SimilarScreen
Comes a Horseman

Comes a Horseman

She was as strong as the land for which she fought. And as vulnerable.

19786.11h 58m

Overview

Ella Connors is a single woman who gets pressured to sell her failing cattle farm to her corrupt ex-suitor, Jacob Ewing. She asks for help from her neighbor, Frank Athearn. As Ella and Frank fight back through stampedes, jealousy, betrayal, and sabotage... they eventually find love.

Directed by Alan J. Pakula
Written by Dennis Lynton Clark
Produced by Dan Paulson, Gene Kirkwood
Box Office0Revenue: $9.6M

Top Cast

James Caan

James Caan

Frank 'Buck' Athearn

Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda

Ella Connors

Jason Robards

Jason Robards

Jacob 'J.W.' Ewing

George Grizzard

George Grizzard

Neil Atkinson

Richard Farnsworth

Richard Farnsworth

Dodger

Mark Harmon

Mark Harmon

Billy Joe Meynert

Macon McCalman

Macon McCalman

Virgil Hoverton

Basil Hoffman

Basil Hoffman

George Bascomb

James Keach

James Keach

Emil Kroegh

Jim Davis

Jim Davis

Julie Blocker

Themes & Keywords

cattle driveoiloil industryneo-westerncattle baron1940soil exploration

About Comes a Horseman

Comes a Horseman is a western, drama, romance film released in 1978 exploring themes of cattle drive, oil, oil industry, neo-western, cattle baron, 1940s. Directed by Alan J. Pakula, it stars James Caan, Jane Fonda, Jason Robards. Ella Connors is a single woman who gets pressured to sell her failing cattle farm to her corrupt ex-suitor, Jacob Ewing. She asks for help from her neighbor, Frank Athearn. As Ella and Frank fight back through stampedes, jealousy, betrayal, and sabotage... they eventually find love.

Movies Similar to Comes a Horseman

Discover titles like Comes a Horseman — ranked by similarity and community votes

We found 15 movies similar to Comes a Horseman

If you enjoyed Comes a Horseman, you'll love these handpicked recommendations. Each title below shares similar themes, tone, and storytelling style. Our algorithm analyzes genres, keywords, director filmography, and cast connections to find the closest matches. Whether you're looking for the same emotional depth, narrative structure, or visual style, these picks are curated to deliver the best viewing experience for fans of Comes a Horseman.

Sophie's Choice
28% Match

Stingo, a young writer, moves to Brooklyn in 1947 to begin work on his first novel. As he becomes friendly with Sophie and her lover Nathan, he learns that she is a Holocaust survivor. Flashbacks reveal her harrowing story, from pre-war prosperity to Auschwitz. In the present, Sophie and Nathan's relationship increasingly unravels as Stingo grows closer to Sophie and Nathan's fragile mental state becomes ever more apparent.

Blood on the Moon
26% Match

Down-and-out cowhand Jim Garry is asked by his old friend Tate Riling to help mediate a cattle dispute. When Garry arrives, however, it soon becomes clear that Riling has not been entirely forthright. Garry uncovers Riling's plot to dupe local rancher John Lufton out of a fortune. When Lufton's firecracker of a daughter, Amy, gets involved, Garry must choose between his old loyalties and what he knows to be right.

Urban Cowboy
24% Match

After moving to Pasadena, Texas, country boy Bud Davis starts hanging around a bar called Gilley's, where he falls in love with Sissy, a cowgirl who believes the sexes are equal. They eventually marry, but their relationship is turbulent due to Bud's traditional view of gender roles. Jealousy over his rival leads to their separation, but Bud attempts to win Sissy back by triumphing at Gilley's mechanical bull-riding competition.

Chisum
24% Match

Chisum(1970)

Movie6.7/10

Cattle baron John Chisum joins forces with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett to fight the Lincoln County Land War in the New Mexico Territory of 1878.

Hang 'em High
22% Match

Marshall Jed Cooper survives a hanging, vowing revenge on the lynch mob that left him dangling. To carry out his oath for vengeance, he returns to his former job as a lawman. Before long, he's caught up with the nine men on his hit list and starts dispensing his own brand of Wild West justice.

The Cowboys
22% Match

When his cattlemen abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his cowboys in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job under Andersen's tutelage, however, neither he nor the boys know that a gang of cattle thieves is stalking them.

Heaven's Gate
22% Match

Harvard graduate James Averill serves as the sheriff of prosperous Jackson County, Wyoming, standing at the center of a conflict between impoverished immigrants and affluent cattle farmers. Politically connected ranchers enlist mercenary Nathan Champion—who is also vying for the affections of local madam Ella Watson—to combat the immigrant uprising. As tensions escalate, both Averill and Champion start to question their decisions.

There Will Be Blood
21% Match

Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview's motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.

Sorcerer
20% Match

Sorcerer(1977)

Movie7.4/10

Four men from different parts of the globe, all hiding from their pasts in the same remote South American town, agree to risk their lives transporting several cases of dynamite (which is so old that it is dripping unstable nitroglycerin) across dangerous jungle terrain.

Broke
20% Match

Broke(2025)

Movie7.0/10

A bronc rider in denial about his fading rodeo career battles against brain injury and a sudden blizzard while reflecting on how it became so difficult to achieve his dreams.

The Salvation
19% Match

In 1870s America, a peaceful American settler kills his family's murderer which unleashes the fury of a notorious gang leader. His cowardly fellow townspeople then betray him, forcing him to hunt down the outlaws alone.

The Far Country
19% Match

During the Klondike Gold Rush, a misanthropic cattle driver and his talkative elderly partner run afoul of the law in Alaska and are forced to work for a saloon owner to take her supplies into a newly booming but lawless Candian town.

Sarah's Oil
19% Match

Sarah Rector, a Black girl born in early 20th-century Oklahoma Indian Territory, believes there is oil beneath the barren land she’s allotted, and her faith proves right. As greedy oil sharks close in, Sarah turns to family, friends, and some Texas wildcatters to maintain control of her oil-rich land, eventually becoming among the nation's first Black female millionaires—at eleven years old.