Yeah,
I know – this movie also stars Jane Fonda. So if you're among those
who hate Fonda and will never watch anything she's in, then that's
your right and so go ahead and skip this too. All I'll say is that,
in this case, you're cheating yourself of a pretty darn movie. I'll
add that I myself share few if any of Fonda's views, especially her
antics during the Vietnam War years, but am able to separate that
from enjoying some of the movies she's been in.
Okay.
That said, moving on to THE ELECTRIC HORSEMAN:
This
is, very simply, the story of a cowboy (a modern-day one) who has
lost his way via fame and booze and manages to find his way back with
the help of a twelve million dollar horse who has been drawn into a
similar situation.
Robert
Redford is the cowboy, Sonny Steele, a 5-time All-Around rodeo champ
who these days, too bent and beat up to continue competing, serves as
the “face” for a top-selling cereal product that is part of a big
bucks business conglomerate on the brink of a very important merger
to grow even bigger. The horse is Rising Star, a thoroughbred racing
champion, now owned by the same outfit and serving as the symbol for
their future expansion.
Both
Sonny and Rising Star are in Las Vegas as part of a promotional
extravaganza that will culminate in the finalizing of the merger.
Upon examining Star, however, in preparation for riding him during an
on-stage production planned as a highlight of the promotion, Sonny
discovers the horse is doped to the gills and even has an injured leg
that is not being splinted properly because it wouldn't “look
good”. When he tries to bring this to the attention of the head
honcho of the company, he is rudely blown off. And when no one else
will listen to him either, the cowboy decides to take matters into
his own hands.
At
the height of the big stage show, astride Rising Star and all decked
out in strings of electric lights fed off a battery pack, Sonny rides
off the stage, out through the casino crowd and onto the Vegas Strip,
then gallops away into the Nevada desert.
From
there it's a game of cat-and-mouse. Sonny and Star on the run --
trying to keep from being discovered as they work their way toward a
remote location where Sonny plans to set the horse free after he's
purged the drugs from his system and healed his leg – and all the
forces of the law and big money influence trying to intercept and
stop them.
Only
a savvy TV newswoman named Hallie (Fonda) manages to figure out what
Sonny has in mind and manages to chase him down. Hearing his side of
things, Hallie convinces Sonny to let her record what he has to say
so she can get it played on the air and present to the public that
he's more than just a crazy, drunken horse thief. A (somewhat
illogical) romance blossoms between the two and, from there, Hallie
sticks with Sonny to help him try to free Rising Star. It helps that
her tape of what Sonny had to say starts to sway the public and the
business conglomerate that owns the horse has to go into spin mode to
try and convince everybody that they've only wanted what's best for
Rising Star all along.
This
is Redford's movie pretty much all the way. He's perfect as the
sincere but rather dim (maybe from being dumped on his head too many
times) cowpoke trying to recapture “the best part of himself”.
Fonda is on hand mainly for the romance bit and to serve as a cypher
to get Sonny's words heard. There are a number of good turns from the
supporting cast, too – John Saxon, Wilford Brimley, Valerie
Perrine. But Willie Nelson, in his acting debut and providing some
key songs for the soundtrack, damn near steals the whole show with
one immortal line. After Sonny has run off and Willie (playing his
best pal) is left behind, somebody asks him what he is going to do.
To which he replies: “Me? I guess I'll find me one of those Keno
girls who knows how to suck the chrome off a trailer hitch ... and
just kick back for a while.”
Ah,
yes. My heroes have always been cowboys.
This
is not a movie I'd stand in line around the block to see. But it's
pretty good. A little different, enjoyable, well done. I liked it
when I saw it at the theater almost forty years ago, I still did when
I re-watched it on cable recently. Check it out if you get the
chance, I think you might, too.
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