Le souffle de la tempête

Although at times the pace of Comes A Horseman is maddeningly slow, the players acquit themselves well in this old western type plot from the 19th century updated to 1945 and the end of World War II.

Stars Jane Fonda and Jason Robards, Jr. have history together, were even married at one time. He's the local Ponderosa owner, she's barely getting by on the small spread her dad left her.

Robards is in a cash flow situation though for the life of me he should be prospering during World War II and army beef contracts. The demand will slacken some due to war's end. There's possible oil on the property that oilman George Grizzard would like to exploit. Possible oil on both properties. Also on neighbor James Caan's small spread. He joins forces with Fonda against Robards.

Jane might have gotten a few pointers from her dad who was never a western star as such, but Henry Fonda did a few classic westerns in his time. She comes across as a real western woman. Director Alan J. Pakula did some real good photography in those wide open spaces. That frontier square dance could have come from a John Ford western.

Richard Farnsworth established a career as a player with an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. That drawl at times is slow, but he's also unbelievably realistic as a veteran cowboy who has lost a step or two and realizes he can't quite the help to Fonda he'd like to be. That fall from his horse after those explosions is agonizingly real for a man getting on.

Slow paced, but well done, Comes A Horseman is a fine modern western if indeed a western of times of the last century can be classified as modern. You might want to watch this back to back with Giant, another modern western about cattlemen and how they adapt to the coming of oil.

It may be my chick flick-oriented mind, but I believe there is a reason for the title, "Comes a Horseman." Ella Connor is the proverbial damsel in distress and in need of rescue. Frank arrives as the rescuer on a horse, but his role in this respect is not obvious because he is more dead than alive after being shot in an ambush. Instead of arriving as the conquering hero on horseback, he is slung across the saddle of Dodger, Ella's elderly ranch hand, who has found him gravely wounded. Dodger at once deposits Frank in the bunk house of Ella's ranch, where Dodger and Ella nurse him back to health.

I remember the touching, wistful scene in which Ella gazes at the doll house her late father had made for her when she was a little girl. The house is a perfect miniature of Ella's childhood home, which she has inherited from her parents. Her expression shows her longing for the unfulfilled dreams of finding Mr. Right and continuing her family's ranching tradition. There also is the scene in which Ella tries to bottle feed an orphaned foal, only to have the creature not survive. Ella shows her maternal instinct in caring for the animal, and this shows her unfulfilled dream of motherhood. Stoically, she carries the dead foal outside and buries it.

I especially noticed the respect Frank has for Ella and the companionship and partnership they share while working on the ranch, with these aspects of their association turning into true love and plans for marriage. Just before the tragic loss of the house, Frank comes home from town and sets a little black velvet box -- presumably holding an engagement ring -- at Ella's place at the kitchen table. Their relationship, along with the beautiful scenery of Colorado, really "make" this movie meaningful to me.

If you like James Caan, (Frank Athearn), "City of Ghosts" who works as a cow hand for Jane Fonda, (Ella Connorfs),"Old Gringo" and owns a large stretch of land in the West and has just lost her husband in WW II and is left all by herself to run a big ranch along with Richard Farnsworth, (Dodger); who is an older man and has worked for Ella's father for many years on the ranch. Ella has some deep dark secrets in her life and rarely says a few words to anyone and plays the role of a rough and tough gal who can do everything by herself. Ella soon finds out she needs help and decides to hire Frank Athearn to assist her with her cattle. Jason Robards is a rich old man who has the hots for Ella and had become very close to her in the past and still wants to control her life. This is a different type of Western and if you like cattle, you can see them running all the time in and around all kinds of wood land. This picture disappointed me, however, Richard Farnsworth gave a great supporting role and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Really shouldn't be allowed to review film.

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I only downrated this movie from 10 out of 10 for the predictable script. I was amused by the comment that Richard Farnsworth seemed out of breath. I am not even Farnsworth's age at filming yet, live in the sticks and I am similarly out of breath when doing heavy work. I have had to quit roping at age 60 due to back pain from previous ski racing injuries and occasional horse falls. In any case this is a very accurate description of cattle ranching anywhere. I have visited places in our Big Smoky Valley where real cattle ranches lived, raised kids and worked in mud, snow, very little for conveniences and without the power grid. We will go to a real cattle roundup near McDermitt, NV next fall of 4000 cattle. This is done by a pioneer family with four brothers, and offspring and is a prized invitation.

Watching home movies from real ranchers might convince some city people who don't notice things like such rudimentary sparse conditions. One example of a goof in the movie was Fonda putting on a watch which would have been an extreme extravagance in 1945. Had this movie had writing as realistic as the filming, it would have been much better. Robards was just to vicious to be real. This was 1945, not 1875, and he couldn't have gotten away with all the murders. The automobiles used, Fonda's 1928 or 29 Model A pickup, and Robard's 41 convertible, the Sheriff's 37 Dodge, and the Banker's 42 Plymouth were all very typical. In 1945, people didn't have the kind of money that they do now, and drove a lot older cars and there were no new cars between 1943 and 1946, and very few 1942 models due to the war.

The simple conversations are typical of cowboys and rural people who work hard and don't play boom boxes and don't say much. They are not driven like city people and work much more quietly. The courting buildup between Caan and Fonda had to do with each adapting to the other gradually and trust forming. It wasn't that Caan was laid back as much as he distrusted Fonda's impetuous reactions at first. The writers really got dialog and realistic conditions right.

I am from a rural background, went to college, drafted into the Army, then finished college and lived and worked in bigger and bigger places and did travel to a lot of places including Europe and Asia. I finally got tired of it, knowing I could create my own job in a small place. This is why a lot of people live in simple places and why so many retire in simple places. They don't care that there are no cable systems, malls, stores, or hospitals. That last long ride to a hospital hopefully will finish you off in the time it takes to get there. Simple places with low housing prices, and a simpler more outdoor life allow retirement poor couples to survive with a decent lifestyle which is far divorced from city/suburban pressured lifestyles. When people wonder why anyone would choose such a life, particularly after "seeing the world" some of it is the above. Handshake business, people who care about each other but still fight and argue, and leaving your doors unlocked is real rural culture, particularly in the west, but you always distrust government and you keep your guns ready.

I highly recommend this movie, I would have given it 8.5 out of 10, but the software is whole numbers, so it is rounded upward.