Comes a Horseman (1978)

Director:

Alan J. Pakula

Writer:

Dennis Lynton Clark (writer)

Release Date:

25 October 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Western | Romance

Tagline:

She was as strong as the land for which she fought. And as vunerable.

Plot:

Ella Connors is a single woman who gets pressured to sell her failing cattle farm to her corrupt ex suitor...

Plot Keywords:

Riding Accident | Stabbing | Cattle Drive | Montana | 1940s

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 wins

Cast

James Caan	...	Frank 'Buck' Athearn
Jane Fonda	...	Ella Connors
Jason Robards	...	Jacob 'J.W.' Ewing
George Grizzard	...	Neil Atkinson
Richard Farnsworth	...	Dodger
Jim Davis	...	Julie Blocker
Mark Harmon	...	Billy Joe Meynert
Macon McCalman	...	Virgil Hoverton
Basil Hoffman	...	George Bascomb
James Kline	...	Ralph Cole
James Keach	...	Emil Kroegh
Clifford A. Pellow	...	Cattle Buyer

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Sweden:15 | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | USA:PG | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Buckskin Joe Frontier Town & Railway - 1193 Fremont County Road 3A, Canon City, Colorado, USA

Company:

Chartoff-Winkler Productions

Trivia:

Stunt man Jim Sheppard was killed when a horse that was dragging him veered from its course and caused him to hit his head on a fence post.

Goofs:

After Ewing is told he will lose his ranch if he doesn't allow testing for oil, Frank and Ella are shown chasing cattle while swinging their ropes...left handed. In the next scene they are shown roping right handed.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western (1997) (TV)

City folk infatuated with the western genre...

Director Alan J. Pakula and his cinematographer Gordon Willis, masters at capturing urban paranoia, give this post-WWII western a lachrymose solemnity, and while they may have been quite taken with the western clichés that litter Dennis Lynton Clark's screenplay, they keep the mood so sorrowful that the characters never quite emerge. Indeed, Clark's script seems to begin after the central drama has already been played out. Land baron Jason Robards, embittered by the death of his son and holding a decades-long grudge against rancher Jane Fonda, is in unhappy cahoots with oil drillers, and all want Fonda off her land so they can start getting rich. The picture is sleepy-slow and only half-realized, with Pakula's lofty ambitions clashing with Clark's writing, which is occasionally crass. Some good scenes (including Fonda and James Caan dancin' the Texas Star), pretty locales and a decent Michael Small score can't really make film worthwhile. ** from ****