an oddity of sorts from director sydney pollack that tells the story of 'sonny' steele, five times champion ''all-round-cowboy'', whom becomes disillusioned with his status as advertising icon, and flees the bright lights in an attempt to free the mistreated horse that he calls partner.
reminiscent of eastwood's bronco billy, the electric horseman tackles similar territory, with both facing outdated ideals that have been modernised with vastly different results. while the electric horseman never reaches the heights that personal favourite bronco billy achieves, its still a hugely enjoyable film, with a touching finale that will surely tug on the heart strings of even the hardest of hearts.
robert redford was at his most interesting in the years running up to the electric horseman, with his performance being reliably affable and being a great example of just why he was so appealing at that time, with jane fonda great as the co star that is more than just a love interest. its worth bearing in mind that the electric horseman came at a time when fonda wouldnt really be associated with this sort of crowd pleaser, a contextual affirmation of the importance of the films political subtext.
as may be apparent from the previous form of my writings, im a huge fan of the concept of the post-modern western, and the electric horseman fits in nicely amongst this subgenre.
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