Comes a Horseman

Comes a Horseman is directed by Alan J. Pakula and written by Dennis Lynton Clark. It stars Jane Fonda, James Caan, Jason Robards and Richard Farnsworth. Music is by Michael Small and cinematography by Gordon Willis.

It seems the ideas and willing behind Comes a Horseman are made of sturdy stuff, you sense that the makers wanted to make a reflective post-modern Western set in post World War II times. Tonally they get it mostly right, it is very sombre, both in characterisations and the changing of the times thematic beat. Plot is hardly thrilling as Robards' land baron plots to oust Fonda and Caan out of their respective homesteads in readiness for the oil company to come destroy the magnificent landscape.

Ella Connors (Fonda) is a feisty but vulnerable woman, Frank Athearn (Caan) is fresh out of service in the war and carries the emotional scars of said battles. They form an unsteady alliance to ward off Jacob Ewing (Robards), but as past turmoil's come to the surface it's touch and go as to who, if anyone, will win out.

With the Colorado landscape beautifully captured by Willis, and the performances (including an Academy Award Nomination for Farnsworth as Ella's sage old ranch hand) solid as a rock, the pic retains interest if you can tolerate the laborious pace favoured by Pakula. There's a couple of action sequences within, but they feel like afterthoughts, so we are left to buy into the rueful characterisations and their respective attempts at post war living out there on the ranges. 6.5/10

Really shouldn't be allowed to review film.

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The title is kind of dumb for this movie that is very good. Dumb title, because it's not about a horseman coming -- it's about 3 cattle ranchers in Montana (though at least some filming was done in Northern Arizona). Jason Robards is the heavy, as the rancher who owns the most and wants to regain control of the other 2 ranches, which his family once owned. One of the other ranches is owned by Jane Fonda, who gained control of it when her father, a cousin of Jason Robards, died, and whose only help running it is an old cowhand played by the late Richard Farnsworth (for which he received an Academy Award nomination). The other cattle spread is owned by James Caan, recently released from the Army near the end of WWII. Inside Fonda burns a deeply rooted and awful hatred of Robards, for which we gradually learn the reasons. She and Caan form what is at first an alliance of need and indebtedness, which as you might correctly assume develops into something deeper (and nicer, I might add). Throw into this mix a rich oilman played by George Grizzard, who wants to get oil out of the land wherever he finds it, regardless of whose land it is, and who exerts some mighty strong leverage against Robards. What makes this movie good is an interesting plot, made more interesting by the actors -- Fonda and Caan in particular play their roles as authentic western ranch types, as people of relatively few words, with easy-going outward appearances, but strong emotions underlying those facades and hard-edged attitudes attained through a rugged life of hard work. This was one of 3 movies in 1978 for Jane Fonda, one of which being "Coming Home" for which she won an Academy Award. A comparison of her acting in that movie vs. this one, is that this role required more nuance and subtlety, to hold her character's emotions in (which of course she in turn must convey to us, the audience), as she had to completely become a stoic western rancher and horsewoman...which also required greater physical (including facial) control and physical agility. Regardless of which of these 2 major starring roles one might prefer her in that year, it seems obvious that she was at the top of her form. Also to be admired in this film are the cattle herding, roping, and round-up sequences, and one major sequence of chasing and gaining control of stampeding cattle -- the scenes look real, and were obviously done by some professional cowboys. There's also the big, open feel of the country provided by the beautiful cinematography of Gordon Willis, whose movies include "The Godfather" films and Woody Allen's fabulous 1979 black-and-white masterpiece "Manhattan". So, plenty of good reasons to watch this one.

Although at times the pace of Comes A Horseman is maddeningly slow, the players acquit themselves well in this old western type plot from the 19th century updated to 1945 and the end of World War II.

Stars Jane Fonda and Jason Robards, Jr. have history together, were even married at one time. He's the local Ponderosa owner, she's barely getting by on the small spread her dad left her.

Robards is in a cash flow situation though for the life of me he should be prospering during World War II and army beef contracts. The demand will slacken some due to war's end. There's possible oil on the property that oilman George Grizzard would like to exploit. Possible oil on both properties. Also on neighbor James Caan's small spread. He joins forces with Fonda against Robards.

Jane might have gotten a few pointers from her dad who was never a western star as such, but Henry Fonda did a few classic westerns in his time. She comes across as a real western woman. Director Alan J. Pakula did some real good photography in those wide open spaces. That frontier square dance could have come from a John Ford western.

Richard Farnsworth established a career as a player with an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. That drawl at times is slow, but he's also unbelievably realistic as a veteran cowboy who has lost a step or two and realizes he can't quite the help to Fonda he'd like to be. That fall from his horse after those explosions is agonizingly real for a man getting on.

Slow paced, but well done, Comes A Horseman is a fine modern western if indeed a western of times of the last century can be classified as modern. You might want to watch this back to back with Giant, another modern western about cattlemen and how they adapt to the coming of oil.

Jason Robards plays such a slimeball character in this that you know the ending from about the fourth minute. Nevertheless, it's a good story, with lots of hidden secrets to reveal. Caan plays a believable laid-back love interest for tough, gutsy Jane Fonda. The best thing is the photography, however-- in particular the dance scene, in which the camera follows Fonda and Caan as they move through a crowded outdoor dance floor without every losing either focus or the stars. Breathtaking. Some great mountains somewhere in Wyoming come close to stealing the show.