Download Our App XoStream

The Horsemen

1971

Action / Adventure / Drama

1
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten30%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled57%
IMDb Rating6.2101202

afghanistanbuzkashi

Plot summary


Uploaded by: FREEMAN

Top cast

Jack Palance Photo
Jack Palance as Tursen
Omar Sharif Photo
Omar Sharif as Uraz
Tom Tryon Photo
Tom Tryon as (uncredited)
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
1008.46 MB
1280*722
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 49 min
P/S 10 / 45
1.83 GB
1912*1078
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 49 min
P/S 18 / 56

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Nazi_Fighter_David8 / 10

'What a one-horned ram can do, a one-legged chapandaz can do better!'

Set in Afghanistan, John Frankenheimer's 'The Horsemen' is the story of a tribesman determined to rival his father at horsemanship… Uraz is sent by his father Tursen to win the traditional Royal Buzkashi on the field of Bagrami in the capital city of Kabul…

Uraz on Jahil has to battle for control of a headless calf, carry it around a blue flag, and deposit it back in the 'Circle of Justice'… thus signifying that he wins the king's pennant… and remains as the master chapandaz of all Afghanistan… During the tournament, opposing horsemen use their whips to urge on their horses and to hit the rider for the chance to snatch the heavy carcass…

The motion picture turns around five well drawn characters: an angered son eaten up with vanity; a brave father who knew something worse than danger; a nomad woman whose touch defiles; a once loyal servant lusted for an 'unclean woman;' and a wager from the high passes of the East where 'men know how to forge fine weapons and use them well'…

Uraz (Omar Sharif) deliberately chose to bribe his devoted servant with the magnificent white stallion in order to increase the already terrible dangers which he hopes to conquer…

Zareh (Leigh-Taylor Young) urges her man to kill his high blood master to secure for herself his horse and his money…

Tursen (Jack Palance) know nothing but evil legends about an impossible road taken by his embittered son… His pain, remorse, and blood wept for a son lost through his fault…

Mukhi (David de Keyser) forgets his humble and faithful world in the arms of the 'untouchable' woman who pushes him to murder the great prince…

Hayatal (Peter Jeffrey) takes the challenge against 'the Prince Ram of the Valley' declaring openly to Uraz: 'What a one-horned ram can do, a one-legged chapandaz can do better!'

To understand 'The Horsemen' you must understand the rage, the beauty, and the tradition of a mountainous and landlocked country, isolated and left outside the mainstream of civilization…

Written by Academy Award winner Dalton Trumbo (The Brave One, Best Original Screenplay, 1956) 'The Horsemen' is a passionate film for men only… The film is a search that marks out the true concepts of honesty, integrity, loyalty, and trust

Reviewed by ma-cortes6 / 10

Adventures , thrills , horse riding and wonderful outdoors from Afghanistan and Spain

Spectacular movie with exciting adventures , horse-riding and marvelous Oriental landscapes in the desolate , poor northern provinces of the mountainous feudal Sunni kingdom of Afghanistan . The story is suitably emblematic and talks upon a champion Afghan horseman named Uraz (Omar Sharif) who participates with his horse in an extraordinary national game of "buzkashi" dating back to the time of Genghis Khan . It is a fierce competition, played on the steppes of the northern Afghanistan , before the Soviet-engineered republican revolutions . His father named Tursen (Jack Palance) is too old and has got a crooked leg , while Uraz is even prouder and with a morbidly self-destructive , he needs to prove himself against deadly dangers . Later on , he undertakes a risked journey to regain the honor he has lost after his defeat in the ceremonial game . On the journeys he loses a leg , is confronted by his servant (David Keyser) and an untouchable girl (Leigh Taylor Young) who want murder him , besides a nomad (Peter Jeffrey) who struggles his scraggy one-horned sheep . Each meeting has within the seeds of his own meaning and predicament . The final spectacle , including Omar Sharif's double , of the horseman along with his stallion is breathtaking and overwhelming.

This stirring motion picture blends adventures , thrills , spectacular horse-game , emotions and is pretty entertaining . From the beginning to the end , the adventure and drama is continuous ; for that reason packs a lot of entertainment , though it balances ups and downs . With a cast of thousands and genuine Afghan extras , being shot on actual locations . Sets and production design are spellbound and the Oriental landscapes are mesmerizing . It is based on Joseph Kessel's 1967 novel, "Les Cavaliers" ("The Horsemen"),Kessel spent almost fifty years of his life roaming the world and being adapted by the black-listed Dalton Trumbo . The film began shooting using 65mm negative (Super Panavision),but during production, Columbia went through a change in management. The budgets for this and another 65mm production, "MacKenna's Gold," were cut, and both films were forced to switch over to 35mm anamorphic Panavisión ; however, both were released in 70mm, with the later-shot sections blown up. Colorful cinematography by Claude Renoir filmed on location in Afghanistan and Almeria , Spain , where in the 60s and early 70s were filmed a lot of Westerns .Two/three weeks into shooting, cinematographer James Wong Howe left the Project , due to disagreement with director John Frankenheimer over use of lens. Sensitive and fascinating musical score by George Delerue .

The motion picture is compellingly directed by John Frankenheimer . At the beginning he worked for TV and turned to the cinema industry with The Young Stranger (1957) . Disappointed his with first feature film experience he came back to his successful television career directing a total of 152 live television shows in the 50s. He took another opportunity to change to the big screen , collaborating with Burt Lancaster in The Young Savages (1961) and Birdman of Alcatraz(62) ending up becoming a successful director well-known by his skills with actors and expressing on movies his views on important social deeds and philosophical events and film-making some classics as ¨The Manchurian candidate¨, ¨Seven days of May¨ and ¨The Train¨ . The flick will appeal to Oriental adventure enthusiasts and Omar Sharif fans . Rating: Good , well worth watching

Reviewed by artzau8 / 10

Better-- much better than average

Omar Sharif and Jack Palance may be the only names in this cast that most will recognize but the story based on an Afghan tale, set in Afghanistan before the Russian invasion, is a classic tale which lays out a great deal of Afghan culture during the period before the great disruption by the West. Afghanistan returned to the public eye after the post-911 invasion to depose the Taliban but the state of knowledge about these marvelous independent people who fought the British Empire to a standstill, still remains obscure. The game of buzgashi, a kind of polo for Weidman, was the core for many of the tribesmen. Its importance as an institution marking the status of tribes and individuals has no real counterpart in Western culture, and this is a tale of intrigue and self-learning, framed in a cultural setting we still have yet to understand.

Read more IMDb reviews