The Electric Horseman

Name: The Electric Horseman
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance, Western
Released: December 21, 1979
Duration: 121 min
Rating: 64
Cast: Allan Arbus, Basil Hoffman, Jane Fonda, John Saxon, Nicolas Coster

1979

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 4 Ratings

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6.5

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6.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 4 Ratings

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The Electric Horseman

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Movie Details & Credits

Cinema International Corporation (CIC) | Release Date: December 21, 1979 | PG

Starring: Allan Arbus, Basil Hoffman, Jane Fonda, John Saxon, Nicolas Coster, Robert Redford, Valerie Perrine, Wilford Brimley, Will Hare, Willie Nelson

Summary: A rodeo star (Robert Redford) past his prime steals his company's horse and rides off into the desert, with an quirky female reporter (Jane Fonda) accompanying him.

Director: Sydney Pollack

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy, Romance, Western

Rating: PG

Runtime: 121 min

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Metascore

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Negative:

Critic Reviews

Vincent Canby

Invigorating. Read full review

Jack Kroll

In THE ELECTRIC HORSEMAN, they're at their most golden, ethical and sexy. This ability to make right-mindedness so seductive, stylish and debonair is what makes The Electric Horseman such a sweet and beguiling movie. [17 Dec 1979, p.112]

Roger Ebert

If The Electric Horseman has a flaw, it's that the movie's so warm and cozy it can hardly be electrifying. The director, Sydney Pollack, gives us solid entertainment, but he doesn't take chances and he probably didn't intend to. Read full review

David Sterritt

With its good intentions and likable demeanor, The Electric Horseman is an engaging but minor movie. It makes another amiable and thoughtful vehicle for two of our most charismatic stars, while never quite entering the world of action and ideas that hover just beyond the horsey humor and tumbling tumbleweeds of the story. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

The third teaming of Redford and Fonda (after "The Chase" and "Barefoot in the Park"), HORSEMAN falls far short of what it might have been, starting out smart but getting sloppier and more sentimental as it goes along. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Beguilingly sharp at first, but the later stages, with Fonda's toughie reporter tagging along for a story but going all mushy inside, wallow in sentimentality about integrity, ecology and all that jazz. Read full review

Judith Martin

The perceptive dramatic touches of Fonda and Redford take the stereotypical edge off the stock characters of "cowboy" and "career girl." But these serve ridiculous story making a mushy, if not disreputable, moral point. [21 Dec 1979, p.32]

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User Reviews

amheretojudge

Mar 6, 2019

Ride Slow. Ride Long.

The Electric Horseman Pollack's take on cowboy and their lifestyle is fascinating as much as it should be, there is no effort beyond that, there is no layer beneath it. There are few moments were Sydney Pollack; the director, does steal the thunder but even at thoseRide Slow. Ride Long.

The Electric Horseman

Pollack's take on cowboy and their lifestyle is fascinating as much as it should be, there is no effort beyond that, there is no layer beneath it. There are few moments were Sydney Pollack; the director, does steal the thunder but even at those moments, you would feel that the makers could have done a lot better. For instance, the one big chase scene, probably the only exhilarating antic in the entire film where all the adrenaline is supposed to be poured in, but the way it is shot could have been much more cleaner and crispier than it is.

And this is what is left at the end of the film, that inadequacy on everything that makes you wonder the bourgeois strategy of the filmmaker. Maybe, it's some new adapted technique that didn't work or was just meant to be accordingly. The adapted screenplay too, is another limitation to leap over, as much as standard it is, there is no crux in the game, no relation between these characters whatsoever. And the romance or the spark that you see between our lead characters is all driven from their performance.

Robert Redford playing a star past his fame and youth, broods as much as he should and oozes sexual charisma more than he should. This is where the film gets easy. Making Jane Fonda; an uptight skillful player in the show business, fall for the carefree natured cowboy. As much as stereotypical it is, it just works. Their isolated electrifying journey is the only reason you would want to take this ride. From silent still pitches on screen to their "slave to their behavior" nature where all the bickerings is drawn from, helps them immensely to walk on some solid ground where The Electric Horseman is the ultimate saviour.… Expand

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