Comes a Horseman

Comes a Horseman
Directed by Alan J. Pakula
Produced by Gene Kirkwood
Dan Paulson
Written by Dennis Lynton Clark
Starring Jane Fonda
James Caan
Jason Robards
Richard Farnsworth
Cinematography Gordon Willis
Edited by Marion Rothman
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • October 25, 1978 (1978-10-25)
Running time
 118 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $9,585,769

Comes a Horseman is a 1978 American western drama film starring Jane Fonda, James Caan, Jason Robards, and Richard Farnsworth, directed by Alan J. Pakula.

Set in the American West of the 1940s but not a typical Western, it tells the story of two ranchers (Caan and Fonda) whose small operation is threatened both by economic hardship and the expansionist dreams of a local land baron (Robards).

Farnsworth, a former stuntman, received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. The film grossed $9.6 million at the box office.

A stuntman working on this film, Jim Sheppard, was killed while doing a scene where Robards' character is dragged to (presumably) his death. A horse dragging him veered from its course and caused Sheppard to hit his head on a fence post. The scene made it into the movie, although it is cut right before the horse passes through the gate where the fatal accident occurred.

Plot

It's the early 1940s in the American west. Ruthless rancher Jacob W. Ewing's (Jason Robards) family has lived in the region for generations, and his dream is to buy up all the land in the area to see the buffalo roam the area like they did when his grandfather was alive. With the help of New York businessman Neil Atkinson whose family also grew up in the region, J.W. has managed to buy up all the land from neighboring ranchers, who have not managed to eke out a living ranching, often with a little unwanted persuasion by J.W.'s henchmen. The one holdout is Ella Connors (Jane Fonda), whose family has also ranched the area for the last two generations with the help of the family's aged longtime hand, Dodger (Richard Farnsworth). One small player is war veteran Frank Athearn (James Caan) to who Ella sold a small plot of land to be able to pay her bills. Ella and J.W. have a history to which Ella is not too comfortable admitting. Although J.W. believes that Ella cannot survive another season financially, Ella and Frank, both of whom are committed to making a living ranching, enter into an uneasy alliance, especially after an incident involving Frank and Frank's partner, fellow veteran Billy Joe Meynart (Mark Harmon), driven by J.W. Also into the mix is Neil, who wants to so some exploratory drilling for oil in the area, he who may call in his unspoken promissory note from J.W. But J.W. seems to be the one who will go to any length required to get what he wants.[1]

Cast

References

  1. ↑ IMDb
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