Lane Frost Documentary Premieres In Cheyenne Days Before 35th Anniversary Of His Death

When “Yellowstone” actor Moses Brings Plenty heard about a popup screening of a new Lane Frost documentary in Cheyenne, it didn’t take much arm twisting to get the television star there.

In fact, quite the opposite.

Brings Plenty, who plays Mo Brings Plenty on the hit television series, told Cowboy State Daily he had to “move a few boulders” to get to Cheyenne on time for the Saturday showing of “Lane: Life, Legend, Legacy.”

“But where there’s a will, there’s a way,” he said. “So, I just filmed all night, and as soon as I got wrapped, I jumped in the vehicle, and my wife and I drove and made the 12-hour trip.”

Brings Plenty took turns driving and napping on the way to Cheyenne, and made the Civic Center stage straight from the set of “Yellowstone” just in time to introduce the documentary. Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum was instrumental in bringing the documentary and Mo Brings Plenty.

And the house was packed with more than 400 viewers in spite of going head-to-head with all the activities at Cheyenne Frontier Days.

“Very, very few could accomplish what Lane Frost has accomplished,” Brings Plenty said about the legendary rodeo bull rider. “I can only speak from Indian Country’s perspective, because as a little kid growing up on the reservation, I got to hear about Lane Frost.”

Those stories made Brings Plenty want to ride bulls, too.

“In my mind, I wanted to be a world champion just like him, not just inside the arena but outside it as well,” he said. “That’s what makes a champion, who they are outside the arena, who they are after that acceptance is over.”

Brings Plenty even named his only son after Frost, Lane Stetson Brings Plenty.

“Lane is an amazing human being who still impacts the world today,” Brings Plenty said.

Cowboys Are Still Talking About Frost’s Life

Brings Plenty is not the only cowboy still talking about Frost and the example he set, even 35 years after Frost’s fatal last ride on the bull Taking Care of Business at Cheyenne Frontier Days on July 30, 1989.

Several of the world’s current top bull riders talked in similar terms as Brings Plenty about Frost’s influence on them at the documentary screening and Cheyenne Frontier Days this past weekend.

Professional bull rider J.B. Mauney, for example, recalls watching the movie “8 Seconds” about Frost’s life every night when he was a boy and studying Frost’s “Bull Talk” videos, where he encourages people to give everything they do “110% effort.”

Frost’s friend, Cody Lambert, meanwhile, talked about designing a protective leather vest for cowboys to wear, now required in all PBR events. Such a vest might have saved Frost’s life.

Tough Draw Founders Brad Hughes and James Trawick, who conducted all the interviews for the film with Frost’s friends, supporters and family are themselves huge fans.

“I was the kid in Lubbock, Texas, who would go stand in line and wait for Tuff Hedeman to sign autographs,” Hughes said. “And (Trawick) met Clyde Nelson and got a Bible from him in Tennessee.”

Hughes, who was a film major in college, had a set of DVDs he liked to watch and rewatch. The one he put in every night to go to sleep with was “8 Seconds.”

“I can kind of like, what Ky Hamilton said in the documentary, I can cite bits and pieces of the script and like say the lines before everybody else does,” he said.

Kindness Is Still Frost’s Light On The World

It’s his kindness, Brings Plenty told Cowboy State Daily, that continues to make Frost such a champion even today, 35 years after his death.

Brings Plenty grew up hearing stories about Frost from his uncle, Howard Hunter Sr.

“He would talk about different people as he traveled a circuit who were positive lights,” Brings Plenty said. “And Lane was a part of that conversation.”

In all of those stories, Frost shows he’s a champion not just in the arena, but outside it as well — a lesson that applies to anyone, no matter who they are or what they do.

“I’m not a world champion bull rider,” Brings Plenty said. “But I can be a champion in other ways. And we can all be that. It’s just human kindness. That’s the No. 1 thing about being a human being. Respecting others regardless of who they are, what their faith is, what their skin color is.”

Every person, regardless of faith or skin color, is a creature of God, Brings Plenty added.

“If we dislike another human being based on their skin color or their faith or their language, then we are disliking God, because God is the one who created that individual,” he said. “So, for us, if we truly love God, then we must love all of God’s creation, and so, we have to come to that place of understanding, and kindness comes with that.”

A Life Like A Bull Ride

In the documentary, snippets from Frost’s “Bull Talk” are woven through the story, providing a poignant framework for a life that was lived furious and fast, and ended much too soon.

“Lane’s life really did play out like a bull ride,” Hughes said. “Especially with how short it was. So, breaking it down, presenting it in that fashion, we thought it was a fresh take.”

The documentary also highlighted some of the things that made Frost such a favorite with fans, like his tendency to keep hanging onto a bull after losing position, determined to grab one more second, just in case he could squeak by the 8-second clock.

That led to quite a few less-than-perfect landings, often on his head.

Frost just didn’t want to give up, and his fans loved him for that — even as his family and friends tried to cajole him into letting go a little sooner.

Frost’s last ride on Taking Care Of Business was a good one, scoring 85 points. But it was another of those times where he didn’t quite stick a clean landing.

Frost stumbled in the mud as he was trying to get away, and the bull took advantage of that, knocking him down. Frost tried to crawl away, but the bull’s hooves caught his chaps, holding him in place as the bull hooked him in the back with his horn.

At first, Frost appeared to be OK, even rising to his feet to wave for help. Moments later, though, he fell face-down in the mud and didn’t get back up.

Several people in the documentary, including Dr. Skip Ross, talk about how the injury didn’t seem that bad at first.

But Frost’s ribs had been broken, damaging his heart and severing a main artery.

Ross, clearly emotional, talks about trying to save Frost for 90 minutes after the injury before finally, reluctantly, agreed with other members of the medical team that Frost had been lost.

Dreams Come True

Hughes and Trawick didn’t start out thinking they’d get to do a documentary on their childhood hero.

“We were actually working on a bull-riding movie together, like a sports drama,” Hughes told Cowboy State Daily. “But to keep the lights on we were also doing like hunting videos, music videos and stuff like that, too.”

Through that, they happened to meet one of Frost’s best friends, Tuff Hedeman, himself a four-time world champion and ProRodeo Hall of Famer.

That got them noticed by the Lane Frost family, who invited them to come up and meet them in Oklahoma.

“We were just so excited about that, we were like kids in a candy store,” Hughes said. “And I think Clyde and Elsie and Stetson, they just kind of took note of that. They knew we were filmmakers and that we had a passion for it.”

Having Frost’s parents on board opened a lot of doors for the project and made what had seemed an impossible dream suddenly possible.

But their work was not without a lot of challenges along the way.

“The biggest challenge was the fact that it’s more than 30 years after the fact, and a lot of media from that time frame was switching from film to VHS to digital,” Trawick said. “There was a lot of stuff that got recorded over, and there was a lot of stuff that didn’t get saved.”

But, Trawick added, the effort was worth it.

“Lane only lived 25 years, but the impact he’s had on our generation and the sport of bull riding is immense,” he said. “But I think that it really can be boiled down to how you treat other people.

“You know, carry yourself with dignity and treat other people with respect. It’s a really simple thing to think about, but ultimately, that’s what made (Lane’s) legacy live on, and something that will carry on to the next generation.”

Contact Renee Jean at renee@cowboystatedaily.com

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.