Film

The Electric Horseman

Name: The Electric Horseman
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Western
Released: 1979
Cast: Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Valerie Perrine, Willie Nelson, John Saxon

Car-chase action

A washed-up rodeo star (Redford) steals a drugged million-dollar horse from a Vegas casino and rides into the desert. A reporter (Fonda) chases him across the American Southwest. It's a glitzy, warm-hearted adventure that believes in redemption and second chances, shot through with genuine romance and easy charm. Made for people who like their heroes flawed and their landscapes gorgeous.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like a shaggy, easygoing romance where two wary people bicker their way toward each other across open country, and you don't mind the commercial gloss of late-seventies Vegas.

Skip it if you want a lean, tightly plotted western or a sharp satire; this one is loose, sentimental and happy to drift through long stretches at 122 minutes.

What it asks of you: Settle in for a little over two hours of unhurried, sunlit ambling, with the jokes arriving between long stretches of scenery and quiet talk.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid1969

Redford at his peak in a western heist story with Newman, humor, and stunning scenery. Same mix of charm, adventure, and two leads who genuinely enjoy each other's company.

But Slower paced than modern action films, and the ending refuses sentiment in ways that may disappoint if you want comfort.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid poster

Klute1971

Fonda and Donald Sutherland in a thriller that's smarter than it needs to be. She's a sex worker with agency; he's an engineer out of his depth. Real tension and real rapport between two people.

But Deliberately unglamorous and bleak. The 1970s New York grittiness may feel relentless if you want warmth.

Comes a Horseman1978

James Caan and Jane Fonda on a ranch facing down corporate greed. It's got landscape, integrity, and that 70s western romance feel. Genuinely moving without ever getting maudlin.

But Quiet and deliberate. If you need plot propulsion rather than character and mood, you'll feel it dragging.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Electric Horseman

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Lonely are the Brave1962

Both are elegies for a kind of American freedom embodied in a stolen horse. Both pit individual defiance against systems designed to contain it.

Kirk Douglas as a modern cowboy who can't accept that the West has become highways and fences. He steals a horse and rides it across contemporary America. Same DNA as Electric Horseman—the same argument about what's already dead.

But Black and white, sparse, and genuinely sad in ways Redford's film refuses to be. No romance subplot to soften it.

Sometimes a Great Notion1971

Paul Bunyan energy meets family drama. Redford, Henry Fonda, and a logging empire in the Pacific Northwest. Technicolor landscape porn and real stakes underneath the spectacle.

But Over two and a half hours and indulgent about its own scale. The Fonda family dynamics can feel soap-operatic.

Urban Cowboy1980

Travolta as a city guy playing cowboy in Houston. Same era, same fascination with rodeo culture and reinvention. Energetic, sexy, and genuinely interested in its world.

But Leans harder into the disco-cowboy spectacle than into character. The gender politics are queasy by any standard.

Coal Miner's Daughter1980

Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones in a country music biopic that actually feels lived-in. Real grit, real affection for working people, and a genuine love story at its core.

But The pacing is deliberately small-scale. If you need your feel-good to arrive fast, this won't meet you halfway.

The Gauntlet1977

Clint Eastwood protecting a witness across the American landscape. High-concept chase film with paranoia and real danger. Stripped down and efficient where Electric Horseman is baroque.

But Tougher and more cynical. No romance, no redemption arc—just survival and suspicion.

Heaven's Gate1980

Cimino's epic western about class and belonging. Kris Kristofferson leading a cast through landscape and moral ruin. Gorgeous and strange and genuinely ambitious in ways that shouldn't work.

But Almost four hours. Widely mocked on release. Demands patience and a willingness to sit with ambiguity rather than resolution.

Foolin' Around1980

Gary Busey and Annette O'Toole in a scrappy romantic adventure. Lighter and fluffier than Electric Horseman but made from the same ingredients: charm, earnestness, and belief in its own romance.

But It is genuinely slight. There's not much underneath the surface, and the stakes are primarily romantic rather than moral.

The Man from Snowy River1982

Both are about middle-aged or young-men reclaiming agency through horsemanship and wilderness. Both believe in the redemptive power of movement across landscape.

An Australian horseman riding across wilderness to prove himself. Stunning action sequences, genuine stakes, and a movie that believes in the moral weight of a man and a horse. Epic scope on a modest budget.

But Australian film-making of the early 80s has a different texture. You're watching technical skill and landscape rather than star charisma carry the film.

Eolomea1972

Both are about two people learning each other across isolation and landscape. Both use the natural world as the primary character. Both believe in the possibility of connection despite everything pushing against it.

A Slovene science fiction film where a man and woman on a barren planet slowly build understanding from nothing. Utterly strange, completely absorbing, and about communication across distance. Shot on actual landscapes, slow and hypnotic.

But You will have no frame of reference. It is obscure, abstract, and requires active surrender. The dialogue is minimal and the pacing is genuinely meditative rather than propulsive.