It may be my chick flick-oriented mind, but I believe there is a reason for the title, "Comes a Horseman." Ella Connor is the proverbial damsel in distress and in need of rescue. Frank arrives as the rescuer on a horse, but his role in this respect is not obvious because he is more dead than alive after being shot in an ambush. Instead of arriving as the conquering hero on horseback, he is slung across the saddle of Dodger, Ella's elderly ranch hand, who has found him gravely wounded. Dodger at once deposits Frank in the bunk house of Ella's ranch, where Dodger and Ella nurse him back to health.I remember the touching, wistful scene in which Ella gazes at the doll house her late father had made for her when she was a little girl. The house is a perfect miniature of Ella's childhood home, which she has inherited from her parents. Her expression shows her longing for the unfulfilled dreams of finding Mr. Right and continuing her family's ranching tradition. There also is the scene in which Ella tries to bottle feed an orphaned foal, only to have the creature not survive. Ella shows her maternal instinct in caring for the animal, and this shows her unfulfilled dream of motherhood. Stoically, she carries the dead foal outside and buries it.I especially noticed the respect Frank has for Ella and the companionship and partnership they share while working on the ranch, with these aspects of their association turning into true love and plans for marriage. Just before the tragic loss of the house, Frank comes home from town and sets a little black velvet box -- presumably holding an engagement ring -- at Ella's place at the kitchen table. Their relationship, along with the beautiful scenery of Colorado, really "make" this movie meaningful to me.

I strongly suggest to watch something else instead of this crap. It's a total failure considering the talents involved here – director Alan Pakula ("All the presidents men") and stars like James Caan ("Godfather") and Jane Fonda ("On golden pound").The story itself is cliché and has been done many times before – in westerns or action movies. This movie actually doesn't want to be a western or action movie. It wants to be a character driven drama . Unfortunately the characters aren't all that interesting. The movie is also too long and moves too slowly. This is one badly directed movie. The acting isn't bad , but I couldn't really care about any of the characters. The main villain (Jason Robards) is also uninteresting and not scary at all. There is some action near the end , but it's hardly anything memorable.I would rather watch "Nowhere to run" with Van Damme. It was better directed and more entertaining than this. Not amazing , but watchable enough. This ? This is just boring.I give it 1/10.

I suppose the big stink over Jane Fonda's ("Ella Conners") misguided politics (some years ago) turned people away from it's original release. "Comes a Horseman" delivers for every role played, cinematography, score, script - the whole thing. Ms. Fonda made many movies I was/am not aware of, till TCM presented a tribute to her body of work. I'm so glad I stumbled upon it......I can understand people not caring for Ms. Fonda's foolish mistake with communism - and not giving her credit for the wonderful actress she is - but do not understand the negative comments posted here about "Comes a Horseman". Director Alan Pakula had a tight bead on the film he wanted to make, with the help of a good script from Dennis L. Clark. Ms. Fonda played a perfect role as a determined woman to hold-onto her ranch (post World War II), working right along with the men. Her strong bond with her ranch-hand "Dodger" (Richard Farnsworth) was a testament to the closeness of owner/worker, and how difficult it was to run a ranch, making for a good subplot. I don't remember being aware that she and "J. W. Ewing" (Jason Robards) had been married, but that didn't prevent the viewer from graphically understanding the great hatred between the two characters.One user's opinion there wasn't any connection with the movie's story and "Comes a Horseman" - he was "Buck Athearn" (James Caan), who played a wonderful role. One user wrote "Ella" sold some of her land to "Buck" - truth is, "Buck's" land was inherited. A natural dislike of "Ewing" developed, when they discovered he was attempting to scare them off their land because he wanted it all back - oil ! James Keach was very good in his role as the banker who held the mortgage on "Ewing's" land, wanting to cash-in with the oil explorer (George Grizzard). Not much imagination to guess what happened to them - but, a dash of predictability couldn't harm this movie.I thoroughly connected with the criminal actions "Ewing" perpetrated against "Ella" and "Buck"; I also thought their escape was natural. I was heartened that "Ella" had the gumption to start all over again on her ranch, and thought the ending was fitting.The subplots in "Horseman" make it a great deal more entertaining. My opinion is that all of the cast does a fabulous acting-job on their roles. There isn't one thing in this movie to keep it from being enjoyed by family-viewing. I'm looking for the DVD......

If you like James Caan, (Frank Athearn), "City of Ghosts" who works as a cow hand for Jane Fonda, (Ella Connorfs),"Old Gringo" and owns a large stretch of land in the West and has just lost her husband in WW II and is left all by herself to run a big ranch along with Richard Farnsworth, (Dodger); who is an older man and has worked for Ella's father for many years on the ranch. Ella has some deep dark secrets in her life and rarely says a few words to anyone and plays the role of a rough and tough gal who can do everything by herself. Ella soon finds out she needs help and decides to hire Frank Athearn to assist her with her cattle. Jason Robards is a rich old man who has the hots for Ella and had become very close to her in the past and still wants to control her life. This is a different type of Western and if you like cattle, you can see them running all the time in and around all kinds of wood land. This picture disappointed me, however, Richard Farnsworth gave a great supporting role and was nominated for an Academy Award.