A farm in Montana

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Movie
German title A farm in Montana
Original title Comes a horseman
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1978
length 118 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Alan J. Pakula
script Dennis Lynton Clark
production Robert Chartoff
Irwin Winkler
Gene Kirkwood
Dan Paulson
music Michael Small
camera Gordon C. Willis
cut Marion Rothman
occupation

A Farm in Montana (Original Title: Comes a Horseman ; DVD Title: Uprising of the Upright ) is a 1978 American drama film directed by Alan J. Pakula . The leading roles are starring James Caan , Jane Fonda and Jason Robards .

action

Ella Connors, a widow, inherits a farm in Montana from her father in the 1940s. She is determined to keep it running. The entrepreneur Jacob Ewing, a relative of Ella, with whom she once slept, wants to steal her farm and land in her own interest. But an oil company is also interested in the country. In addition to the old Dodger, who already worked for her father, she is also supported by her neighbor Frank Athearn, who fought in Italy in World War II . Both get closer in the process.

Jacob Ewing lets himself be carried away to hire two men to eliminate Frank. Frank survived this attack, seriously injured, and was brought to Ella's farm to get well again.

Jacob Ewing is far from defeated. Athearn and Connors are ambushed by Ewing and his people. They are locked in a chamber of the farm complex's house, which is set on fire. The duo manage to break free. In a subsequent fight, Ewing is seriously injured. His foot gets stuck in the stirrup of his horse, so that Ewing is dragged along when the galloping animal runs away, which he ultimately pays with his life.

production

Production notes

The film, a Chartoff-Winkler production for United Artists , was shot in Arizona and Colorado .

The stuntman Jim Sheppard died in the scene in which he was dragged behind the horse because his head hit a fence.

background

Jane Fonda was at the height of her career at this point. Shortly before, she had finished the disabled drama Coming Home , for which she received her second Oscar . Fonda had worked with Alan J. Pakula in 1971 in the thriller Klute , the film that won her first Oscar. She also reunited with Jason Robards, with whom she had worked on the multi-award-winning film adaptation of Julia . Then there were James Caan and Gordon Willis on camera, so another success seemed inevitable. However, the end result of this collaboration of many talents was not quite as expected. Only 58-year-old Richard Farnsworth was able to convince the critics, who had little interest in the film, and received an Oscar nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . For Farnsworth this was the entry into better role offers.

reception

publication

The film premiered in the United States on October 25, 1978. In Denmark it was published in December 1978. In 1979 it was published in the following countries: Italy, Sweden, Finland, France, Colombia, the Netherlands, Ireland, Spain (Barcelona, ​​Madrid), Poland, Argentina, Belgium (Gent) and Davao in the Philippines. The film was shown in Australia in 1980, in Turkey in 1983 and on video in Japan in 1987. In the Federal Republic of Germany it was not shown in the cinema, it was first seen on October 10, 1981 on German television.

It has also been published in Argentina, Bulgaria, Brazil, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. The English working title of the film was Comes a Horseman Wild and Free .

The film was released on March 5, 2007 under the title Aufstand der Aufrechte von Twentieth Century Fox with a German soundtrack on DVD.

criticism

Reviews are mixed, but critics agree that the film wouldn't be half as effective without the stunning photography by Gordon Willis. Because if something doesn't really happen on the canvas, there is still the landscape that is impressively captured.

Richard Winters also focused on photography and wrote that the main charm of the film is its breathtaking cinematography, which captures the expansive western landscape in a breathtaking way. This is actually a film that has to be viewed on the big screen or in widescreen format in order to be fully appreciated. Director Alan J. Pakula stages a wonderfully slow tempo with a minimum of music that gives the viewer an authentic feeling of what life must have been like in the USA in the 1940s.

The London magazine TimeOut wrote that the film "failed" (" misfit "). The conflicts of interest are shown too precisely than is usual in the genre. Visually the film is "excellent" (" superb ").

Rotten Tomatoes wrote that the photographs of the landscape of the Wet Mountain Valley in Colorado were "breathtaking". Richard Farnsworth's portrayal was also praised.

Phil Hardy noted that the film had a lot in common with Pakula's earlier films, Witness to a Conspiracy and The Untouchables , “despite the celebration of the vast, open landscape” . The story and atmosphere are "decidedly modern with their feeling of discomfort" but the protagonists are all oriented towards the past. The film is a "homage to the old west" and Willis' camera work is "wonderful".

Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World , thought the film seemed bored of itself most of the time and was desperately trying to get monumental in the manner of a John Ford metaphorical western. But in this attempt he fails. Aside from his homage to old westerns and his breathtaking landscape photography by cinematographer Gordon Willis, it is ostentatious, slow and shallow, despite its A-film production values.

Derek Winnert said director Alan J. Pakula's 1978 western from the 1940s was "impressive and easily tolerated," even if he wasn't quite as successful. The film offers an entertaining modern trip through the cowboy clichés with reliable performances, self-confident staging by Pakula and dazzling Technicolor cinematography of the eye-catching scenery in Arizona and Colorado by Gordon Willis. The Oscar nominated Richard Farnsworth stole the show in his supporting role as old cowboy Dodger. Overall, this is an “exciting, engaging” film.

The lexicon of international film found the film “a multilayered western that combines traditional motifs with modern elements; told in massive, static images ”.

Awards (selection)

Richard Farnsworth was nominated for an Oscar in 1979 for Best Supporting Actor. He received the National Board of Review Award in 1978 and the National Society of Film Critics Award in 1979 .

Jane Fonda received the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award in 1978 . The screenplay by Dennis Lynton Clark received the 1979 Track Award from the Western Writers of America .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A farm in Montana Filming & Production in the IMDb
  2. ^ A farm in Montana Trivia in the IMDb
  3. ↑ Jay S. Steinberg: Comes a Horseman sS TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English). Retrieved March 17, 2019.
  4. ↑ Uprising of the Upright Fig. DVD case
  5. ↑ Mark Tolch: Comes a Horseman sS rockshockpop.com (English; with film images) accessed on March 25, 2018.
  6. ↑ Richard Winters: Comes a Horseman (1978) see scopophiliamovieblog.com, October 25, 1978 (English) accessed on March 25, 2018.
  7. ↑ Comes a Horseman see timeout.com; accessed on March 25, 2018.
  8. ↑ Comes a Horseman (1978) see Rotten Tomatoes; accessed on March 25, 2018.
  9. ^ Phil Hardy: The Encyclopedia of Western Movies. Woodbury Press, Minneapolis 1984, ISBN 0-8300-0405-X , p. 353.
  10. ↑ Dennis Schwartz: Comes a Horseman sS homepages.sover.net. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  11. ↑ Derek Winnert: Comes a Horseman sS derekwinnert.com (English). Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  12. ↑ A farm in Montana. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 17, 2019 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used