Review of Comes a Horseman

Introduction

For the first 20 minutes, `Comes a Horseman` feels like a real effort. With its pondering wide-shots (nicely represented here in a really wide-format), and slow moving action, broken occasionally with some sparse dialogue, great effort has been made to set the tone, flavour and backdrop for the powerhouse performances that are to follow. Some films are really worth the effort, and as I discovered, `Comes a Horseman` is one of them.

This 1978 movie came out the same year as Jane Fonda`s Oscar winning `Coming Home` and maybe got a little lost as a consequence. It`s not a movie that I`ve seen before and yet has all the right ingredients for a poignantly memorable picture. Alan Pakula had directed Fonda in an earlier movie, `Klute`, and clearly felt confident to offer her this demanding and dramatic role, full of contradictions and subtleties of character, which she plays, frankly, brilliantly here. It is without doubt the most authentic feeling performance that I`ve ever seen from Jane Fonda, who, for 90% of the movie is seen stern-faced and without make-up. This is a million miles from `Barbarella`.

The dramatic setting for the movie is rural Montana in the early 1940`s, and it looks both breath-takingly beautiful and desolate in turn, reflecting the dichotomy facing its inhabitants who are in a world that is changing fast following WWII, and with the sudden possibilities of oil in the vicinity.

Life is hard for the cowboys and cowgirls, but it`s what they know and they`re good hard working simple folk. No one is harder working than fiery Ella Conners, a widower with a dark history, who knows her mind and knows what`s right and what clearly isn`t. She`s a lady of very few words (there are no great conversationalists in this film) but she`s also not frightened of speaking her mind when she feels she`s being wronged. The master of neighbouring ranch, J. W. Ewing (Jason Robards) is not shy of trying to do some of that `wronging`. Ewing has some `connections` at the local bank and relishes the possibility of a foreclosure on Ella`s property as she seems unable to keep up payments.

(There`s a wonderful irony later in the story when it`s Ewing himself who loses his ranch to the bank). It`s implied that he was involved in the murder of Ella`s father in an effort to free up the land which he suspects has oil underneath it.

Fonda, who has help from good-hearted old-timer `Dodger` (played by Richard Farnsworth who received an Oscar nomination for his heart-warming role), also teams up with freelance Wrangler, and WWII veteran James Caan for the rustling season. It`s Caan`s arrival that starts to tip the balance in her favour, economically and emotionally. There`s a deeply moral tale here that has much to do with the fabric of U.S history. But there`s also a wonderfully understated romance emerging between Caan and Fonda which has surely not been equalled until `The Remains of the Day` for sheer coyness. Their performances are so understated, with 20-second pauses between dialogue between the two, that it all feels entirely believable.

Video

This is presented in 2.35:1, which is perfect for the wide landscape vistas that give the film so much of its atmosphere. However, it`s a shoddy print, especially during the opening sequences which are littered with dust sparkles, scratches and hairs. File in the `could do better` cabinet!

Audio

Presented in Dolby Digital Mono, I found the soundtrack strangely unbalanced and was constantly remixing via the remote in order to get the music and loud action at a sensible level, and yet still here the half-whispered dialogue in the quieter passages which often sounded a bit thin and lively. Whether this was the case on the source (which I suspect is the case) or down to poor transfer I don`t know, but it marred what is, otherwise, a great movie.

Features

Lots of language choices but nothing else. (The words `MGM` and `Features` are rarely to be heard together unless they`re issuing a Special Edition it seems…).

Conclusion

Alan Pakula`s remarkably self-confident movie may be a little slow moving by today`s standards, but is well worth the effort. It has some powerhouse performances from Jane Fonda, James Caan, Richard Farnsworth and Jason Robards. The pace of the film reflects the slow pace of life in rural America in the early 1940`s, as well as the hardships endured by the farming fraternity (traditional Cowboys) when faced with a world that is changing and changing fast.

Visually, it`s a stunning movie, with some great wide-screen shots of really remarkable landscapes, and this presentation does the honourable thing by offering up a wide-screen format that, in part, will do the cinematography justice. The audio reproduction is a little disappointing, and I can`t believe that this is the best print in circulation but all those reservations aside, I thoroughly recommend this powerful movie.