Stampede
1963 · 27m · Canada
Directed by Claude Fournier
Genres: documentary, sports
Tones: contemplative
During Calgary's Stampede Week, cowboys and horses take centre stage as herds thunder in, and the film then follows one bronco rider chasing top honours from rodeo to rodeo.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A mid-century documentary that plays it completely straight—rodeo as rodeo, no ironic distance, no deconstruction—which is almost refreshing in how it refuses to wink at the audience, though honestly it's a bit too reverent for my taste.
Fournier's compositional control over the chaos of the stampede, the formal restraint of the editing, and the film's clear lineage to the NFB's documentary tradition make this a masterclass in how to build rhythm and meaning from athletic spectacle without commentary.
The decision to follow one rider's singular pursuit across multiple rodeos—rather than surveying the stampede as a whole event—transforms this from a sports document into something almost elegiac about obsession and the price of chasing one moment of dominion.