Sunday May 19, 2024 at 9 p.m., Arte broadcasts The breath of the storm, a western with James Caan and Jane Fonda whose filming was mourned by the tragic death of a stuntman. Incredibly, this terrible accident was preserved in the editing!
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Take out the stetsons and put on your cowboy boots to watch The breath of the storm, broadcast Sunday May 19, 2024 at 9 p.m. on Arte! The lead role in this western by the great Alan J. Pakula, the director of legendary films, such as The President’s Men with Robert Redford, Sophie’s choice with Meryl Streep or even The Pelican affair with Julia Roberts, is run by the formidable Jane Fonda. The actress plays Ella Connors, a peasant who, although in debt, struggles to keep her farm coveted by her cousin, Jacob Ewing, a rich, powerful man with no morals.
Jane Fonda and James Caan, a unique cinema couple
In her fight against her cousin’s greed, the young woman will find an ally in the person of Frank Athearn, a young demobilized soldier to whom she sold a small plot of his land. The latter, injured by a henchman paid by Jacob Ewing, suggests to Ella that they join forces against their common enemy. Little by little, Frank and Ella become closer. Facing Jane Fonda, it’s James Caan, the “Sonny” of Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola, who plays this young cowboy. As for the horrible Jacob Ewing, he is played by Jason Robards, a regular in westerns since he also played in Pat Garrett And Billy the Kid and in the cult Once upon a Time in the West by Sergio Leone.
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The breath of the storm : this fatal accident which mourned the filming
Like any good western, The breath of the storm offers its share of cavalcades, herds of cows, settling of scores between the good guys and the bad guys, and exchanges of gunfire. Certain epic scenes of course required the intervention of stuntmen for the most dangerous of them. But even when calling on professionals, an accident can never be completely ruled out and this is unfortunately what happened during the filming of this western by Alan J. Pakula. Indeed, on August 18, 1977, while stuntman Jim Sheppard was overtaking Jason Robards in a scene where he was to be dragged by a horse, the animal accidentally deviated from its trajectory. The 40-year-old man died after violently colliding with a pole. The scene was also kept in the editing, but was of course cut just before impact.
