All Movie Guide
A cowboy-turned-huckster unexpectedly finds love as he tries to regain his self-respect in this romantic comedy drama. Sonny Steele (Robert Redford) is a one-time rodeo star whose career as a cowboy has ground to a halt. He makes a good living as a spokesman for Ranch Breakfast, a sugar-coated cereal for kids, but he’s lost most of his self-respect in the process; his boss, corporate mogul Hunt Sears (John Saxon), considers him a property rather than a human being, and Sonny has developed a serious problem with alcohol. Sears’ cereal company is negotiating a highly profitable merger with another firm and brings Sonny to Las Vegas for a publicity stunt, in which Sonny, wearing a garish cowboy outfit complete with blinking lights, will ride on-stage at Caesar’s Palace aboard prize-winning thoroughbred stallion Rising Star. When Sonny discovers Sears’ men have drugged the horse so that it will be able to walk on an injured leg, he’s appalled, and he rides Rising Star off the stage at Caesar’s and into the Nevada desert, looking for grazing land where he and the horse can heal their wounds. Sears is shocked to discover that Sonny has run off with a 12 million dollars, and he realizes that Sonny knows enough to make his firm look very bad in the press, potentially scotching the merger. Sears files charges against Sonny and posts a reward for Rising Star’s safe return, though he implies that it wouldn’t bother him if Sonny died in the rescue attempt. Hallie Martin (Jane Fonda), a television journalist covering Sonny’s Vegas appearance, is convinced that something is fishy and manages to catch up with him in the desert; as Hallie tries to get Sonny to tell her his story, the has-been cowboy and the city-girl reporter fall in love. The Electric Horseman also stars Valerie Perrine and Willie Nelson; the country & western star made his screen debut in this film and has a very memorable line about tequila and trailer hitches. Mark Deming
Purchase from Barnes & Noble
Purchase from Amazon.com
Directed by
Sydney Pollack
Writing credits
(in alphabetical order)
Shelly Burton… story
Paul Gaer … story
Robert Garland … screen story
Robert Garland … screenplay
David Rayfiel … uncredited
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)
Lois Hamilton … Joanna Camden (as Lois Areno)
Sarah Harris … Lucinda
Tasha Zemrus … Louise
James Novak … Dennis
Debra L. Maxwell … Convention Hostess
Michele Heyeden … Sonny Angel (as Michele Heyden)
Robin Timm … Model Narrator
Patricia Blair … Fashion Narrator
Gary M. Fox … Bellman
Richard Perlmutter … Desk Clerk
Carol Eileen Montgomery … Carol
Theresa Ann Dent … Ranch Breakfast Model
Perry Sheehan Adair … Mrs. George Phillips
Sarge Allen … Mr. George Phillips
Sylvie Strause … Matron (as Sylvie Strauss)
Richard Knoll … Dealer
Angelo Giouzelis … Maitre D’
Mark Jamison … Major Domo
Brendan Kelly … Grocer
Sheila B. Wakely … Store Clerk
X.V. Kelly … Sheriff
Gary Shermaine … Trockler
Gary Liddiard … Townsman
Jerry Kurland … Ampco Personnel
J. Carlton Adair … Ampco Personnel
Charles J. Monahan … Ampco Personnel
George W. Etter … Ampco Personnel
Raymond G. Maupin … Ampco Personnel
Bob Barrett … Ampco Personnel (as Bob C. Barrett)
Red McIlvaine … Reporter
Frank Nicholas … Reporter
Johnny Magnus … Reporter
Vic Vallaro … Reporter
Bob Bailey … Reporter
Roger Lowe … Reporter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rita Picking … Woman blowing kiss to Sonny at Caesar’s Palace (uncredited)
Sydney Pollack … Man who makes pass at Alice (uncredited)