Reviews

"Screenwriter Jeb Rosebrook's memoir about the making of the classic Steve McQueen film he penned, Junior Bonner, is infinitely more than a behind-the-scenes account of a great film. It's an inside-the-scenes account of a turning point in his own life, of a dangerous moment in the career of an aging movie star, of a transitional time when Hollywood briefly emulated the artistic ambitions and creative reach of European cinema. The cast of characters includes such flammable figures as McQueen and legendary director auteur-terrible Sam Peckinpah and assorted agents, producers, and 1970s studio executives who were presiding over Hollywood's greatest explosion of audacious, boundary-breaking filmmaking since its founding. And Rosebrook's memoir goes deeper, into the hearts and minds of these dreamers and schemers on both sides of the camera who, almost in spite of themselves, their egos, and their appetites, managed to make lasting film art that's worth analyzing and celebrating all these decades later." --Steven Gaydos, Executive Editor, VARIETY "For decades Jeb Rosebrook entertained audiences with films, television shows and novels. Now, his behind-the-scenes memoir of the production of the movie Junior Bonner, which he scripted, spotlights how filmmaking is an intensely collaborative art. Plus, we get all the skinny, and the fat, of behind the scenes shenanigans, sexual dalliances, and Steve McQueen's resilience and acting strength against Peckinpah's iron-fisted directing. Junior Bonner, starring Steve McQueen, Ida Lupino and Robert Preston, evolved through Rosebrook's inspiring creativity and diligent collaboration with the actors--and director Peckinpah always threatening to send home anyone, cast, or crew, with a tin can strapped to their butt. Through it all, Rosebrook's script survived to create a classic and memorable film--one of the top 100 Westerns." --James Ciletti, Pikes Poet Laureate, Colorado Springs, Colorado
"In this lovely and loving memoir, Junior Bonner: The Making of a Classic with Steven McQueen and Sam Peckinpah in the Summer of 1971, Jeb Rosebrook recalls the production of the film from its beginnings in his own masterly screenplay--an original and one of the best Peckinpah was ever graced with--to the disappointing returns that greeted the film at the box office. Yet, like the story in front of the camera, the story Rosebrook finds behind the camera is not one of defeat but of faith in dreams and perseverance in pursuing them--it's a story of creative collaboration, where everyone working to his or her peak capacity contributes to the final achievement."--Paul Seydor, author of Peckinpah: The Western Films: A Reconsideration and The Authentic Death and Contentious Afterlife of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid: The Untold Story of Peckinpah's Last Western Film.