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Comes a Horseman

Comes a Horseman

Western · Drama · 1978

Ella Connors is a single woman who gets pressured to sell her failing cattle farm to her corrupt ex-suitor, Jacob Ewing. She asks for help from her neighbor, Frank Athearn. As Ella and Frank fight back through stampedes, jealousy, betrayal, and sabotage... they eventually find love.

Movie details

Comes a Horseman

“She was as strong as the land for which she fought. And as vulnerable.”

1978 Western · Drama 1h 58m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.0 / 10

Community rating

Ella Connors is a single woman who gets pressured to sell her failing cattle farm to her corrupt ex-suitor, Jacob Ewing. She asks for help from her neighbor, Frank Athearn. As Ella and Frank fight back through stampedes, jealousy, betrayal, and sabotage... they eventually find love.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Comes a Horseman?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Rancho Notorious

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A man in search of revenge infiltrates a ranch, hidden in an inhospitable region, where its owner, Altar Keane, gives shelter to outlaws fleeing from the law in exchange for a price.

Hud

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Hud Bannon is a ruthless young man who tarnishes everything and everyone he touches. Hud represents the perfect embodiment of alienated youth, out for kicks with no regard for the consequences. There is bitter conflict between the callous Hud and his stern and highly principled father, Homer. Hud's nephew Lon admires Hud's cheating ways, though he soon becomes too aware of Hud's reckless amorality to bear him anymore. In the world of the takers and the taken, Hud is a winner. He's a cheat, but, he explains, "I always say the law was meant to be interpreted in a lenient manner."

Ramrod

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Purgatory

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Alan J. Pakula

Written by

Dennis Lynton Clark

James Caan

James Caan

Frank 'Buck' Athearn

Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda

Ella Connors

Jason Robards

Jason Robards

Jacob 'J.W.' Ewing

George Grizzard

George Grizzard

Neil Atkinson

Richard Farnsworth

Richard Farnsworth

Dodger

Jim Davis

Jim Davis

Julie Blocker

Mark Harmon

Mark Harmon

Billy Joe Meynert

Court is in session

Put Comes a Horseman on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Patience is part of the point.”

Duration becomes texture. The film asks you to inhabit its world instead of merely processing its plot.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“A test of endurance, your honour.”

Stillness keeps submitting itself as meaning. At some point, contemplation needs something worth contemplating.