As stark and stately as the artiest work of John Ford, this Western is set during World War II, though it's easy to lose track of that fact. The narrative events, concerning the cattle ranchers' seemingly eternal struggle to preserve their way of life in the face of social change, are almost completely engulfed by the delirious Romantic landscapes (shot by Gordon Willis) and by the oppressive American Gothic mood of the piece. Jane Fonda in Stetson and levis looks so much like her father, Henry, that if you put a mustache on her, she could be playing Wyatt Earp. Her somewhat strained portrayal of an ornery frontierswoman is fortunately not fashioned as a prototype of the Liberated Woman, but is realistically tinged with sour, stiff, sociopathic tendencies such as would be apt to blossom in the course of a life alone on the prairie. Richard Farnsworth earns the coveted Ben Johnson Award for his clean and true performance as anold cowhand called "Dodger." Jim Davis, a past recipient of that award, appears all too briefly as one of the henchmen of Jason Robards, who acts evilly enough for a Victorian melodrama. With James Caan and George Grizzard; directed by Alan Pakula. (1978) — Duncan Shepherd
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