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IMDb > The Electric Horseman (1979)
The Electric Horseman
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The Electric Horseman (1979) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
5.9/10   2,604 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 24% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Sydney Pollack
Writers:
Shelly Burton (story)
Paul Gaer (story)
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Electric Horseman on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
13 March 1980 (UK) more
Plot:
Sonny Steele used to be a rodeo star, but his next appearance is to be on a Las Vegas stage, wearing a suit covered in lights... more | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win more
NewsDesk:
(4 articles)
Sex Scenes: Robert Redford, Indecent Proposal
 (From Spout. 14 January 2009, 9:00 AM, PST)

Sex Scenes: Robert Redford, Indecent Proposal
 (From Spout. 14 January 2009, 9:00 AM, PST)

User Comments:
A simple tale of a simple man who sets himself and a horse, free. more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Robert Redford ... Norman 'Sonny' Steele

Jane Fonda ... Alice 'Hallie' Martin

Valerie Perrine ... Charlotta Steele

Willie Nelson ... Wendell Hickson
John Saxon ... Hunt Sears

Nicolas Coster ... Fitzgerald
Allan Arbus ... Danny Miles
Wilford Brimley ... Farmer
Will Hare ... Gus Atwater

Basil Hoffman ... Toland
Timothy Scott ... Leroy
James Sikking ... Dietrich (as James B. Sikking)
James Kline ... Tommy
Frank Speiser ... Bernie
Quinn K. Redeker ... Bud Broderick (as Quinn Rdeker)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Electric (USA) (trailer title)
Den självlysande ryttaren (Finland: Swedish title) (Sweden) [sv]
Der elektrische Reiter (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
El jinete eléctrico (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Le cavalier électrique (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Den lysende rytter (Denmark) [da]
Elektryczny jezdziec (Poland) [pl]
Il cavaliere elettrico (Italy) [it]
Ilektrikos kavallaris (Greece) [el]
O Cavaleiro Elétrico (Brazil) [pt]
Valaistu ratsumies (Finland) [fi]
more
Runtime:
122 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
4-Track Stereo

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Director Sydney Pollack is also the voice of Les, Hallie Martin's boss, on the phone when she calls from the coffee shop to say that she's interviewed Sonny Steele. more
Goofs:
Continuity: The video footage shown on television of Sonny Steele's speech about the horse doesn't match what Alice would have actually shot. The camera movement, lighting and direction of where Steele was facing while talking is completely different. more
Quotes:
Sonny Steele: You've had a hard day. Why don't you scrunch down in the bag?
Hallie Martin: Oh, I wish it were that easy. I don't sleep.
Sonny: Ever? How old are you?
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Leonard Nimoy Demonstrates the Magnavision Videodisc Player (1981) (V) more
Soundtrack:
My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful:-
A simple tale of a simple man who sets himself and a horse, free., 9 May 1999
Author: rondine (susan.rondine@cox.net) from Mesa, AZ

To those people who didn't understand this movie, perhaps they were expecting something other than a simple tale. In this effective movie, Robert Redford plays "Sonny" Steele, a former 5 time rodeo champion who now hocks breakfast cereal for the sinister corporation, Ampco. Although a world champion cowboy, Sonny is no good at selling cereal. When Ampco buys a thoroughbred horse to solidify a merger, Sonny is outraged at how the horse has been mistreated. When he steals the horse in an attempt to set it free & get it back to nature, he is in fact attempting to make right what is also wrong in his own life. Jane Fonda who plays Hallie Martin, a reporter, is also caught up in the hype when she tries to get the story on an exclusive. As she follows his story & his struggle to set the horse free in an appropriate place, she comes to understand Sonny the man. This charm of this movie is its underlying message of a simple life, unfettered by hypocrisy and falseness as the right way to live and the redemptive quality of a man returning to that. Understated directing and a good supporting cast make this a movie worth watching.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Electric Horseman (1979)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
An entertaining movie ctyankeeindc
Redford say 'You're Pretty Tough'.. Fillumfan
Brinley's Kenworth njcowboy78
Jane Fonda's character / Tootsie - separated at birth? scott-1441
Turning a pampered racehorse loose? Come on... bizarrebehavior74
Jane Fonda ctyankeeindc
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