Horse Movies on DVD
November is that month in the Australian sports calendar where "the nation
stands still", all for a 'little' horse race known as the Melbourne Cup…
Two Australian ‘horse movies’ left a marked impression on audiences in the
early 1980s, both at home and overseas. The first was
The Man From Snowy River (1982) - the second movie adaptation of Banjo
Patterson’s much-loved poem - the other was
Phar Lap (1983), the true story of Australia’s greatest Melbourne Cup
winner. Appearing in rapid succession both starred
Tom Burlinson, as heroic horse wrangler Jim Craig in the first, and
underdog horse trainer Tommy Woodcock in the latter. Both jettisoned the actor
to star status and Australian cinema to success internationally, before
Paul Hogan redefined the eighties with
Crocodile Dundee (1986)
Elizabeth Taylor
may never have become the super star she without horse movie National Velvet
(1944), her fifth as a child actress, made when she was just 12 years old. It
is the story of a country girl Velvet, a horse called Pie and a fallen jockey
Mi (Mickey Rooney),
who takes them all the way to England’s toughest steeple chase, the Grand
National Sweepstakes. Based on the novel by Enid Bagnold, rural England is the
backdrop for this sentimental coming-of-age story, traditionally considered a
“woman’s weepie”. Novertheless National Velvet delivers as a movie, with a
thrilling horse race in which you can’t help but get involved.
Sixty years later Sea
Biscuit (2003) is another ‘underhorse’ movie that struck a definitive
chord with audiences. Adapted from Laura Hillenbrand’s best-selling non-fiction
novel, it is the account of a Depression-era champion on which the hopes of a
nation were pinned. Starring
Jeff Bridges, Chris
Cooper and Tobey
Maguire - fresh from the success of the first
Spiderman blockbuster -
Sea Biscuit is an old fashioned ‘family film’ made in the tradition of
bygone eras. A diminutive horse bound for the bone yard,
Sea Biscuit was transformed into a contender by three men who believed
in his talent: owner Charles Howard (Bridges),
maverick trainer Tom Smith (Cooper)
and disabled jockey Sam ‘Red’ Pollard (Maguire).
While slow in parts, it boasts great performances, realistic race sequences and
an authentic depiction of the time.
One of the greatest horse epics ever made has to be
The Black Stallion (1979), directed by former cinematographer,
Carroll Ballard. Produced by old mate Francis Ford Coppola, it tells
the story of a young man, Alec Ramsay (Kelly Reno) who befriends an Arabian
racehorse when they are stranded on an island after being shipwrecked. The
relationship between boy and horse is as emotional as any rendered on film.
The Black Stallion (1979) is superbly crafted, with extraordinary
cinematography, deep drama and a ‘mysticism’ usually not associated with ‘kids
movies’.
Hidalgo (2004) is
another thrilling, smartly scripted period picture, where the ‘animal actor’ is
the star of the picture.
Viggo Mortenson (Lord
Of The Rings) plays real-life American cowboy Frank T. Marshall, who
made a career from racing his trusty mustang Hildalgo in long distance races
during the 1890s. He accepts the challenge of a lifetime - to race Hildalgo
across the Arabian desert - while battling prejudice, snobbery and the sands of
a vast, unforgiving desert. It’s an underrated movie just waiting to be
discovered on DVD…
- Megan
Megan Spencer has spent way too much of her life in the dark, all for a good
cause though - watching movies as a professional film critic. For the last six
and a half years she has been serving the ever-increasing hunger for film and
DVD reviews as radio triple j's resident film critic, and a year ago joined the
new line up of long-running SBS-TV film review program, The Movie Show.
Every now and then she pops up into the light to make her own films,
documentaries (her latest is 'Fantastic Brutality', a documentary about an
obsessed wrestling fan, to be released next year). She has also written about
film for many publications including J-Mag, Limelight, Inside Film Magazine and
the Age Green Guide.
And the impossible question to ask a film critic: what's her favourite film?
"Blue Velvet would be at the top of the list, so would Fight Club... But then
again American In Paris makes me cry every time."
Megan has also been part of the Foxtel's Project Greenlight Australia as an
on-air panelist and judge.
