Comes a Horseman (1978)

Stars:  Jane Fonda, Jason Robards, James Caan, Richard Farnsworth

Well sir, I jes seen Comes a Horseman and I feel lower than a snake’s belly. Y’see I was all set to see a rip-roaring Western and instead I got stuck with what they call a “Modern Western”, made by some city slicker called Alan Pakula.  From what I can tell, this here “Modern western”, is just an old time western made different for no good reason.

Fer instance, in an ol' Western you’d have a strong silent type, like Gary Cooper, who’d let his guns do the talkin’.  But in Comes a Horseman, why *everyone* is a strong, silent type, even the leadin’ lady.  Why, they don’t say much, and when they do, they talk right slow like.  Durned if I know why - ‘cept one of em’s Canadian – so that explains *him*. And a lot of the picture is shot inside, where its kinda dark, and you can’t really see much.  But I guess that’s artistic - so it’s Ok.

Then there’s the plot. Y’see Jason Robards is a “land baron” and a mean ol’ snake who wants the whole Valley to his self, and the only one standin’ in his way is a small rancher.  No it’s not Jimmy Caan, its Jane Fonda. See, I done told ya it was different.  Well, Jane’s a tough ol’ Gal and jes don’t want to sell out.   And to make it even more surprisin', she and ol’ Jason used to be an item, and he still wants to bed her, but Jane won’t have none of it.  And Jane’s kinda sad, but eventually she perks up when Jimmy Caan starts helping out around the Ranch.

So, anyway, until the last 15 minutes, there’s a whole lot of slow talkin’, and cow-punchin’, and pretty Mountains, and dark rooms, and ol’ Jason looking ornery - but not much gun play or excitement. ‘Cept, the Canadian dies – but we all knew he was a gonner anyhow.

Summary: If you hanker to watch a Jane Fonda western, you might cotton to Comes a Horseman. But ol’ western fans should stick to Randy Scott.