This drama of the wide open spaces of Afghanistan is an unusual for director John Frankenheimer, more at home with thrillers (The Manchurian Candidate, French Connection Number Two) or studies of small-town Americana (All Fall Down, The Gypsy Moths). Omar Sharif is a proud Afghan rider whose failure in a crucial contest forces him to set out on an epic journey across hazardous terrain in order to redeem himself. Although it never quite breaks free of its own pageantry, The Horsemen has some very striking and sometimes savage sequences, notably one in which riders battle each other with whips. Claude Renoir's highly competent colour photography conveys well the primitive power of such barbaric rites.


©ipc tx. Film content from TVTimes