After starting with a bit of a joke title with The Perfect Husband, I let my wife pick one of her DVDs this month, and she went with 8 Seconds, the true story of professional bull rider Lane Frost. I’m not sure how popular this movie is on a broad scale, but this was a very common DVD to see in anyone’s collection around here. We don’t live in rodeo country here in southern Indiana, but there’s enough country culture to make this a popular movie. Despite its popularity, it has been at least twenty years since I last watched this one.
SPOILERS ahead.
No Adrians Here
8 Seconds is directed by John G. Avildsen, most known for directing Rocky and…Rocky V. This is only notable because both the Rocky series and 8 Seconds involve someone trying to make it in a dangerous sport. With the Rocky series, it became a common aspect for every film to have Adrian try to get Rocky to quit. She would either make idle conversation about Rocky getting hurt, or she would drop the facade and flat out tell him he was going to lose or die in the ring. She was a real buzzkill for the franchise because the audience didn’t watch these movies to see a monosyllabic Stallone contemplate the dangers of his career; they were watching to see nonstop haymakers to the head.
8 Seconds, thankfully, has no Adrian. Lane is encouraged to keep at it with the bull riding throughout the movie. At one point his wife does get angry with him for setting up a series of rides against an “unrideable” bull, Red Rock. But she’s just mad that he isn’t home very much; she doesn't seem all that concerned for his safety.
Everyone in the film, including Lane’s parents, just accept that this is what he does. Yes, it’s dangerous, but he’s one of the best at it. Who are they to try to keep him from bull riding? Even when Lane takes a hoof to the balls (more on that later) and questions his future as a bull rider, his buddy Tuff (a perfectly dickish Stephen Baldwin, even with the exaggerated accent) literally calls him a “puss” for even thinking about it and tells him to “cowboy up.” In between the “puss” and “cowboy up” he makes a point about Lane wasting his talent for safety. Yes, he might live to be a hundred if he quits, but he wouldn’t be special. And even though Lane does end up dying from bull riding, no one feels regret about it. Hell, Tuff uses it as motivation to become an even better bull rider.
This makes a movie that could be a complete downer much more enjoyable. Everyone knows bull riding is dangerous, and even with the main character dying, no one wants to watch a bull riding movie if it involves someone being told to stop bull riding the whole time. And as for Rocky, some of those sequels would be a lot more enjoyable if Adrian would just keep her mouth shut.
This Movie Humbled Me, Testicularly Speaking
When my wife and I started to watch 8 Seconds, I didn’t think I would find much to identify with. I’m not exactly a country boy (writing a movie blog mostly for fun for over a decade might have already tipped you off in that regard), so I was just looking forward to a straightforward bull riding movie. Then Luke Perry took a hoof to the balls.
A day earlier, we took our kids to Holiday World, a local theme park. Our kids are too little to ride some of the rides by themselves, so my wife or I have to step in and ride with them. I had the honor of riding with my kids on Reindeer Games (not based on the Ben Affleck movie, by the way), a mini-tower ride that vaults you up and down. The problem with this ride is the seat which basically has a saddle pommel you have to navigate over to sit down.
Full disclosure, I’m too big to be on this ride to begin with, and I’ve had issues with this stupid pommel before. But it was just discomfort. This time, however, I smashed a testicle on the pommel as I sat down and spent the whole ride trying not to vomit. As I limped away from the ride, I had to sit down for a while. I told my wife that I should have skipped the vasectomy I had earlier in the year and just rode this stupid fucking ride a few times. (No joke, the pain from getting on Reindeer Games dwarfed any discomfort I had from my vasectomy.)
I was able to walk it off, but it was easily the most pain I had ever experienced in that…area. Cut to the next night and I see that hoof come down. If I didn’t already feel like a real “puss” from being injured by a kids’ ride, then 8 Seconds hammered the point home harder than a bull hoof to the balls. Typically, I wouldn’t want to share such an embarrassing story about myself here, but I couldn’t help pointing out the weird way I identified with this movie.
My Wife’s Thoughts on 8 Seconds
We didn’t get into too deep a conversation about this movie once it was over, mainly because this is simply a good biopic. I was surprised by how warts and all it was concerning Lane and Kellie’s marriage, but overall it was a solid, standard biopic. My wife did point out that they did a good job of making you feel for every character. This might be Lane’s story, but there is a good amount of character development for all involved. Kellie Frost gets plenty of scenes showing what life is like for her as Lane gets more popular and spends more time on the road. Lane’s parents get some moments, especially his father who had regrets about whether or not Lane knew he was proud of him. And Lane’s friends, especially Tuff, evolve from one-dimensional shit-talking buddies into full characters.
Random Thoughts
James Rebhorn was born to play a dad.
Stephen Baldwin as a cowboy is hilarious.
But it's perfect casting since he's a dick.
This movie had Whataburger in it before it was cool.
The amount of ADR during the car rides is crazy. There are multiple scenes of just a car driving down the road, and then the guys start giving exposition that was clearly recorded later. You can get by with this once, but the movie uses this to the point that it was distracting for me.
“And Renee Zellweger as a Buckle Bunny.”
Fun fact: I might be the movie guy, but my wife is so much better than me at spotting actors in small roles, like Zellweger in this. But it has to be an actor she knows, usually from some ‘90s kids movie or something. In other areas, she can be way off. For instance, she thought Alfred (Andy Serkis) in The Batman was “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, who’s been dead since 2015.
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