On Swift Horses is a character study set in the sexually repressed 1950s. This atmospheric drama deals with Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a woman who struggled to figure out where she belonged, and two brothers just back from serving in Korea. There are some spoilers in this review.

On Swift Horses begins on a Kansas farm. Muriel’s mother left her the farm and it means a lot to her because of that. Lee (Will Poulter) is home on leave. He keeps asking Muriel to marry him and move to California. He wants her to sell the farm so they can buy a house in California.

Down the snow covered road comes Lee’s brother Julius (Jacob Elordi). He’s been discharged from the Navy early. He intends to make a living cheating at cards, but promises his brother he’ll join him in his dream of living in California. He seldom keeps a promise.

Muriel and Julius recognize something in each other. It’s something deeply hidden that neither of them will be able to name, even by the movie’s end. Julius is gay. He knows it and has faced it. Muriel longs for women but doesn’t know it yet and hasn’t faced it. This subliminal emotion they share manifests for Murial as love. She later tells someone that meeting Julius was the first time she felt able to breathe.

Jump ahead six months. Lee and Muriel are married and in California. He still urges her to sell the family farm so they can buy a house. She’s working as a waitress and overhears men from the racetrack talking horses. She uses these conversations to make a huge amount of money at the racetrack.

Muriel meets a woman named Gail (Kat Cunning) at the track. When their horse wins big, Gail kisses Murial on the lips. It flares something in Muriel and she finally recognizes the feelings she’s misunderstood for so long.

Muriel doesn’t tell Lee she has horse racing money hidden away, but she gives him $3000 of it and says she sold the farm. They buy a house. Just down the road lives Sandra (Sasha Calle) who gives them olives and sells them eggs. And welcomes Muriel into her bed.

Julius is in Las Vegas, working in a casino spotting cheaters. He works with Henry (Diego Calva). They become lovers. Julius falls for Henry, falls for him big! An interesting subplot in their story was that they went into the desert outside Las Vegas at night to watch the once a month atom bomb tests. They stood right there downwind from the blast oblivious to the danger they were in.

That’s the basic setup. The characters move in this strange love rectangle with Muriel and Lee, Muriel and Sandra, Muriel and Julius, Julius and Henry. The characters stumble and fumble through their various dramas. It reveals who they are, what they value, what they are willing to give and to take.

This remembrance of the 1950s was smoke tinged, used a brownish color palette, had beautiful cinematography, and absolutely wonderful music choices. In terms of atmosphere and costumes, it was spot on. Will Poulter’s hair alone screamed 1950s. I found On Swift Horses both telling and touching.

Even though I smoked myself back in the 1950s, I’m tired of watching people smoke endlessly in movies. Even a little less of it would be appreciated. There were an assortment of sex scenes and some nudity, but nothing super racy in my opinion. It was a movie about a woman coming to terms with her sexuality, after all.

Daniel Minahan directed On Swift Horses, which you can see on Netflix.