Le souffle de la tempête

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.

Jason Robards plays such a slimeball character in this that you know the ending from about the fourth minute. Nevertheless, it's a good story, with lots of hidden secrets to reveal. Caan plays a believable laid-back love interest for tough, gutsy Jane Fonda. The best thing is the photography, however-- in particular the dance scene, in which the camera follows Fonda and Caan as they move through a crowded outdoor dance floor without every losing either focus or the stars. Breathtaking. Some great mountains somewhere in Wyoming come close to stealing the show.

The title is kind of dumb for this movie that is very good. Dumb title, because it's not about a horseman coming -- it's about 3 cattle ranchers in Montana (though at least some filming was done in Northern Arizona). Jason Robards is the heavy, as the rancher who owns the most and wants to regain control of the other 2 ranches, which his family once owned. One of the other ranches is owned by Jane Fonda, who gained control of it when her father, a cousin of Jason Robards, died, and whose only help running it is an old cowhand played by the late Richard Farnsworth (for which he received an Academy Award nomination). The other cattle spread is owned by James Caan, recently released from the Army near the end of WWII. Inside Fonda burns a deeply rooted and awful hatred of Robards, for which we gradually learn the reasons. She and Caan form what is at first an alliance of need and indebtedness, which as you might correctly assume develops into something deeper (and nicer, I might add). Throw into this mix a rich oilman played by George Grizzard, who wants to get oil out of the land wherever he finds it, regardless of whose land it is, and who exerts some mighty strong leverage against Robards. What makes this movie good is an interesting plot, made more interesting by the actors -- Fonda and Caan in particular play their roles as authentic western ranch types, as people of relatively few words, with easy-going outward appearances, but strong emotions underlying those facades and hard-edged attitudes attained through a rugged life of hard work. This was one of 3 movies in 1978 for Jane Fonda, one of which being "Coming Home" for which she won an Academy Award. A comparison of her acting in that movie vs. this one, is that this role required more nuance and subtlety, to hold her character's emotions in (which of course she in turn must convey to us, the audience), as she had to completely become a stoic western rancher and horsewoman...which also required greater physical (including facial) control and physical agility. Regardless of which of these 2 major starring roles one might prefer her in that year, it seems obvious that she was at the top of her form. Also to be admired in this film are the cattle herding, roping, and round-up sequences, and one major sequence of chasing and gaining control of stampeding cattle -- the scenes look real, and were obviously done by some professional cowboys. There's also the big, open feel of the country provided by the beautiful cinematography of Gordon Willis, whose movies include "The Godfather" films and Woody Allen's fabulous 1979 black-and-white masterpiece "Manhattan". So, plenty of good reasons to watch this one.

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.

Comes a Horseman is directed by Alan J. Pakula and written by Dennis Lynton Clark. It stars Jane Fonda, James Caan, Jason Robards and Richard Farnsworth. Music is by Michael Small and cinematography by Gordon Willis.

It seems the ideas and willing behind Comes a Horseman are made of sturdy stuff, you sense that the makers wanted to make a reflective post-modern Western set in post World War II times. Tonally they get it mostly right, it is very sombre, both in characterisations and the changing of the times thematic beat. Plot is hardly thrilling as Robards' land baron plots to oust Fonda and Caan out of their respective homesteads in readiness for the oil company to come destroy the magnificent landscape.

Ella Connors (Fonda) is a feisty but vulnerable woman, Frank Athearn (Caan) is fresh out of service in the war and carries the emotional scars of said battles. They form an unsteady alliance to ward off Jacob Ewing (Robards), but as past turmoil's come to the surface it's touch and go as to who, if anyone, will win out.

With the Colorado landscape beautifully captured by Willis, and the performances (including an Academy Award Nomination for Farnsworth as Ella's sage old ranch hand) solid as a rock, the pic retains interest if you can tolerate the laborious pace favoured by Pakula. There's a couple of action sequences within, but they feel like afterthoughts, so we are left to buy into the rueful characterisations and their respective attempts at post war living out there on the ranges. 6.5/10