WesternDramaRomance

Comes a Horseman

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

Ella Connors is a single woman who gets pressured to sell her failing cattle farm to her corrupt ex-suitor, Jacob Ewing. She asks for help from her neighbor, Frank Athearn. As Ella and Frank fight back through stampedes, jealousy, betrayal, and sabotage... they eventually find love.

Release Date : 1978-10-25

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : United Artists

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Frank 'Buck' Athearn

Original Name : James Caan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ella Connors

Original Name : Jane Fonda

Gender : Female

Character Name : Jacob 'J.W.' Ewing

Original Name : Jason Robards

Gender : Male

Character Name : Neil Atkinson

Original Name : George Grizzard

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dodger

Original Name : Richard Farnsworth

Gender : Male

Character Name : Billy Joe Meynert

Original Name : Mark Harmon

Gender : Male

Character Name : Virgil Hoverton

Original Name : Macon McCalman

Gender : Male

Character Name : George Bascomb

Original Name : Basil Hoffman

Gender : Male

Character Name : Emil Kroegh

Original Name : James Keach

Gender : Male

Character Name : Julie Blocker

Original Name : Jim Davis

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ralph Cole

Original Name : James Kline

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cattle Buyer

Original Name : Clifford A. Pellow

Gender : Male

Character Name : Pall Bearer (uncredited)

Original Name : Allan Baker

Gender : Male

Character Name : Army Bugler (uncredited)

Original Name : Cary Huff

Gender : Male

Character Name : School Kid (uncredited)

Original Name : Antonino Garcia Tony

Gender : Male

Reviews

John Chard

@John Chard

2024-05-16

Horsewoman. Surely? 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 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