COLORADO COWBOY: THE BRUCE FORD STORY

He changes his gloves every 50 horses, his riggings every 125. He sings. And he likes wearing fringed chaps for the way they flay in the air. Yes, there are still real cowboys, and the rangy, soft-spoken Bruce Ford could have ridden in straight from the pages of “The Virginian.” Considered one of the top 15 professional cowboys in the world, the unpretentious 39 year-old najes a living by touring the rodeo circuit and tutoring tenderfeet in horsemanship basics. This admiring, yet down-to-earth dicumentary portrait, photographed in rich sepia hues reminiscent of a Fredric Remington etching, follows Ford from contest to contest, under the wide skies of the West to Madison Square Garden, where he fights to stay atop 1,200 lbs of furiously bucking bronco to take home purses ranging from $400 to $50,000. But something more than money motivates Bruce Ford, and the viewer gets to know the man as husband, father, Christian, and living embodiment of a unique part of the American spirit, in a film that is suitable for cowboys and cowgirls of all ages.