1997). Parts of the film were also shot at the Santa Maria Fairpark, home of the Santa Barbara County Fair, and in surrounding communities.

References

External links

* * {{Xavier Koller 2001 films American Western (genre) films 2001 Western (genre) films Films shot in the Las Vegas Valley Films shot in California Neo-Western films Rodeo in film Films scored by Daniel Licht 2001 drama films Films directed by Xavier Koller 2000s English-language films 2000s American films