Have you ever seen this horse race?

Have you ever seen him?

I've seen him run.

I saw him stumble and fall back and lose his stride and pick himself up.

I saw him stretch himself out when he had nothing left to give.

But he found him somewhere and he won.

Lady, that horse is a champion and he's got the heart the size of a locomotive.

He's got more heart and more drive and more soul than most people you'll ever know, and they're hanging lights all over them.

They're trotting around on stages with dancing.

Girls tie to die to tie.

They'd have wearing short pants and smoking a cigar if they thought they'd sell their damn junk.

Look and look and they got them all tanked up on tranquilizers and Butte.

They're sticking them full of needles.

They got his tendon.

Look at this tendon.

Look at that tendon.

It's all filled up.

He's shot all full of steroids.

It's just for looks.

Makes the horse sterile.

So even if they wanted to be, God that's so damn funny.

Even if they wanted to braid him, even if they wanted to pass on some of them fine qualities, they couldn't to say nothing but the horse itself is missing so.

So I took him.

Hermione remake of Matthew Fonsley A kicker Coen brothers send up with Timothy Chalamagne.

Say to sing came prequel a Midnight Cowboy sequel Alvin and the Chip monsters of another squeak there's.

So many new ways to revisit Sideways Photographic novel is how we choose to update.

But we still hold fast You can't change the past on the Ruined Childhoods podcast.

On our last episode featuring a movie beginning with the letter E, we celebrated Alexander Payne's 1999 Offbeat high school comedy Election, the story of a high school teacher caught in a battle of morals and ethics during a heated race for student body president.

The film stars teen movie legend Matthew Broderick, future teen movie icon Chris Klein, and up and Comer Reese Witherspoon, who had already wowed audiences with roles and Cruel Intentions, Pleasantville, and Fear.

But as Reese grew out of teen roles, she would later appear in more mature films like Walk the Line, American Psycho, and Just Like Heaven, which is essentially a ROM com featuring Reese as a ghost falling for the new resident in her apartment, played by Mark Ruffalo.

We all know and love Mark Ruffalo from his roles in heady hits like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Shutter Island, and Zodiac.

But Ruffalo became an even more recognizable actor once he joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, taking over the role of Bruce Banner, AKA The Hulk.

Ruffalo starred as the Hulk in eight films and two TV shows, most notably The Avengers movies.

But in addition to the main Avengers crew, the MCU films also featured many high profile cameos.

Annette Bening played Marvel and Captain Marvel Free Jacks Anthony Hopkins and Renee Russo portrayed Thor's parents Odin and Frigga respectively.

And we can't forget Alexander Pierce actor Robert Redford who have not for the film Omni Boat.

A Fast Boat Fantasia would mark Hail Hydra as his last words uttered on film.

But luckily, Redford's legacy is strong, with unforgettable performances in films like All the President's Men, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Natural, among others.

But he also starred in a few films that flew under the radar, like this week's movie Greeting Starfighters.

This is ruined childhoods.

I'm John.

And with me, as always, is my brother Dan.

And on this episode, we're talking about the 1979 film The Electric Horseman, the story of a rodeo celebrity caught in a battle of morals and ethics when he steals a famous horse dead set on freeing it in the wild.

Dan, is this your first rodeo?

Is is if If you are asking if it's the first time I've ever seen the electric Horseman, yes.

It can mean whatever you want it to mean.

I've never been to a rodeo as in like I've never watched a rodeo.

I remember once, many moons ago, my now wife and I were in Costa Rica and nearby our hotel there was a rodeo going on and I remember walking really near by it.

But we didn't.

And like, we didn't go.

But I I have this kind of weird random memory of this.

I'm pretty sure it's accurate.

I mean.

Interesting, I didn't know that Costa Rica had a big rodeo scene.

I don't know if it had a big rodeo scene that night.

There was.

Maybe that was.

Maybe that was Costa Rica's first.

Rodeo.

There was a rodeo by the Ramada.

Ah, the famous Ramada Rodeo.

It sounds like something bad that and either said maybe it is you didn't check it out.

It sounds it's yeah, you know, you ate at the continental.

It sounds like AGI infection, like AGI infection or it's some like like weird, like, I don't know, like group sex game or something involving like, Oh my goodness, rooms at the Ramada and OK, I, I mean, look, you, you think about the rodeo and the, the riding and all that and it, you know, I, I, well, somebody I, I need.

Somebody who?

Somebody who might have been to a Ramada rodeo would be Sydney Pollack, or at least his character and Eyes Wide Shut.

Yes, yeah, you like, you know, yeah.

Think of it.

Think of a Ramada rodeo as kind of a, you know, perhaps a a low rent college aged, if you will, version of in an eyes wide shut like masks would certainly or maybe not masks, but you know, certainly the sparkling rodeo outfit would not be out of place at a Ramada rodeo.

No, I suppose not.

Yeah.

Well, Fidelio to that, I guess so, Dan, but but was this your first time seeing the Electric Horseman?

Oh yeah, yeah, it was.

Was it yours?

Yeah, I mean, I feel like whenever clearly I knew of its existence because I've like looked at the filmographies for Robert Redford and Jane Fonda and Redford Brimley and, you know, probably 100 times.

And so I've, I've seen the words, but it never was something there was just like, Oh, well, obviously I have to watch that.

Right.

And there's like, I feel like there is some imagery of it, like, you know, the the light up suit, there is an imagery of it that that was like, Oh yeah.

Like that's familiar.

It's a movie that you've always heard of, but I never really felt like I wanted to see it.

No, but you know what?

I'm glad that we had this opportunity and and we're doing this movie because after Robert Redford's passing, yeah, we were up to the letter E in our cinematic yo-yo.

And it was like, all right, what like if we were, if we were at a completely different letter in our, in our could have been here, we would have certainly done a different Robert Redford movie.

But Electric Horsemen, I'm real.

I'm actually really glad because there's so much to talk about here.

I do think this one kind of, you know, fit the bill for for what we do here.

And if you're new, if you're joining us because you, like many of us, are, you know, taking this opportunity to, you know, maybe fill the blanks in the Robert Redford filmography as we have with The Electric Horsemen or you're revisiting, you're looking to hear some new discussion of some lesser.

And and this was a big this, this was a big like holiday, like December release.

This was like a big deal.

This wasn't like a little under the radar release.

But in terms of when we think of Robert Redford and Jane Fonda's filmographies, for most of us, I'm sure for some people, this this is one of the ones that comes to mind first, if you were alive at that time and or if you were only like I was too at when this came out, so not on my radar.

But you know, like if you were of an age at the time that and you know, you were into the the Redford and Fonda, especially the pairing of Redford and Fonda, which I feel like this movie is very much about that.

Yeah.

It it doesn't, it's not a a a first one that comes to mind.

It's neither a it's not a Butch casting in the Sundance Kid.

The sting.

It's not a even great in great Waldo Pepper, I feel like comes close to falling into this category, but even that one is more of like it's the Robert Redford, George Roy Hill combo.

Yeah, but it's not 3 days of the Condor.

It doesn't like carry that weight and doesn't have that legacy to it.

So it's.

Yeah, or even all the president's men.

Oh well.

No, Yeah, yeah.

Of course.

But you know, we fortunately on this podcast, I've had so many opportunities to celebrate Robert Redford's career.

We dedicated a whole block of Oh yeah episodes to him.

You know, the natural sneakers.

We did Butch Cassidy.

Like and we did the stain.

We did this thing.

We did.

Did we do this thing?

I'm almost positive we have done the sting.

We did barefoot in the park.

'Cause I think I remember talking about how neither of us watched the sting too.

Oh, but that could have also just been like a regular conversation that you and I just had, so.

True, so true, yes.

So anyway, I don't know if we mentioned earlier kind of like what we do, you know, for for those who might be joining us for the first time.

So and we'll talk about about the movie and, you know, our thoughts, our connections on the people involved for this episode, especially Robert Redford.

Yeah.

And then we'll talk about what would happen if if this movie were to be revived, if all of a sudden after Robert Redford's death, this movie sees a jump.

It it get gets more attention and Hollywood's like, oh, let's do something with this.

So what, what, what's the idea?

How do you how do you bring this back?

And maybe, maybe Hollywood, maybe not Hollywood.

Maybe there's another venue for this type of thing.

Sure.

Yeah.

I, I will not give any examples because I don't know where we're going with this later.

I I mean, I know where I'm going.

I don't know where you're going with this.

We'll get there, but here?

But we're only just getting started.

No, we're here.

It's, it's the it's the the Electric Horseman episodes of Robert Redford and John, like you and I, we've talked a lot about Robert Redford.

We're we're fans.

What would you say is your, like your, let's say, your favorite Robert Redford performance?

Oh, it's funny because you have to wonder, is that different from Robert Redford movie and.

I mean, it might be, it might not be, but I want to say like your favorite Robert Redford performance.

Yeah, who?

I mean, this may surprise you.

I do love his performance in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Not my favorite of his movies, but I love his performance in it.

It's it's more understated in comparison.

Yeah, in comparison to a lot of his other ones.

I mean, my favorite of his movies is probably 3 Days of the Condor.

It's not a perfect movie.

I don't love the the way that he necessarily treats women, but his I love the the intrigue and Max von Sydow is great.

And yeah, so.

But yeah, performance poof.

Yeah.

It might have to be the Sundance Kid.

How about you?

It's funny as I, I asked the question and then thought, I am not prepared with, with an answer for this.

And there are so many, so many films that that you could look at.

In fact, on Wikipedia, you have to go to a whole other page for, for Robert Redford filmography.

I do I I'm going to have to say and and I'm just like, I'm just doing a scan through to make sure there's nothing I'm I'm missing because I mean, what, what a career he's had even later career, non adventure Avengers related, like the film A walk in the woods, you know, where he plays nature writer Bill Bryson, who goes to hike.

I think that's the Appalachian Trail.

It's Redford and and Nick Nolte and one of my favorite bands.

Lord Huron provides a lot of the music for it.

Oh, do they cool.

One of my favorite songs of theirs was written for that movie.

Yeah, so.

So I'm going to say my favorite performance of his.

So I I'm narrowing it down right now, and it's between Mart Martin Bryce, Marty Bishop in Sneakers, and Bob Woodward and All the President's Men.

Yeah, I feel, I don't know, I I love sneakers, but I don't know if I love his performance in it.

No, I, I think I'm leaning, I think, I think I'm leaning sneakers because I love sneakers as a movie.

So I, I'm going to have to go with with Woodward.

He really and.

Woodward's great.

I mean, it's not a, an, an original character.

It's it's a real person.

But.

Right, right, but the way that he plays and I, I also got a shout out.

I I the the 1974 Great Gatsby.

It isn't fantastic, but I, I really like him.

I I love him in the sting.

He's really, he's, he's great in the sting, but it, it's kind of like it's hard to, it's hard to think of that movie and start thinking of him and then you start and then you think of Newman or right, Robert Shaw.

So I, I, I, I love him in those, in all those movies, but I, I think his performance in All the President's Men.

The I just watched it again the other night.

It's so good.

The intensity of it, the focus of it.

I I'm I should watch that movie every time I'm having trouble getting motivated to what get something done?

Just to see him scribbling on a legal pad taking notes, So good.

It's it, it's great.

He balances Hoffman so well.

It felt like his heart was really in it.

And there's a lot of movies he's done where I where I feel like he's had that feeling.

And I mean.

You you know what, Dan?

I feel like I have to revise my answer.

I think the candidate is my favorite.

Oh, the candidate?

Yeah, yeah.

That's the candidate that's such a good one.

I think because I've only seen that movie once, It's but, but that's a fantastic performance.

He's a he's great in that.

Yeah.

And it's, it's so hard.

He's so good and so I love him in Spy game.

Yeah, great.

Which is also great 'cause it's like he plays Brad Pitt's mentor.

And also in in watching the Electric Horsemen, I thought a lot about just thinking about Brad Pitt as.

Oh yeah.

Just in so many ways, the like, not, not the second coming because Brad Pitt's his own, his like his own guy.

But you know so much, you know, in the mold of Redford in so many ways in, in that because Brad Pitt, and maybe this is not true for every project he works on, but some of the projects he is really, he gets involved in and they're meaningful to him and he has causes that he's passionate about and he does work that reflects those causes.

And even if he's not in something, he's producing it.

So I see him very much in that mold.

It's hard to not see him in that mold when you're, you know, my introduction to Brad Pitt was, well, Thelma and Louise.

But then a river runs through it.

Yeah.

Where you're seeing Brad Pitt, you're hearing Redford's voice.

Right.

It's truly, I don't know if we'll ever have a kind of an actor pairing like that ever again, where there's kind of like a generational passing of a baton, but like a camaraderie in a collaborative nature too.

Right, right.

Yeah.

And there's like, there's such a just a almost like a spiritual commonality between them.

Yeah, I, I, I think this is not, this is somebody who knows neither of them personally, Right.

But.

Yeah, I would have loved to have known Robert Redford.

Oh yeah.

He would have been so annoyed by me.

I would have asked him so many questions.

I, I could imagine I and you could imagine his like taking there there.

Definitely would have been a a large Chris Farley show influence to my quest.

My line of questioning.

Hey everyone, you were in the candidate.

Hey, you know what another another movie to shout out that we've done on the podcast is Lions for Lambs.

Lions for lambs, yeah.

Again, like, you know, not not the best performance of, but another movie where you really kind of felt like, OK, he's he's he's got a connection.

He directed that one right.

Yeah, I think so.

Yeah.

Let's see.

Well, he did quiz show, which we covered.

Yeah, he directed it.

Oh, nice.

Oh, OK.

All right.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Quiz show.

We, we did that one.

That movie's great.

So anyway, look, we it's not like Robert Redford is some underrated genius whose praises have not been sung, thankfully, long before he passed away.

Yeah, no, absolutely.

And I'd say that the same goes for his Co star in this Jane Fonda.

You know, the the appropriate amount of praise has come her way and even when times were difficult and she was ostracized a bit because of her political leanings and her activism really bounced back from that in such a positive way.

Unapologetically.

Unapologetically.

And because everybody realized, oh, you were right.

Yep.

OK.

Right, right.

Well, and and and just while we're on the the topic.

And this applies to both of them.

If we were gonna say 2°, I mean, perhaps even more so to to Jane Fonda, but to Bolton, they are people who have you understood and used their privilege?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

In in the in positive.

Very positive.

I mean, Jane Fonda's been arrested how many times?

Like, Oh, come on.

For good reason, for good causes, for activism, for standing up, for what's right.

Yeah, it may happen again for all we know.

I know like, yeah, she's still, she's still out there.

So.

And and we're, you know, like, so, you know, lucky to have these.

And Jane Fonda, especially as somebody who came up, you know, in a Hollywood family who certainly could have rested on laurels and not taken risks, although that's not not really in her, you look at that family, that's really.

Well, I don't, you know, and I don't know if you watched the documentary, is it Jane in Five Acts or Jane in?

Five parts.

Yeah.

You know, I didn't.

I did not watch it.

It's really excellent and it does show you that things were not, as, you know, a cushy as you think they would have been.

Yeah.

For for, for that family.

That hard time.

I mean, I know, I know.

Maybe not like.

It just was not a good family environment and I and Henry Fonda definitely wasn't the most like present or nurturing, caring father.

So for, for Jane and Peter, you know, for them to have their incredible successes is a bit of an anomaly.

But if you.

Think at what was going on.

But if you look about, if you look at their and I'm going to, you know, speak more to their public images because that's what I can you, you look at Henry Fonda, who you know, is maybe most associated with the role of Tom Jode and The Grapes of Wrath, somebody who said, you know, wherever there's injustice, I'll be there.

And and I, you, I don't know if Henry Fonda felt any of that at all for real.

But it's kind of like when you associate, I think of Henry Fonda, I think of Tom Jode.

You know, I think of 12 Angry Men.

Yeah.

Another character that is like standing up for what's right, you know, like getting people together to do what's right and so.

That's The thing is it's like it's not just the one, the one role there.

So there's something to that.

And you think of Peter Fonda as somebody who is really partly, you know, like, you know, a leader of the counterculture and a face of the counterculture in the 60s and somebody who pushed against boundaries, expectations, norms.

He probably could have, you know, been a pretty boy actor and he could have, you know, sailed into a comfortable career, but you know, didn't made weird movies, did Easy Rider.

Yeah.

Etcetera.

Yeah.

And also let's talk for a second about the film's director.

Sydney Pollack came up earlier in the context of a Ramada rodeo.

But you know, Sydney Pollack, when you look at his body of work, also you look at this one and you're just like, hell, yeah.

I, I guess I didn't realize, you know, he has done so much that's been significant that like there are so many other ones that are kind of outliers.

And I, I think that like, you know, Tootsie a few years after this is definitely one of them that that's kind of like a tentpole movie for him.

But the movie that he does right after Electric Horseman is absence of Malice with Paul Newman and Sally Field.

And it's, you know, Sally Field, just like Jane Fonda and the Electric Horseman, plays a reporter and has an unlikely, I don't know, connection with, with somebody, you know, in this case played by Paul Newman.

And I, I Dan, have you seen Absence of Malice?

I have, I have.

It's great.

Movie.

I love it.

I think it's great.

Oh yeah.

I mean, you know, me, I love like a good, you know, a newsroom type of movie where there's, you know, the energy going in.

And also Sydney Pollack, 2 movies in a row where halfway through the movie, Wilfred Brimley comes in for like, you know, 10 minutes tops and you know, has an unforgettable performance.

And so shout out to to the genius of Sydney Pollock for making those Wilford Brimley moments happen in a completely beautiful way.

Absolutely.

And Sydney Pollock clearly has worked with Robert Redford before with Jeremiah Johnson, 3 days of the Condor.

Like we said before, he worked with Jane Fonda.

And they shoot horses, don't they?

I don't remember if he's done any other ones with either of them.

Oh, the way we were.

With yeah, Oh yeah, with Barbara.

With Barbara, Yeah, Yentl's own Barbra Streisand.

And clearly they work so well together.

And but I, and I mean that not just Sydney Pollock and Robert Redford, but Sydney Pollock and also Jane Fonda and I, I don't know, I, it makes me really want to go back and watch, you know, all the ones that I've that I've missed.

And you know, Robert Redford, of course, worked with him again.

And out of Africa, like I love the the connection that they have and it's such a, an awesome way to kind of see it come together in the Electric Horsemen, a movie that, you know, for all intents and purposes should not be, I think as enjoyable as it really is.

And that, I think, is a testament to, you know, the three people really at the core of it, which are Sydney Pollack, Jane Fonda and Robert Redford.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I don't know.

This is not my favorite of any of their.

Didn't say it was a favorite.

Oh, no, no, no, no.

But yeah, anyway, why don't I jump into the the synopsis if we're gonna.

Please do.

I've been rambling on way too long about Sydney Pollock and Robert Redford and Jane Fonda.

No, it's quite all right.

So Speaking of Redford, Robert Redford, he plays Sonny, a washed up rodeo star turned serial spokesman who has a crisis on of conscience when he's asked to appear in Vegas with a distressed celebrity racehorse named Rising Star.

In a moment of clarity, Sunny takes off with the horse and is chased around America's open country in an effort to free Rising Star.

But Sunny's track becomes complicated when a hotshot journalist tags along in order to showcase his story on the news.

But what she doesn't realize is that she's about to fall in love and sympathize with his and Rising Stars mission.

So yeah, Redford as Zunny, as Halle the reporter.

We have Jane Fonda as rising star.

We have rising star I.

Don't know, that is not true.

Rising Star is played by who?

I had the name of the horse right in front of me.

I know.

What was it?

Oh, I don't know.

I can't.

I don't have the the information in front of me right now.

Damn, No, I.

But in addition to Rising Star, we also have Willie Nelson.

We have.

Willie Nelson was this.

His first movie.

No, I don't.

I don't think there's a yeah, it was a Willie Nelson who plays Wendell, who's he's like his agent or something.

Yeah, his manager.

Yeah, so let's see.

So he did 'cause I wait, I think Honeysuckle Rose came after.

No, Dan, this is his first movie came after this is.

80 Thief is 81.

Yeah.

Yeah, this is his first movie.

All right.

Will you go, Willy?

Yeah, I mean, I, I'm, I've never been like a big Willie Nelson guy, but I really liked him in this.

I thought he was really great.

And it's not that I don't like him.

It's just that like, I, I, I love all everything about him, but the music doesn't really, you know, hit me.

No.

But I appreciate the guy.

Yeah, me too.

Like he's, yeah, he's, he's fun, you know, you know, he's has some sort of, you know, dirty line that he throws out there, which is great that you later found out he came up with.

And then you're like, OK, well, that makes sense.

You know, he's actually, he's really good in Thief.

I really like him in Thief.

James James Caan's friend who's who's in prison.

Love him in Wag the Dog.

Oh my God, I love Wag the dog.

Wag the Dog is magnificent and I love that that Willie Nelson is in that.

So yeah, Willie is, you know, gets around.

But yeah, he's, Nah, he's in this.

I do think his his songs have more screen time than he does.

Oh, absolutely, yeah.

Although and and I love he actually he covers a favorite song of mine, which is The Allman Brothers Midnight Rider.

Oh OK.

Which I actually I like his cover in the context of this movie.

I didn't.

I didn't know that that was a favorite song of yours.

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's a, you know, I discovered that song, the movie I discovered that song through was The Devil's Rejects.

Oh.

Really.

I don't think I'd ever heard that song.

And then they used that song in the opening credits of The Devil's Rejects, which I really like.

I love the opening credits for The Devil's Rejects, all right?

And yeah, Midnight Rider has since become a favorite of mine.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So this movie, you know, the the beginning of it is, you know, him being a drunk and you, you know, the opening credits is just like the, you know, the the montage of the the rise and fall of sunny, sunny Steel.

Yeah.

Is that what it is?

Yeah.

Sunny Steele.

And, you know, he's this rodeo hotshot.

He gets this endorsement deal with his breakfast cereal and that just becomes his career.

And he is just a puppet and, you know, does appearances and stuff and just is totally washed up drunk.

And I, I was watching it and I was like, oh, I was kind of expecting to actually see him being like a rodeo star at some point in this.

But no, it really just launches into him being, you know, a dirtbag it.

Reminded me of the wrestler.

Sure.

The way it just kind of starts and shows you like, all right, yeah, no, this guy was huge.

But now.

Yeah, he's, you know, working the deli counter with Todd Barry.

Right.

Yeah, yeah.

In Rahway, NJ or wherever.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I, I love Jane Fonda's character, Hallie.

I mean, you know, love a good journalist story.

I mean, this is like the same year as the China syndrome, right?

Yeah, I love the China syndrome.

My God, Wilford.

Brimley, Wilford.

Brimley.

Wilford Brimley also, that's right.

Damn.

God 1979, what a year.

I would have just been at the movies all year.

Watching Jane Fonda, Wilford Brimley, Robert Redford.

Yeah, absolutely.

That's a good, that's a good movie year time machine.

That's a good time machine year for.

Me 79.

To go watch the movies, Yeah, that'd be fun.

Quick.

Oh, this is not my.

This is not my category here.

Not your thing.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I I'm really, I'm like, oh, I can't get anything.

But no, I love the China syndrome.

That was one that I hadn't seen until maybe a year or so ago.

And I was like, oh, I've been sleeping on this.

I did not know what it was.

And then to really dive into it was just like, I've been missing out.

This is amazing.

Oh yeah, Oh yeah, That movie's intense.

Yeah.

And yeah, so being just being able to see the trajectory of Robert Redford would have been, I think I would have liked to see it, but I kind of don't miss it.

And I wasn't sure, you know, I, I knew the plot of the movie, but I was just like, is this going to be some sort of weird snooze fest and schmaltzy?

Because I feel like the, like, the poster art that I saw initially was just like, you know, kind of a glamour shot of Robert Redford and Jane Fonda smiling and looking at the camera.

And I was just like, I don't know about that.

But then I saw, you know, the poster that's actually, if you're watching video, it's right behind me.

But like, yeah, you know, he's got all of the lights on and he's got the like, hat, the hat tilted down and everything.

And it's just like, oh, this is a little bit more intriguing.

And it's like, what is the deal with this dude?

I.

Feel like that's like the DVD cover art.

I think the original poster was like like Redford like given Fonda a pile driver or something.

Like I'm not kidding, like he's got her like and it's like kind of silhouette and but like he definitely has her up in what looks to be like actually a pretty poor pile driver position.

Like if he were to give her head, it looks like it is too far below his thighs to if he were to give her a pile driver, he'd break her neck.

Yeah, I mean, it is kind of a cool poster.

Owen Hart, Steve Austin, Summer Slam 97.

Yeah, you don't know exactly what's going on there, but it is a little intriguing and I think that it's not it's also not a a accurate representation of like what's going on in this movie.

No, like, no, Yeah, they, you know, the two of them, they definitely do have a back and forth and he and he does hit her.

So to which she was basically just like, yeah, I was, I was kind of asking for it.

Though, I mean, yeah, she she tells him and she's like, yeah.

Or later on, yeah, she's like, hit me.

Yeah, it's a, it's a pretty fascinating movie.

It's one that I'm, I'm glad I got a chance to see it.

There's some really beautiful shots in it too.

I think that they kind of went a little bit heavy on the like horse glamour shots at the end.

Are you kidding me?

Horse porn.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

But that's.

I was like, I was like, man, Redford loves his horses.

He's the horse whisperer, you know?

But there were some great chases, especially like police chases and stuff like that.

I love the like 70s, like the clunkier, you know, cop cars and they, they're just always crashing into each other.

And I feel like I've been watching a lot of movies recently that feature cop cars, like cop car chases in this era.

And I'm, I'm wondering if I'm getting confused, but in this one, is there a moment where he's kind of like they're chasing him and he's going down on like a different level and a cop car like flips over and lands on top of another one?

Maybe I'm thinking of a different movie that I watched recently with like a very similar cop car.

Chase sequence, Yeah, I don't remember that happening in The Electric Horseman.

Well, but there is the there is the segment where he is being chased by cops.

Yeah.

And he's on horseback and everything so.

Yeah, I mean when, when, when he leaves, when he just like leaves the theater when in the no.

No, no, no.

When he leaves the theater, he they don't chase him right away.

No, they don't know what's going on then, yeah.

Yeah, this one is.

It's in broad daylight and they had just kind of gotten the horse head of the.

Was that out of the RVI Think Yeah.

I think a little.

Town and then suddenly they're out in the middle of like the great wide open.

Oh, yeah, yeah, of course.

Yeah.

You know, they go to Utah and yeah, yeah.

Like where Robert Redford lives or lived, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it, it's it definitely, it addresses the issues of the abuse of animals.

He he points out during a rehearsal for this, you know, stage show that he's going to appear with Rising Star.

He's like, oh, that like the horses doped up and you've been injecting it so much like it's in the calf is all, you know, scarred and and bruised and and damaged and, and you know the.

Drugs, I like it when you see that he like I like it when you see when he like knows what he's talking about and he knows how to like he actually has a background where it he's not just this like, you know, one-dimensional drunk has been.

You know, there's the part where he gets all the like eucalyptus tea bags and like does a little eucalyptus steam experience for for the horse.

Well, he knows and, and of course, you know, and the horse is a meta and, you know, the, the horse is a, a parallel, I guess for him.

They're, you know, cause 'cause he dries out like he stops drinking once he goes on this crusade with the horse and the horse, you know, gets cleaned up and healed.

Yeah.

So they, they really are kind of, you know, mirroring each other on, on this, this journey.

And they're, I mean, yeah, they're also both like, you know, they're they're show horses.

Yeah.

And they're both past their, you know, past their prime in doing what they did best.

Yeah.

So now they have to just go and be who they are.

The horse has to go off to Utah and be a horse.

And I guess Robert Redford needs to go off to Utah and be, you know, Robert or you know, Sonny Steele needs, he needs to go off and beat Norman for a little while.

Yeah, he needs to just go to the diner and have like milkshakes and Donuts and stuff.

Yeah, Oh, why not?

That sounds so good.

Yeah, when he's like it kicks.

Yeah, when he's when he's giving Hallie that doughnut in the diner at the end, I'm just like a road a doughnut.

What a cool gift to give to somebody who's about to get on a bus.

I mean, that's his style.

That's how.

That's how he rolls.

I dig it.

Yeah.

And, and not to get too spoilery, I feel like there's really no way to spoil this movie because it's like, yeah, of course everything's going to be fine, the ones going to get away, whatever.

But I I like that when she finally comes clean to him and tells him that like she had arranged before she got to really know him, she had arranged for there to be like a news crew where they were going to be going.

And he doesn't get mad.

He doesn't, you know, really he doesn't overreact.

He has a very level head about it.

And you know, she, he just like lets her feel her feelings.

He doesn't tell her, doesn't really matter because.

Right, right, right.

We're not going where you think we're going.

The big.

Reveal.

He's like, Oh yeah, no, I never said we were going there.

Yeah, yeah.

They, you know, they've got, I mean, clearly have such great chemistry together.

And honestly, it's like, even if there wasn't the romantic angle to it, I still would have just loved to have watched them try and figure out how to get along.

He's under the impression that she's going to be, you know, arrested for one thing or another.

And so he's.

Yeah, that that's all a little clunky too, but it's fine.

Yeah.

I mean, it's, it's, it's definitely, it's clunky.

It, it has its moments and it has its, it has enough about it that that works.

Or we're like, oh, OK, I see what you were doing here.

Yeah, yeah.

There are just other moments where it's like, you could have cut this scene short, but Robert Redford and Jane Fonda by fire by Camp by like Firelight looks really nice so.

Absolutely, yeah.

And, and just to kind of go back to, you know, the the messaging of the movie, I had watched it just as everything was going down with Jimmy Kimmel being taken off the air and having, you know, being suspended from the show and everything.

And I and also with Stephen Colbert just before that and everything.

And there was so much going on in my mind of just like corporate greed and, you know, turning, turning a, a blind eye to, you know, people and their livelihoods and just in the name of commerce.

And that's exactly what was going on in this movie.

You know, there's this, you know, all that they care about is this like, you know, multi $1,000,000 horse that they're going to be profiting off of as, you know, the, the spokes horse or whatever.

And and the deals with like all of sunny steel stuff and for there to be like that kind of anti capitalist messaging felt good, especially during a time when it was so top of mind for me in in the in the real world.

Oh, yeah, no, of course, of course.

Yeah.

You know, what's interesting is is in terms of the messaging and, and this might have, this was something I noticed in the and it was just like one line that irked me.

And it's where Sunny set says this horse earned a better life.

Like he's talking about how like rising stars, like a champion horse.

And I'm like, well, I'm like, does a horse need to earn a better life than being like, drugged up and just, you know, dragged around and trotted out for some, like, photo OPS?

Yeah.

I'm like I, I I don't.

Think a strong word there.

Yeah, yeah, I, I felt that that was like, that was kind of flawed and, and I see, I, I, you know, I see why they put that line in there, but I, it just felt like a little contradictory to the message.

Yeah, yeah.

That's interesting.

I didn't pick up on that line.

Yeah, yeah, it's, you know, it just it, I was like, huh, yeah, I don't know, I guess I kind of, I don't know, picked up on that.

So yeah, yeah, I don't know.

Anyway, I mean, I don't know.

Is there anything else about the actual the movie itself that you want to, you know, talk about?

No, not necessarily.

There The thing is like there's not that much to talk about.

You know, we just touched on the Wilford Brimley of it all.

I I loved his character, you know, the one who could have, you know, called them in to get the reward money.

And I love how he's just like as as he's like setting them free with, you know, food and some booze and all this other stuff.

And they're just like, man, don't you want the, you know, the $10,000 reward?

And he's just like, you better get out of here before I realize how dumb I was to not do.

That and yeah, no classic, classic Wilford Brimley.

I do so.

Good.

I love Wilford Brimley and you know, of course Sydney Pollock also directed him in the firm, but he's he's a bad guy in the firm and it makes me so sad that when Wilford Brimley is a bad guy in the firm, right.

But yeah, I know I also love him when he's not just a good guy in hard forget he's Cajun.

Oh my God, hard Target in the same summer special movie.

Released in the same summer as the firm So Wilford Brimley.

Well, and perhaps that and perhaps that is the the way that we bring this, you know, into, you know, we can't clearly do anything with Wilford Brimley now, but I perhaps hard target and with him wielding shotguns on a on horseback, maybe that is his way of can of reconnecting with rising stars spiritually.

Oh yeah, it is.

Oh, and hey Dan, what would you, what would you do with this movie given.

Given a blank check.

You know, I, I think I would probably, it feels like you could make a decent remake of this.

And the caveat there is unfortunately, every time I think of what like a really good like quality remake of this would look like, I just think of the Bradley Cooper, a star is born.

And like you don't want to just kind of like do that again.

So like, so for instance, like because of that, like Bradley Cooper is out.

Bradley Cooper would not be my Sonny Steele, whereas he might be someone who I would consider and I would actually, I would still set it in the 70s because that's in the era before you have and, and maybe go further into how rampant the abuse of animals was throughout the entertainment industry and, you know, adjust it.

I still like the idea of it being a rodeo star.

I mean, the very idea of the rodeo is going to exploitative to animals and somebody who who is in a place in his life where he needs to make a a personal transformation.

The whole breakfast cereal thing I think actually really works.

And what I enjoyed is that it felt very satirical.

And it felt like there were these elements of satire that again, I think you could emphasize that more.

And, you know, I don't like it would be interesting to see almost like, like what would Adam McKay do with this?

Like.

We say we go to Adam McKay so much but but I'm thinking.

Of like but I'm I don't.

Disagree.

But I'm thinking of like, OK, but a perhaps a like, like you challenge Adam McKay to do something where it's it's sharp because this movie, it, it's not as sharp as it could be there.

It has moments of sharpness, but it could be sharper and say, like, you know, make this sharper.

Yeah.

Make this more meaningful.

There are a lot of other, a lot of, you know, film makers who could approach it.

I'm thinking of Adam McKay as a writer, director and and someone who would also, you know, potentially make an, you know, some unexpected non traditional choices in telling the story and communicating the message.

But really making a movie about how there was a great need by the end of the 1970s for much more oversight and general reform in how animals were treated in the entertainment industry.

And even that like didn't.

And, and I mean actually like have the like end the movie and say like, you know, it wasn't until 1989 that this started because like we know the stuff was still going on throughout the the 80s.

Possibly, you know, I feel like the 90s are when you start to really have more protection and and no animals were harmed in in the production.

Exactly.

So make this story part of that bigger story.

How, how does one person who really it is, you know, was it was a big deal, but kind of a niche big deal, right?

And brings How does this one person who has nothing else left bring people's attention to this issue because he's had enough?

Yeah, yeah.

Just to kind of piggyback off of what you're saying, because my idea was also to kind of do a remake, but to, I don't know, I feel like taking away the focus on like the relationship between him and the and the journalist.

I, I don't know if we need that.

I almost would rather be him on his own trying to get from point A to point Z with all of this going on.

And yes, keeping it in the 70s, you can keep it about, you know, rodeo coming from a place where you know, animal abuse is part of the sport and I but I would have loved to have seen IA much bigger.

I don't know, vision from the public because we only see the occasional person who just knows that there's, you know, a price on his head essentially.

But I want to know more about like, I want to see the perspective of like, you know, actual real people without him around experiencing this and finding out about this and having conversations about this.

And perhaps it's and perhaps it's a story of, you know, him on his path.

But then like maybe a passionate group of like, you know, regular people who follow him trying to find him and help him.

And perhaps there's maybe people trying to find him and help him and people trying to find him just so they can get the reward.

And so it's kind of the.

Broaden, you know, expand the story there, you know it.

And and you know what, it just occurred to me, John, what what the Electric Horseman, a movie set in the late 1970s could have had and I think is missing something that they they I know you're a fan of is a scene of.

Cop cars when they fall on top of each other and they're big 70s clunky cop cars.

Well, that we're not sure of, but this movie does not have a scene where people are watching the TV's in the storefront of of an electronic shop.

Harry and the Henderson style.

Why?

Why did it not like imagine, Oh no, imagine they did like, oh, you did like a sequel.

And Rising Star is standing outside the window, and he sees Storm out there and you know.

Yeah, hooves through the glass.

My name is Sunny Stee and I'm trying to think of the George Hen equivalent.

Right.

You know, Yeah.

Sunny Stee.

Sunny Stee.

That would be it.

Well.

If anybody out there listening or watching this has an idea of how you'd want to bring back The Electric Horseman, send us an e-mail, Ruined childhoodspot@gmail.com.

And please check out Ruined Childhoods pod.com for more fun stuff and also rate and review us on all those podcast apps.

We love to see it.

I will also point out, I noticed, especially on YouTube, I noticed that we've been getting a lot of views on some of our other Robert Redford episodes.

Notably Barefoot in the Park was up there.

So it feels appropriate to be talking about the collaboration between the two of them again.

Another Redford Fonda jam.

I I know, and what a fun movie that is too.

Oh yes, magnificent.

Well, Dan, why don't you let everybody know what we're going to be covering on our next D movie, Movie beginning with the letter D.

Beginning with the letter D, we are going to be talking about 1990s Darkman.

Directed by Sam Raimi, starring Liam Neeson, Frances Mcdormand, Larry Drake.

It's We just passed the 35th anniversary of Darkman.

Yeah.

So yeah, especially excited to talk about it.

And an old favorite of mine.

It's a wild one, man.

I'm excited to talk about it.

Yeah.

Yeah, well, as you, Dan, are riding off trying to free a horse into the wild, I wish you a good journey.

Good journey.