Protests began even before The Longest Ride opened on April 10: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals was in full force at the premiere in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Directed by George Tillman, Jr., and based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks, the film features the rodeo, where untrained bulls object to human riders by bucking them. Luke Collins (played by Clint’s son Daniel Eastwood) tries to prove his machismo by staying on top of a bronco longer than anyone else. He impresses a graduating senior from Wake Forest University, and most of the film is a love story folded into a remembrance of another love story, so The Longest Ride is primarily a “date movie” that suggests a college grad can fall for a rancher and a woman in love who wants a big family will settle for a war hero who lost his virility in battle. But cows are not horses, so the sport has no practical purpose. The filming of three rodeos is in North Carolina, where animal torture is illegal. MH