Cowboy Up

Ladies and gentlemen...

Ely Braxton!

What you are about to see is

ro-de-o history!

-Hey, Joe. -How's Ely?

He's good.

-Hey, how you doing? -Hey, Joe.

Did I leave the prescription?

Just like a wedding night.

Not my wedding night.

Here it is.

Let's get some coffee brewing.

There.

-There you go. -Watch the leg.

Now's the best time for us to get him thinking, while he's got the pain.

He's not gonna listen to no doctor, and he's not gonna listen to me.

That makes two of us.

Check it out, son! It don't get better than this.

You know, it's funny.

It could've been anything, from what I hear.

Football, baseball, wrestling.

You just chose bull riding, is all.

Could've chose anything.

You still can, you know.

No.

Choosing time's come and gone.

Well, maybe for riding bulls or baseball,

but there's all sorts of other things to look forward to,

all kinds of other choices to make.

Never chose bull riding, Connie.

It just sort of chose me.

That might make it easier to let it go then.

-Don't you think? -It might.

We'll see.

I don't think there's any other way to see it.

Are you two okay?

The doctor was pretty clear about that.

Yeah.

Go on, take it down.

-What? -The poster.

Take it down.

You sure?

I'm sure.

I started out a bull rider, ended up a bullfighter.

Best goddamn decision I ever made.

PRCA bullfighting hall-of-famer

and a few other things I could mention if I wanted to.

Hold up now.

Point is, I've been doing this for 15 years on both sides of the chutes.

I can tell you one thing for certain, there's only two ways to ride a bull.

You can either make it happen, or you can let it happen.

There's been a few champs that have made it happen

but the really great riders, the guys that have ridden hard and long,

guys like George Paul, Gary Leffew,

those guys just let it happen.

Are you giving them the "you have to dance with the bulls" speech again?

Ladies and gentlemen, my brother Ely Braxton is back.

And he'll be the first to tell you, it starts here.

You've gotta clear your heart and your head,

so that when you get on that bull, you've already won.

It's just a dancing partner. You just gotta be man enough to let it lead.

You've gotta be able to have enough confidence in yourself,

and faith that you can sit back and let it happen.

It's attitude, pure attitude.

Whether you're making a putt,

whether you're riding a bull...

Attitude.

That's what separates the best from the rest.

-Let's go. Clean up the arena. -All right.

Stay focused. Real simple.

Remember what we talked about.

Clear your head. Don't force anything on him.

Just react, okay? Okay.

-He's ready to dance, so are you. -Okay, man, let's go.

Shit!

Get up. We gotta go to work.

-What? -We gotta go to work.

I gotta pick up Connie to do the vaccines.

You guys need anything else from town?

Shots already? Seems like we just did them.

-Always does. -What?

-The shots. -The shots!

Got it. We gotta do the shots.

You started it, man.

Thanks, Mom.

Hey, Doc.

Hold. Hold. Okay, he's safe.

-Where's Zapata? -Who cares? He's a dud.

No one's ever ridden him. Besides, he needs his vaccination.

You won him in a card game.

It don't matter. He needs his vaccination.

-Turn this one out and go get him. -All right.

Move! Move!

Guys, roll up Zapata. Move, bull.

Damn! He's a big son of a buck.

Yeah. I wouldn't worry about him. He's all bark, no bite.

I'm just gonna center this for you.

Ely!

What the hell are you doing? Get off!

Ely!

What do you got, huh? Nothing!

What you got? Nothing!

Ely, get off the bull.

-Get off! -This thing can kick, man!

Get off. You wanna ride him, or you want me to turn him out?

Hell no. Turn him out.

What are you talking about? Get on this thing!

-Ely, get off the bull. -I'm getting off.

Go!

Watch out. Look at him.

Nice dancing, brother. He nipped you, too.

Thank God for my sneakers. That's one hell of an athlete.

Number 24 and 21,

pick up your orders.

-What? -Damn.

I think I got a cavity. Take this.

-Do you put nutmeg or clove on it? -Clove.

-How do you know? It's nutmeg. -It's definitely clove.

-You're a vet, not a dentist. -It's clove.

-Excuse me. -What do you want?

What do you put on a cavity, nutmeg or clove?

-Clove. -She says nutmeg.

You're still gonna have to get that looked at.

Yeah, when I get back.

-Back from where? -Salinas.

Hank's taking some bulls. I thought I'd give him a hand.

Huh. When did you decide on the Salinas thing?

Well, I need a change.

I need to do something new. The ranch is getting old.

What's new about a rinky-dink rodeo in Salinas?

It's just about being there, being with some of the guys and being around it.

Well, that's not new. That's old.

If you want new, I got plenty of ideas.

Oh, yeah? Like what?

You know, you've been incredible.

You got hurt, and just went on getting better, getting on with your life.

You made it look a lot easier than it's been.

It's been hard, I know. Hard as hell.

Well, I got hurt sooner than I wanted to.

But sooner or later, most guys get hurt. That's just the way it is.

You're gonna get carsick.

Shit. I thought I downloaded this stuff.

What?

There it is.

"A used Huntley trailer in excellent condition."

I figure we can use Zapata to frontline us up with PBR,

five or six shows, and then...

Yeah, that's plenty for a down payment.

Zapata's gonna be a star. We're gonna get paid our breeding fees.

We might even get him on TV.

They got an agency for that kind of shit.

I bet you a hundred dollars that no man can ride that bull.

I don't doubt your eye for talent,

but I got Put Hustead's bull back in the pens.

Ray, talk to him for me.

How many times have I driven all night to fill in a slot for you guys?

I know that. But I'm telling you, Pat ain't gonna like this.

Pat doesn't have to know about it. This ain't a sanctioned event.

Hell, it's just a draw pot, right?

For Christ sakes, guys! I'm talking about one bull!

Okay. This is what I'll do.

I'll fight for you tomorrow, free of charge.

All right. All right.

I'll tell you what.

You bring him, and if there's any re-rides, he's in.

How's that, huh?

Okay.

Thank you, guys.

-Thanks. We'll see you bright and early. -Nice to see you, Ray.

Great to have you back, kid. Can't wait to see you ride tomorrow.

-I'm not gonna ride. -You're not?

Don't even think about it.

Yep, they always come back.

Long as they can walk.

God, I love 'em.

Gather around ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Salinas, California.

We have the thrills, spills and chills of a professional rodeo...

So he gets in one of these umpire masks, his nose is completely mashed.

Guess what bull he draws? Knock Him Out John.

Son of a bitch gets out the chute, he turns back around, and whack!

Ely Braxton, you big dumb dog.

Welcome home.

Hey, Jed. We was just talking about you.

I was telling the boys about that umpire mask.

Goddamn thing nearly turned me into a Belgian waffle.

Braxton, keep your hand out of the money pot, you hear?

I'm riding for alimony these days.

-Who'd you draw? -I didn't.

Doctor's orders.

We got bigger fish to fry. Next five years,

you boys are all gonna be riding Braxton bulls.

You watch.

Yeah, you watch. You watch.

I gotta go get some gas. I'll see you later.

We're only gonna be a couple hours, so don't be late, okay?

Oh, come on. Please?

Bull!

Nobody yet made a qualified ride.

Let's go down to chute number seven. Here's Rough And Ready.

He's... No! Another one down!