The Electric Horseman (1979)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Sydney Pollack

Writers:

Shelly Burton (story)
Paul Gaer (story)

Release Date:

13 March 1980 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Western | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Sonny Steele used to be a rodeo star, but his next appearance is to be on a Las Vegas stage, wearing a suit covered in lights...

Plot Keywords:

Horse | Las Vegas Nevada | Blockbuster | Reference To Albert Schweitzer

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Robert Redford	...	Norman 'Sonny' Steele
Jane Fonda	...	Alice 'Hallie' Martin
Valerie Perrine	...	Charlotta Steele
Willie Nelson	...	Wendell Hickson
John Saxon	...	Hunt Sears
Nicolas Coster	...	Fitzgerald
Allan Arbus	...	Danny Miles
Wilford Brimley	...	Farmer
Will Hare	...	Gus Atwater
Basil Hoffman	...	Toland
Timothy Scott	...	Leroy
James Sikking	...	Dietrich (as James B. Sikking)
James Kline	...	Tommy
Frank Speiser	...	Bernie
Quinn K. Redeker	...	Bud Broderick (as Quinn Rdeker)

Also Known As:

Electric (USA) (trailer title)

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG | Iceland:L | South Korea:12 | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Finland:S | USA:PG | Singapore:PG | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Caesar's Palace - 3570 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Director Cameo: [Sydney Pollack]Making a pass at Jane Fonda during a Las Vegas convention.

Goofs:

Continuity: The video footage shown on television of Sonny Steele's speech about the horse doesn't match what Alice would have actually shot. The camera movement, lighting and direction of where Steele was facing while talking is completely different.

Quotes:

Hallie Martin: I've been to the rodeo. Twice.
Sonny Steele: Did you stay for the rattlesnake round up?
Hallie Martin: Yes. I stayed. Right till the end. I saw the whole thing.
Sonny Steele: They don't have one. How're you gonna round up a rattlesnake?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Martin Sheen/David Bowie (#5.7)" (1979)

Soundtrack:

So You Think You're a Cowboy

Seen this movie 100 times

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.