The Electric Horseman

This film is not about the horse, is not about a romance.

The film portraits the unstoppable greed of a corporation confronted with the moral values of a true cowboy and how he realize he has lost that spirit that took him to became a cowboy.

This film is intended to show how we destroy everything we touch just to increase our profits.

So, you are right about the hairstyle, the wardrobe, everything is so 70's.

But the message is not old in fact is so XXI century as your brand new digital cameras.

This film made me understand my family, my past, present and future.

Now I see what my father tried to taught me, what my brothers understood years ago.

This movie stars Robert Redford as an five time rodeo champion who is now a has-been promoting a breakfast cereal. Jane Fonda is a reporter who wants to interview Redford, but he just blows her off. Redford is basically upset always being told what to do and he steals a 12 million dollar horse that they're mistreating and he's going to take it out and set it free. The company that owns the horse wants to keep it quiet and then wants to send in the police. Fonda tracks him down and joins up with him so she can get a bigger story and of course, they have to fall in love. This movie seems to be a cross between It Happened One Night and Lonely Are The Brave. This was directed by Sydney Pollock who has worked with Redford several times before and also with Fonda.

OK, first, to the reviewer that suggested "too much Fonda" and would have liked to see Susan St. James or Jennifer Warren in the role of Alice, you are forbidden from ever reviewing again. Fonda was perfect, and more on that later.

Second, this is not about a cowboy freeing a horse who is about to be drugged, as some reviewers have said. The horse was drugged from the beginning. Sonny noticed it, and that was a contributing factor to his subsequent actions.

This movie is about a man who strayed far from who he was, and who sought to find himself again. The horse is metaphoric: it is drugged, exploited, and broken, just like the man. So, the man attempts to find himself, as he helps the horse find itself again, so to speak. And, in the process of trying to report the story, the Fonda character attempts to find herself as well, for she has become neurotic, pill-popping, and uptight in her quest to become a star reporter. And, of course, as they travel the countryside, we find America.

Back to Fonda. Fonda's casting has always been that of the strong but flawed "career" woman, from "Barbarella", to "Klute", to "Electric Horseman". She is independent, doesn't need a man. As the tough and aggressive reporter in personal crisis, she is cast perfectly. St. James has neither the strength nor the necessary equal dose of vulnerability that Fonda can muster. This is about chemistry as well. Redford and Fonda have teamed up before, and the chemistry is proved.

So this brilliant and simple story illustrates and creatively reinforces the the idea of straying from true nature, and the need to find it again.

VERY good film.

Everyone involved in "The Electric Horseman" is taking it easy. The film is just a lark for some very talented people, and while it does have its amusements it doesn't add up to much. Robert Redford plays a rodeo-star who steals his celebrated horse, planning to ride it up to hill country to release it in the wild, but he's dogged by inquisitive female reporter Jane Fonda. There's a message about wildlife to be had in Robert Garland's exceptionally thin script, which must have attracted both Redford and Fonda, but director Sydney Pollack wisely concentrates on the leads' budding romance, and the horse takes the proverbial backseat. Some of the repartee is sharp, but the movie doesn't particularly look good or seem fully thought out. As a result, it's unmemorable and undemanding, though not without minor enjoyment. **1/2 from ****

Sonny Steele (Robert Redford) was a rodeo star who signed an endorsement deal with a breakfast cereal company. His star has since faded. He drunkenly travels around the country pitching the cereal with Wendell (Willie Nelson), Leroy and his light up electric suit. They replace him with another rider and nobody cares. Hallie Martin (Jane Fonda) is looking to write a story but the company won't let her interview him. He arrives in Las Vegas to ride a race horse on stage but he finds the horse drugged and injured. Charlotta (Valerie Perrine) comes looking for a divorce from Steele. He decides to ride out with the horse and not look back.

I don't really get the Hallie Martin character. Was the rodeo ever that big? She's putting in a lot of effort to do a story about a washed-out cowboy. I don't know why that's a big story anywhere. Even if he's washed-out, why would that be news? It would make more sense for her to start looking for the story after he rides out with the horse. Robert Redford returns to the big screen after a hiatus. That may be the reason for its success. Willie Nelson has a couple of great songs. The actors keep the movie afloat despite the poor basic concept of the movie.