Ride

Writer-director Jake Allyn makes his directorial debut with “Ride,” a serious crime drama that pivots around a small-town Texas family of bull riders.

Stephenville, Texas, is known as America’s “Cowboy Capital,” because of its central location for rodeo participants. That’s where rugged John Hawkins (C. Thomas Howell, looking much older than his 57 years) is desperately trying to raise money for his 11 year-old daughter’s cancer treatments.

For three generations, the Hawkins family has excelled in the dangerous sport of bull riding. To compete, each participant mounts a bull that’s in a confined pen known as the chute. When the gate opens, the bull is let out into the arena, where it kicks, spins and attempts to dislodge Rider from its back.

Wearing chaps, boots and gloves, the rider grasps a thick rope, attempting to remain on the bucking bull for eight seconds. Scoring depends on time and on how much control and harmony with the bull that the rider demonstrates. While cinematographer Keith J. Leman captures this, it’s not explained in the narrative.

Instead, the convoluted saga begins as John picks up his wayward elder son Peter (Jake Allyn) after a four-year prison sentence. Peter’s eager to score drugs from thuggish Tyler (Patrick Murney), promising to pay with his upcoming bull riding winnings.

Meanwhile, stoic John and his estranged wife Monica (Annabeth Gish), who serves as local sheriff, are desperate to get ailing Virginia (Zia Carlock) admitted to a specialized oncology center — no matter what it takes.

But Monica’s deputy Ross Dickens (Scott Reeves) becomes suspicious when Virginia’s medical bill is mysteriously paid, and the Hawkins’ younger son, teenage Noah (co-scripter Josh Plasse), is determined to help his family.

“Bull riding is the only sport that you always lose,” Jake Allyn concludes. “The bull always bucks you off eventually. It’s just a matter of how long you stay on and how many times you get back up. The same is true in life, and that’s what this movie reflects.”