Which one was better on an artistic level
The Jump? MFSR
Or
The plowing scene?WH
Yes, I know that they are 30 years apart.
My favorite horse movie is the Black Stallion. Nothing beats that movie in my opinion. I find War horse and Black Beauty too difficult to watch.
My second favorite horse movie is the Silver Stallion (Silver Brumby). Followed by National Velvet and Wild Hearts can’t be Broken. And Into the West.
It’s pretty hard to beat the jump in the Man From the Snowy River.
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When I was a kid I worked in a video store. Upon culling some of the older movies they gave me the Man from Snow River. It was probably never rented because I always had it myself 
Nothing beats that movie, IMO. So many horse movies were about the plight of the horse, which my sensitive soul couldn’t stomach.
Good horse movies are so hard to find.
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MFSR has real horses doing real things (I cried when they did the sequal…how could they fake that shooting the horse scene?). No comparison for me. Real horses showing real athleticism wins every time.
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Another vote for The Man From Snowy River.
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Concur. And also watch another Aussie offering, “The Lighthorsemen.”
G.
I saw War Horse as a play on stage, and also read the book. They were both terrific, beginning to end.
I haven’t seen Warhorse, but I can’t imagine ANYTHING beating out the jump/snow scene from The Man From Snowy River. That was always my favorite part of the movie - just breathtaking.
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The plowing scene in War Horse was just…dumb. Who hitches up a yearling (or was it a 2 year old), untrained non-draft to plow a steep, muddy field?
Snowy River by a mile.
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Okay, so I haven’t seen the movie version, but the historical time period of War Horse is fairly significant in terms of “who would hitch up a non-draft horse to plow a steep, muddy field?”
The answer is that the family who owned him was not well-off, and every animal on the place had to earn its keep. If that particular horse couldn’t do a job, then that particular horse would have to go, and the boy was trying to train the horse to plow so he could keep the horse. In an agrarian society that’s not a huge stretch. The fact that the field was steep and muddy was just a fact of the landscape that the family had available to them to work.
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I understand using a non-draft to plow. But this particular horse wasn’t mature, so I wouldn’t think even a poor family would use yearling or 2 year old to do that particular job . Why would they even have such a horse except to ride or pull a wagon or cart, when older? Why would they buy or breed a saddle/driving horse, then use it to plow as a baby?
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If I remember the plot correctly, the father bought the young horse (Joey) on a whim, and wasn’t making a realistic assessment of the horse’s ability to do farm work. Sort of a Jack and the Beanstalk storyline. The mother in the family is upset, and the son decides to train the horse partly to redeem his father’s choice, and partly because he’s bonded with the young horse.
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before the MFSR was a Disney movie, Run Appaloosa Run, movie is usually horse stuff but the race scene is pretty good and if I remember correctly had some crazy mad dash down a steep hill, similar to MFNR.
of course right up there is Secretariat winning the Belmont.
That’s the Omack Stampede Suicide Race in Run Appaloosa Run. Though I haven’t been able to find out whether it historically included the jumping phase and was a relay (as it was in RAR). Now it’s just the dash down the hill and across the river. Plenty of real life vids on YouTube if you’re interested!
The Black Stallion is like two movies. The first half is magical, and I think Caleb Deschanel was nominated for and/or won an Oscar for the cinematography. The second half not so much. I always felt a disconnect, since Alex in the book was a teen and the decisions made more realistic than with Kelly Reno in the role who was, I think, 10 or 11.
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Of your two choices I pick MFSR, that scene is heart stopping! I will confess to not watching Warhorse, I’d probably still be crying if I saw it. But without a doubt my favorite horse scene is from The Black Stallion. Galloping on the beach and then at the end when the race is done we get the flashbacks to the beach scene. It isn’t the beauty of the surroundings that are the most powerful, it’s the emotion.
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Below the salt is right , black stallion was two movies, the second half was burdened by clunky direction and editing. There are some really bad editing errors that do not do justice to the island scenes or even the boat scenes.
There is nothing that can compare to the stage version magic of war horse. The movie did no justice to the magic
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I was also surprised that they used such a young boy to play Alec but then I read an article about him and it said that casting needed a boy who could ride. One of the film crew said his nephew could ride and that was Kelly Reno. It was something like that, just needed a kid who could ride a horse.
And another vote for MFSR. Hated Warhorse the movie, loved the stage play.
I thought MFSR was okay as a whole, the scene going down the cliff was pretty amazing though.
The first like 30 minutes of War Horse are hard for me to get through, it’s all so dang cringey and unrealistic. But I loved the rest of the movie, there were some really amazing scenes in it.
The Belmont race in Secretariat makes me tear up every single time.
I actually don’t remember much from the black stallion…i need to rewatch it.
Man from Snowy River!!
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