PalCinema Review: On Swift Horses
April 24, 2025
FILM: ON SWIFT HORSES
DIRECTED BY DANIEL MINAHAN
STARRING: DAISY EDGAR-JONES, JACOB ELORDI, WILL POULTER
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
The opening scenes of On Swift Horses reveal a lot about the main characters played by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jacob Elordi. It’s 1950s Kansas and Julius (Elordi) has just left the army and arrives at the home of his brother Lee (Will Poulter) and his wife Muriel (Jones.) His entrance into their world is reminiscent of Warren Beatty in Bonnie & Clyde. With Muriel looking out from an upper window, Julius is seen with his shirt off laying on a car. It’s a sexually alluring position but Muriel’s response is not one of desire but of curiosity. When he enters the home and moves around in his t-shirt there’s an echo of Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire, and rightly so. Elordi and his smoldering good looks and swagger suggest he is a force to be reckoned with, if not nearly as steeped in hyper masculinity as Brando was. But Muriel is different than Bonnie in the former film and Blanche in the latter. She’s stronger and hardly a pushover. Muriel is more complex and harboring her own secrets and desires.
Elordi, Jones, and Poulter are all young “it” actors of today reminiscent of hot James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, and Rock Hudson in 1956’s Giant. They are the kind of actors that have presence and skill that we can expect will take them on a long career, hopefully well into roles that will continue to show their growth and maturity. All of this suggests that this is a high-profile film that aims to attract an audience knowing something about their current significance.
So, it’s interesting that these actors illustrate sides that those previous actors/characters couldn’t express in the 1950s. Like Dennis Quaid in Far From Heaven or Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhal in Brokeback Mountain, these are characters that don’t fit in with the popular notion of what a “normal” life was supposed to be during the mid-20th century. Muriel works as a waitress but spends her extra time betting on horses while eyeing some of the women in their new home town of San Diego. Julius heads to Las Vegas where he gets a job looking for cheaters in a casino. There, he meets Henry (Diego Calva) who immediately pursues him sexually.
The bulk of the narrative is centered on these two parallel storylines. It’s frustrating for a while as their lives don’t seem to be coinciding except for the gambling and homosexual undertones. It’s as if we are watching two separate films. Eventually their stories do converge though and a larger connection is established between Muriel and Julius.
On Swift Horses is based on a novel and it’s clear that there are pieces of the story that go a bit underdeveloped. However, what is the central focus is the difficulty LGBT adults had in the 1950s to live their lives out in the open. There is a hotel bar that caters to the community but there’s always the realistic fear of raids. There’s also the private house parties and clandestine sexual meet-ups between people. The patrons feel lucky for what they have at this particular time, knowing that it all could be taken from them at a moment’s notice. Still, the message here is for people to keep searching for what they want. Perseverance is the key. Secrets and hidden lives can only last for so long. Thankfully, the film isn’t interested in punishing the characters for their desires but rather to explore how those needs come to be expressed and satisfied.
The actors are all very good. Daisy Edgar-Jones, who I first recall seeing in Normal People with Paul Mescal, is always fascinating to watch on screen. She’s very subtle in what she expresses but what she skillfully withholds says a lot about her characters. Elordi continues to be a screen object (there are numerous scenes in which he has his shirt off) but he’s a very capable and convincing actor, demonstrating sensuality and vulnerability. Will Poulter doesn’t have nearly as meaty a role as the others do. He’s the fairly straight-laced and stable brother who believes in the promise of marriage and the American Dream. We don’t get much of his point of view but Poulter is given a couple of strong scenes later in the film which help clarify what ultimately unifies the narrative.
The film isn’t quite the cinematic achievement that it could be due in part to the somewhat clunky adaptation but it does provide an interesting look at aspects of outsiders’ lives in a conservative and often misunderstood period of time.
On Swift Horses opens theatrically this week.
What do you think? Will you see this one? Are you a fan of the actors?
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The film is intriguing and you hit it on the head in your description of its successes and its shortcomings. Overall, it is quite satisfying and enjoyable to watch. I liked how it depicted the difficulties of the 1950s closet without punishing the characters or ending tragically for them.