comes a horseman

In retrospect, it may seem like the only person still making westerns in the late '70s was Clint Eastwood. But director Alan J. Pakula made a major contribution to the genre with 1978's Comes a Horseman, a quiet but simmering story about dueling ranchers and ambitious oil barons fighting over land rights at the tail end of WW2. Starring Jane Fonda, James Caan and Jason Robards, all at the height of the careers, the film is both an elegiac tribute to the cattle drives, cowpunchers and the rough 'n tumble traditions of big sky country mixed with a more modern, subtle and poetic storytelling technique.

Fonda plays Ella Conners, a strong-willed but bitter woman determined to work her late-husband's land despite threatening offers to sell-out to J.W. Ewing (Robards), a soft-spoken dictator determined to piece back together his family legacy. Frank (Caan) has already seen what Ewing is willing to do, barely surviving an ambush that killed his partner (Mark Harmon). After a tenuous meeting, Frank and Ella throw in together in an effort to bring enough stock to market to keep the land out of Ewing's hands...and stand up to the oil executives ancy to drill on their pristine property.

Comes a Horseman follows a familiar template, but works wonders out of the small details. Pakula (The Parallax View, Klute), so masterful at crafting characters who play their cards close to the chest, lets the romance between Ella and Frank develop with infinite patience. In fact, we're never really sure if either character needs the other...it's more of a mutual surrender that feels decidedly real and unsentimental. Fonda, looking as wonderfully weathered as her father, has an explosive temper that perfectly balances Caan's meaningful silences. While Robards' slouching patriarch is nothing but a loose-fitting disguise of ruthless intimidation and ambition.

As beautifully as Pakula stages this modern horse opera, it's cinematographer Gordon Willis (The Godfather) who runs away with the film. Better known for his shadowy interiors and urban landscapes, his photography here captures the essence of the West in carefully composed still life snippets, from lush green valleys and dusty country roads to a cramped dinner for two in a sparse country kitchen. His work turns Comes a Horseman into something "lived in" rather than recreated. And, for all the trials and tragedies played out onscreen, it's a world audiences will be loath to leave.

Had it been made 30 years earlier, Pakula's film would have certainly been more cut and dry. Even though the Western was on life-support by this time (Jack Nicholson's comedy Goin' South was the only other release of note in 1978), Comes a Horseman offers up complex relationships and motivations that prove the genre could - and would - adapt to the world around it. How this one has slipped between the cracks is really anyone's guess.

Which explains Twilight Time's enthusiasm to release the title on Blu-ray as part of their 3000-copy limited edition series, despite being provided with elements that aren't up to their usual standards. Willis' cinematography certainly deserves better treatment, but the transfer is anything but a disaster. The general clarity is about on par with a standard DVD, but some instances of dirt and print damage knock it a few points lower. It's certainly not the ideal way to introduce oneself to the film, but at this point it's the only way...and it's a film not to be missed. The company is currently offering the title as a discount that winds up being about half their usual price. Extras are limited to an isolated score track and theatrical trailer.