Forrie J. Smith Brings His Rodeo Expertise to Ride

If, like us, you found yourself a tad scared when you saw news footage of that bull jumping into the stands at the Sisters Rodeo in Sisters, Oregon last weekend, consider this: The situation could have been a whole lot worse had real-life cowboys like Forrie J. Smith not been on the scene to help.

Smith himself was hundreds of miles away when the Sisters Rodeo event occurred, filming the final Season 5 episodes of Yellowstone. But he’s no stranger to similar situations.

By sheer coincidence, the subject arose last April when Smith accompanied director/actor Jake Allyn and co-star Annabeth Gish to the Dallas International Film Festival for the world premiere of Ride, a contemporary drama set in the world of rodeo. Aptly described by film critic Roger Moore as “a beautifully-acted genre picture with a wonderful sense of place,” Ride features veteran actor and rodeo competitor C. Thomas Howell (pictured above with Smith) as a retired bull rider desperate to raise money for his daughter’s cancer treatment; Allyn as his estranged son, who will use any means necessary in or out of the rodeo arena to help his sister; Gish as Thomas’ estranged wife, who just happens to be the local sheriff; and Smith as Thomas’ father and Allyn’s grandfather, a cagey golden-ager who knows a thing or two about rodeoing.

Was Smith ever scared by any of the stunts he viewed — or participated in — during the production of Ride? Not really. “When you’re doing a film,” he told C&I during a pre-screening interview at the Dallas Festival, “everything is so controlled and thought-out and everything.”

On the other hand…

“One of the scariest things that ever happened to me was when I was the safety man at a bull riding in Tucson, Arizona. It’s a great big rodeo arena. So they put up portable panels around, and people were down in this arena. Well, me and Jimmy Caldwell were safety men, and dang sure one of them bulls jumped that fence. And there’s people with baby carriages and stuff out there and — I’m getting shivers remembering.

“I had to rope that bull, and he’s bigger than my horse and he’s dragging me around until Jimmy got there and he got a rope on him. That was the only time I’ve ever really felt fear at a rodeo. And that wasn’t so much for me. It was for the babies in the carriages that people left, run away from, and the old folks that couldn’t get away. So I got a hold to this bull, and he’s pulling me all over. I should have roped him around the throat where I could have took some air away from him. That was the only time I’ve ever really felt fear at a rodeo. Even when I got hurt, I wasn’t scared.”

On the other hand, during the early days of his entry into acting — well, let’s just say it was a good thing he had some other rodeo buddies around at the right time to help him out.

“Chuck Henson was one of them,” Smith recalled. “Legendary rodeo clown. He’s in the Hall of Fame, everything. Well, I was sitting in [a casting director’s office] waiting for an interview for The Young Riders. I was broke. I’d had a broke leg, I was about out of money, and I needed this part. And my legs shaking like this. And Chuck walks by and he goes, ‘What's the matter with you?’ I said, ‘I’ve got to get this part, man.’ And he said, ‘Well, you made the call back to meet the director.’”

But that was not quite enough to assuage Smith’s anxiety.

“So he says, ‘You’re scared of going in there in front of some old director? I’ve seen you under bucking horses laughing and telling me to get him off you. I’ve seen bulls have you dead to rights, and you land on the fence laughing at them. And you’re going to be scared of a director? Go get that part.’

“I took that to heart. And what I started doing is, I always take deep breaths to relax before I ride and stuff. I started using some of the things that make me relax while rodeoing before my auditions.”

“We all have to do things like that,” agreed Annabeth Gish. “But I will say, this is one of the things I was most charmed by while was working with Forrie. Because we’d have this scene together — and, speaking as another actor, we all want to do our best and show you care. And sometimes that caring shows up as nerves. And I am forever impressed by people who get nervous about the acting work.  That’s a bond, because then you’re vulnerable, and you know that you’re really in it for the right reasons. Did we hug in the scene or not? I can’t remember. But I felt like I did. The whole scene felt like a hug, essentially.

“Sometimes it is just really nice to see the vulnerability of cowboys.”

And speaking of cowboys: Forrie J. Smith wasn’t the only real deal among the lead players in Ride. C. Thomas Howell may be known best for his movie and TV roles, ranging from The Outsiders — Ponyboy! — to the forthcoming biopic Reagan (in which he plays Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger to Dennis Quaid’s Commander in Chief), but he has quite a bit of actual experience as a rodeo follower and competitor.

“And that’s why I hired them,” director Jake Allyn said at the Dallas Fest. “I mean, I know what I know, and I know what I don’t. And that is a huge reason why C. Thomas and Forrie were the first guys on my list for those roles. See, I always knew that no matter what, we were going to shoot at a live rodeo. And I knew for those scenes in particular, we were going to have five minutes [during breaks in the action], and there would be no blocking rehearsal. And we weren’t going to talking about what the scene should be and let’s read whatever it. It was just going to be go!

“You can’t fake the way [Forrie] stands up on a chute. It’s second nature. And I hope that I always listened whenever Forrie said, ‘It wouldn’t be like that — it’d be like this.’”