AllMovie

Colorado Cowboy: The Bruce Ford Story follows rodeo legend Bruce Ford as he travels the road, spends quality time with his family, and rides bucking horses in search of what would be his sixth world rodeo title. Documentarian Arthur Elgort (Texas Tenor: The Illinois Jacquet Story) uses grainy, sepia-toned black- and-white footage to tell this contemporary story, although some of the older footage of Ford's riding, including clips of him winning his first title in 1979, is in color. Elgort interviews Ford and his family about what the man does for a living, and shows him in several competitions on his way to the finals. Ford says plainly, "It was born in me and bred in me to be a cowboy," and explains the oxymoronic essence of successful bareback bronco riding, which is to have "a wild, aggressive, out-of-control ride, yet be in control." His wife Susie states that she's more worried about her husband having an accident on a late night drive out on the road than she is about him getting hurt in the arena, where she knows he can handle himself. Ford's children, Royce and Courtney, are also shown competing in their budding rodeo careers.