The plan was straightforward and sensible.
Lee would marry his sweetheart, Muriel. And with his brother, Julius, they would all set out for California. With Lee and Julius’ combined pay from their time in the service, they could get a nice house.
It would become a home, and a base for a family that the boys never had while growing up. Lee could see it all clearly. And the expansive days of America in the early ‘50s was the perfect time to do it.
There was just one problem. Well, two actually: Muriel and Julius. Neither one of them were completely on board.
Julius gave the idea a nod, but he was actually determined to gamble his saved pay into a fortune. Besides, his sexual desires would never fit in Lee’s straightlaced world. He’d rather keep moving and sell a night to guys like himself along the way.
As for Muriel, she agreed to marriage. But her feelings for Lee weren’t exactly the stuff that you’d build a future on, either. She also had some secret urges. And she began to explore them when she and Lee made their way to San Diego.
There was this pretty woman named Sandra, who lived down the road. And her gaze and touch awakened fiery passions that Muriel had never experienced before.
Not only that, but Muriel began gambling; she’d bet on the horses at the nearby race park. She’d overhear guys talk in the coffee shop where she worked and then turn their racing tips into cash.
Of course, she’d have to keep all of her risky gambles hidden away from Lee. He’s a sincere and caring guy, but he’d never understand his wife gambling and sleeping with a female neighbor.
And in a way, that’s exactly how Julius feels. He’s made his way to Las Vegas now. He works at a casino that seems ready-made for his skills. And he’s met a Latin lover named Henry who has skills of a different sort.
Lee’s dream is a good one. But for Muriel and Julius, it’s something of an oppressive prison. In fact, this story tells us, the whole world is oppressive for people like them.
Lee is the one truly sincere person in the story mix. He consistently tries to make his vision of a safe home and loving family become a reality. And even though he’s pretty sure that Julius will never share that vision, he still makes it clear that the offer is always open. “I’m not asking you to change, Julius,” Lee tells his brother. “I just want you to be safe.”
It’s also clear that both Julius and Muriel care about Lee. (But he’s never their first consideration.) Julius decides that he’d like to stay with Henry and try for a better life. (Though, like himself, Henry also has bigger plans.)
None.
On Swift Horses spends a great deal of screen time drawing its viewers into predominantly gay sexual encounters. (Lee and Muriel have sex onscreen twice as well.) Sometimes scenes and conversations are set up like erotic photographs where barely covered characters lounge around exposing their bodies in provocative poses.
Other realistic gay and straight sexual activities involve partners who entwine with each other while fully naked. There are sexual movements and sounds. We see lovers sexually engaged from the waist up and in full body shots. An oral sex encounter is implied though not explicitly shown.
Muriel’s lover, Sandra, sums up the movie’s beliefs about gays trying to hide their sexuality in the 1950s. “I’m real. This is real!” she declares to Muriel. Sandra also coarsely uses the f-word to describe the difference between “normal” marital sex and the illicit encounters she and Muriel share. In a different setting, a woman also suggests that gays are constantly at risk of being exposed, “We’re all just a hair’s breadth from losing everything. All the time!”
We’re also welcomed into a gay hotel and a lesbian party where same-sex couples dance together while kissing and caressing. Sometimes gay couples dance or play, dressed only in the typical underwear of the 1950s. We also see Lee and Muriel on a beach dressed in bathing suits. And a busty woman wears a low-cut dress.
Muriel and Julius have an undefined connection that seemingly borders on physical attraction. (Or perhaps, it’s just a like-spirit kinship.)
Julius, Henry and others watch a distant nuclear bomb test in the desert. After Julius is caught cheating in a local poker game, a man follows him outside to sexually assault him and steal his money.
When people are caught cheating at the casino where Julius works, they’re also taken outside and severely beaten and bloodied. Both Henry and Julius are given similar treatment on separate occasions. In Julius’ case, he shoots a man in the shoulder during that beatdown by a crowd.
Julius gets kicked in the crotch.
The movie dialogue is home to eight f-words and three s-words. We also hear uses of “a–,” “a–hole,” “h—” and “d–n.” God’s and Jesus’ names are abused a total of eight times (six of those combining God with “d–n”).
Julius is almost always lighting up or puffing a cigarette. Most of the other characters in the movie also smoke from time to time. Beer and hard alcohol flow freely here as well. Beer bottles are regularly scattered around dinner and casino tables. We see some people drinking martinis and other mixed drinks.
Early on, Julius demonstrates his ability to cheat at cards. And we see him (and others) applying similarly deceptive skills while gambling.
It’s implied that Julius was discharged early from military service because of his sexual proclivities. Henry suggests that if minorities want something they must take it.
[Spoiler Warning] When Lee finally realizes the ways that Muriel has deceived him, he is crushed that everything he’s dreamed of has been lost. “Did you want any of it?” he asks. Muriel answers by packing a bag to leave.
This film’s title, On Swift Horses, suggests the familiar, romanticized motif of wild, running horses as a picture of freedom. In that context, the characters of this drama are ostensibly galloping toward their sexual and emotional freedom in a morally repressive world of the 1950s.
That’s a rather romantic notion, at least according to the filmmakers. And all of the press materials supporting this film would certainly have you believe this is a very romantic story.
But … it’s really not.
There is indeed quite a bit of raw sexuality on display here. But romance? Not so much. This pic is an examination of a man and a woman, in two separate worlds, exploring and embracing the same-sex urges that drive them. The camera watches as they lie, cheat, obfuscate and betray others in that self-centered pursuit of carnal satisfaction.
In fact, since the film is so focused on showing us their explicit encounters, it doesn’t actually take much time to help us care about any of them.
Admittedly, however, character development isn’t really in the cards here. Instead, On Swift Horses leaves us with two hours of romanticized trysts and illicit rendezvous that merge the film’s cinematographic ambitions with pornographic interludes, and little else.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
