The Electric Horseman

1979
PG
2h 1m

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

10K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer2:32

2 Videos

34 Photos

Comedy Drama Romance Western

A rodeo star past his prime steals his company's horse and rides into the desert, accompanied by a feisty reporter.A rodeo star past his prime steals his company's horse and rides into the desert, accompanied by a feisty reporter.A rodeo star past his prime steals his company's horse and rides into the desert, accompanied by a feisty reporter.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

10K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 win & 1 nomination total

Videos2

Trailer 2:32

Official Trailer

Clip 5:10

Robert Redford: The Con With Conviction & the End of a Legendary Screen Persona

Clip 5:10

Robert Redford: The Con With Conviction & the End of a Legendary Screen Persona

Photos34

+ 29

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The name of Sonny Steele's horse in the film is "Rising Star". The star steed was played by a 5-year-old bay thoroughbred called "Let's Merge" after a 6-month equine talent search. Robert Redford bought the horse after production was complete and owned him for 18 years before the horse passed away.

Goofs
The video footage shown on television of Sonny Steele's speech about the horse doesn't match what Alice would have actually shot. The camera movement, lighting and direction of where Steele was facing while talking is completely different.

Quotes
Wendall: I'm gonna get me a bottle of tequila and find me one of them Keno girls that can suck the chrome off a trailer hitch and just kinda kick back.

Alternate versions
The film's original soundtrack has been changed in different ways for its two DVD releases:
The Image DVD replaces Dave Grusin's beautiful "Freedom Epilogue" score music (where the horse is set free) with a reprise of "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" by Willie Nelson, originally heard during the opening credits. This actually works well, though one wonders why a piece of original score had to be changed.
The newer Universal release goes a step further, removing "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" from the opening credits (and in fact from the film completely) as well as "Freedom Epilogue" and replaces them both with a very inappropriate generic harmonica-driven instrumental which is meant to sound like a Willie Nelson song.

Connections
Featured in Sneak Previews: The Electric Horseman, Cuba, Going In Style, The Black Hole, All That Jazz (1979)

Soundtracks
Midnight Rider
(uncredited)
Written by Gregg Allman and Robert Payne
Performed by Willie Nelson

User reviews50

Review

Featured review

6/10

So low-keyed it nearly evaporates

Everyone involved in "The Electric Horseman" is taking it easy. The film is just a lark for some very talented people, and while it does have its amusements it doesn't add up to much. Robert Redford plays a rodeo-star who steals his celebrated horse, planning to ride it up to hill country to release it in the wild, but he's dogged by inquisitive female reporter Jane Fonda. There's a message about wildlife to be had in Robert Garland's exceptionally thin script, which must have attracted both Redford and Fonda, but director Sydney Pollack wisely concentrates on the leads' budding romance, and the horse takes the proverbial backseat. Some of the repartee is sharp, but the movie doesn't particularly look good or seem fully thought out. As a result, it's unmemorable and undemanding, though not without minor enjoyment. **1/2 from ****