Le souffle de la tempête

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.

I'm a fan of the late Alan J Pakula's naturalist style of direction, low on action but high on character, particularly his earlier contemporary political thrillers "The Parallax View" and of course "All The President's Men" and so came to this low-key out-west drama set during the second world war, (not that you'd know from the storyline itself). With an A-list acting cast boasting James Caan, Jane Fonda & Jason Robards you just know there's going to be a fair bit of intensity on display. In fact Fonda, despite being on screen from pretty much the start takes ages to utter her first line and it's fair to say that the director employs the "say more with less" approach throughout.

The plot, characters and indeed cinematography recall to mind classic films of yore, like Hawks' "Red River", Stevens' "Giant" and even a touch of "Gone With The Wind" with the fire at the conclusion, but the action is a little laboured, with, to these ears slow-talking, drawling dialogue quite often proving fairly difficult to decipher. The camera however picks out some wonderful scenery in natural clear light and throughout there's a sympathetic musical soundtrack adding shading to the pictures up front.

Back to the plot, which is a little melodramatic, I fear, with its casual slaughter of various individuals and depiction of Jason Robards as the smouldering resentful villain of the piece - I found all this much harder to swallow in its mid-40's settings than if it had been set in the old west. Ditto in fact all the other main characters - if it wasn't for the appearance of the oil derricks, light aircraft and contemporary cars, this story could have happily slotted into a mid 1860's time-line.

Of the acting, it's obvious that Pakula is going to get his handsome leading couple romantically involved although when it's done it's at least done without preamble, subverting the romantic courtship ritual of every other western since the year dot. Caan is fine as the strong-willed individual well able to look after himself (he early on dispatches a couple of Robards' thugs in short order in one of the few action scenes in the film), at least willing to consider adapting to the present-day, while Fonda is probably a bit too mannered in her portrayal of the independent single woman being driven to sell up her ranch by a combination of failing resources and Robards' machinations. She overplays occasionally with her eyes acting more than the rest of her, especially when she swears her "Damn your soul" oath against Robards. Robards himself, late of "All The President's Men", of course, does moody and stolid throughout, with sometimes variable results.

In summary then, a slow-moving but reasonably involving tale of the new old-west, which could have stood more enlivening in my opinion.

Good and gripping modern western imbued with a deep nostalgia for a vanished world , set in the ranchlands of Montana 1945 , dealing with an old-fashioned cowboy on horseback , an Anzio war veteran resistant to the modern times , called Frank Buck (James Caan) . He is a free-spirited man out of sync with the contemporary age . Buck reluctantly attempts to help and joins forces with a single woman , Ella Connors , (Jane Fonda , who holds an uncanny resemblance to her father Henry as well as her brother Peter and her personality dominates the film) pitting wits against the world progress , oil-rich proprietaries and a nasty land baron (Jason Robards as her previous incestuous cousin) in an attempt to hold their dream of pioneering spirit and freedom . Buck and Connors are supported by a local old timer called Dodger (Richard Fansworth) . Meanwhile , a powerful banker (George Grizzard) attempts to take all the oil rich lands surrounding the wealthy owners . An the end takes place and exciting and moving climax when the main conflicts developing throughout the movie come alive .

Romantic , compelling , elegiac and marvelously acted Western with an extreme feel by that time and period . Sorrowfull essay on civilized progress and exploitation of nature , including two main characters out of step with the modern world . The message of Dennis Clark's screenplay is often a little too heavily underlined buttressed by some rather obvious symbols . The film turns out to be rebellious as well as respectful with classic Western mythology , including ordinary set pieces : saloon fights , go riding , rodeo , close range , stampedes and final gun-play , adding some Fordian touches . Although the flick is more interested in the sensitive love story between Fonda and Caan than battles and western action . This ¨Comes a horseman¨ bears certain resemblance to ¨Lonely are the brave¨ by David Miller with Kirk Douglas , Walter Matthaw , Gena Rowlands ; both of them are misfit modern Westerns , share similar issues : ranchers' conflict , open range , confrontations and resistance to the modern ages . ¨Comes the horseman¨ results to be an elaborately designed Western with a slow-moving and persuasive treatment of Western familiar themes such as : brawls in a bar , cattle chase , war range , shootouts , and including a blazing conclusion brings this thrilling picture to a highly satisfactory final . Very good acting from a great cast . As Jane Fonda as the spinster banshee woman who fights off relentlessly cattle baron , she is mercilessly struggling to make it on her own to not have to sell out her lands . James Caan is really convincing as the cowboy who feels empathy and finally love for Fonda . Both of whom are really faced off a villain owner , masterfully played by Jason Robards as a cattle baron attempting to gobble up all Montana land , whose affair with her as a teenager has marked to her father . And special mention for Richard Farnsworth as a Walter Brennan-style old times who steals the show as the veteran who wants to die with boots on .

Pakula directs with aplomb and eloquent feeling for landscapes , making magnificent use of outdoors and adding a wonderful cinematography by Gordon Willis who gives a visually superb lighting . Furthermore , it displays a rousing and thrilling musical score by Michael Small . This intriguing picture was compellingly directed by Alan J. Pacula , though being slowly and deliberately realized . Pacula made a lot of nice films , such as : All the president's men , Sophie's choice , The Parallax view , Starting over , Presumed innocent , Pelican brief , The devil's own and this one : Comes a horseman .

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.

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.