A former champion rodeo rider is reduced to using his saddle skills to promote a breakfast cereal in a gaudy Las Vegas show. When he's asked to perform with a $12 million horse that he discovers is being doped to remain docile, he flees into the desert astride the beast in an act of defiance. A story-hungry female reporter gives chase.
The Electric Horseman is the kind of movie they used to make.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
23 Oct 2004
fresh:
At this point, I think it's reasonably safe to say that The Electric Horseman is the best American romantic comedy of 1979.
– Vincent Canby,
New York Times,
9 May 2005
rotten:
Beguilingly sharp at first, but the later stages, with Fonda's toughie reporter tagging along for a story but going all mushy inside, wallow in sentimentality about integrity, ecology and all that jazz.
– Tom Milne,
Time Out,
26 Jan 2006
rotten:
A moderately entertaining film, but no screen magic from Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. The pic is overlong, talky and diffused.