[posted in this thread Nov 15, 2006]
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;1997828]
The benefits of youtube.com …[bAnother revised version of another video, which is very well done, youtube.com tribute to her Final start (aka Great Match) that featured the folk song by Gerry Lukacik.[/QUOTE]
The above is the video cited by Art in his 2/16/07 column
Is the movie still scheduled to air this summer?
I have footage of the match race from a segment that was aired years ago on ESPN. Horrible, horrible moments. I just watched the tribute video on YouTube and started to cry before it happened, in anticipation of what would happen next. I can’t see how airing that footage in a movie does any good. I never again want to watch that footage…nor footage of Go For Wand, or Barbaro. I vividly remember Mr. Nickerson collapsing the the BC Sprint, I know it wasn’t a “breakdown” like the others (rather a suspected heart attack or anuerism) but why do we feel the need to watch things like that over and over?
[QUOTE=asb_own_me;2227057]
Is the movie still scheduled to air this summer?[/QUOTE]
This spring - to coincide with ABC’s airing of the Belmont in June 2007 - yes.
I truly doubt ABC will for the 2-hours of alloted airtime show a recreation of the breakdown over and over. They won’t however sweep it under the rug as it was part of the Ruffian saga. It won’t get ratings and trust me the NTRA would take them and ESPN to task hard if they dare exploit the issue.
Actor Sam Shepard’s website - “Ruffian” role as trainer Frank Whitley
I am not sure I can watch this movie knowing the way it ends and having seen it live in 1975 and what we have just gone through with Barbaro…I hope they do her justice…
ruffian-
Ruffian was a miracle-I loved her more than life itself. I saw that ill conceived match race in July in 1975. It has been over 30 years and just thinking of her still breaks my heart. TB racing has never been the same for me and many others. If not raced so young Ruffian and many other good horses would have lived to race again. As for this movie -about Ruffian-she deserves to have her wonderful life told. No movie could ever capture the wonder that she was, but new generations of horse lovers should know that once upon a time there a horse named Ruffian and she was perfect-she was the horse that every fan had ever dreamed of , but because she was real and not a dream, she was oh-so-fragile-and many times life is so much more fragile than any dream.
ruffian-
Ruffian was a miracle-I loved her more than life itself. I saw that ill conceived match race in July in 1975. It has been over 30 years and just thinking of her still breaks my heart. TB racing has never been the same for me and many others. If not raced so young Ruffian and many other good horses would have lived to race again. As for this movie -about Ruffian-she deserves to have her wonderful life told. No movie could ever capture the wonder that she was, but new generations of horse lovers should know that once upon a time there a horse named Ruffian and she was perfect-she was the horse that every fan had ever dreamed of , but because she was real and not a dream, she was oh-so-fragile-and many times life is so much more fragile than any dream.
All indications are such that this movie will still be aired Sunday June 4, 2007 in the evening on ABC after the Belmont Stakes
A bit old but here was the BB “The Bug Boys” discussion on the movie/project.
“Ruffian”: set to air Saturday June 9th at 9 pm Eastern on the ABC Network
– corrected per barnfairy’s astute eyes 
Um, make that Saturday June 9th.
Thanks for the heads up! 'Looking forward to this.
I’ll pass. Thanks anyway. :no:
I think I will pass also, having watched it live and remember it like it was yesterday I do not need more pictures for they are in my head already. I still do not understand why someone would make a movie about a horse breaking down and release it on the night of the Belmont inlieu of what happened last year…
If anyone is interested just read the book burning from the start…JMHO
I still do not understand why someone would make a movie about a horse breaking down and release it on the night of the Belmont inlieu of what happened last year.
Because the film was announced in January 2006 and shot in large part before the middle of May 2006.
I find it truly odd that people can bristle and recoil over the idea of seeing the grace of Ruffian and her story told on the screen to a new generation. Yet fully endorse reading a book about her and yearn for more videos to be done on Barbaro.
Ruffian’s legacy should not be simply the last moments of her career. Her impressive runs prior to the match race is what made her a star and gave her a following.
I think you forgot a “not” in there somewhere.
I’m looking forward to the movie- hopefully it’s well done. But I’m too young to remember Ruffian, and would like to learn more about her. I’ve watched many of her races (thanks be to youtube), and she takes my breath away, even now.
Looking forward to learning more about her and her people
Glimmerglass- if they could make it about her triumphs I have no problem with that and hope that is what they focus on instead of her breakdown. No, I do not like watching Barbaro breakdown time and time again. I only hope that they can show by comparrison how far we have come with medicine and treatment for major injuries…
I guess at the time it was about boys against girls…ie: Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs
I just wish they would show it a different night…just in case…
I cried for Ruffian and for Barbaro but we got to know Barbaro and he lived 8 more months, modern technology allowed that in more ways then one… I hope they do not make it a habit of making movies about horses breaking down.
Huh??
[QUOTE=ivy62;2416320]
I think I will pass also, having watched it live and remember it like it was yesterday I do not need more pictures for they are in my head already. I still do not understand why someone would make a movie about a horse breaking down…[/QUOTE]
Obviously you did not watch the clip.
The movie is to be focusing on her career, her races, her brilliance as an athlete.
Not her breakdown.
I followed this wonderful filly’s career from her first race. I am looking forward to seeing the movie to relive her victories.
Gosh, I hope my entire life isn’t judged on my manner of death.
Geeze…I give up.
:rolleyes:
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;2416354]
Because the film was announced in January 2006 and shot in large part before the middle of May 2006.
I find it truly odd that people can bristle and recoil over the idea of seeing the grace of Ruffian and her story told on the screen to a new generation. Yet fully endorse reading a book about her and yearn for more videos to be done on Barbaro.
Ruffian’s legacy should be simply the last moments of her career. Her impressive runs prior to the match race is what made her a star and gave her a following.[/QUOTE]
Agree with Glimmerglass here. And for this ol’ mare, I remember that after Ruffian’s death, Dr. Jenny developed and found the funding for the “recovery pool” at New Bolton. Does anyone else remember the NYTs article about it? I do. I wonder if that will be mentioned in the doc?
Prayer continues, always,
June
My father, a newspaper sports editor, was sent a review copy of the film, which I just finished watching a few minutes ago. Mini-background on me, in case it matters: I am too young to have seen Ruffian in life, but I’m a racing fan (with a sports journalist for a father, it’s unavoidable!). I’ve read Jane Schwartz’s book. My horse was an OTTB, and my next horse will be, too.
Overall, I thought the movie was very well done. Yes, it’s a TV movie, and I could have done without Bill Nack’s character’s voice-over. It could have been much longer, but anyone who knows Ruffian’s story will be able to fill in the gaps. It’s very much a horse racing movie, not just a horse movie, and everything else is built around the racing scenes, which I thought were filmed beautifully. It’s a good-looking movie overall, and maybe I just wasn’t looking closely enough, but I didn’t even see “gelding evidence,” if you know what I mean!
The breakdown and hopsital scenes are tough to watch, no doubt about it. They are fairly graphic, but in my opinion they were honest, not exploitative. (I do work at an equine hospital and have seen a number of catastrophic injuries in real life, so perhaps the visual wasn’t quite as shocking to me as it might be to some people.) I think the film struck a good balance of acknowledging Ruffian’s death for the heartrending event that it was with the fact that her life and career were what made her astonishing and memorable. The book naturally paints a much clearer and more detailed picture of both Ruffian and the people around her, but for a relatively short film, they chose their scenes well.
I know everyone will have their own opinion, and those opinions will probably run the gamut, but I just thought I’d share my 2 cents. If you’re thinking of watching it, I’d say it’s worth a look.
[QUOTE=R D Lite;2438742]
My father, a newspaper sports editor, was sent a review copy of the film …[/QUOTE]
Hmm any chance a copy of that might be available?
I likely will not get to see it originally aired [on ABC but I will on the rebreoadcast set for ESPN] or the Belmont as I’ll be flying back from Bermuda that day.
Thanks for the comments on the movie. Bill Nack has spoke very positively of the film and that should also say something about its quality.
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;2446552]
Hmm any chance a copy of that might be available? :)[/QUOTE]
Alas, I had to give it back to the legitimate news agency! 
(Although it did cross my mind to write ESPN and tell them they should just send me review copies of any and all horse-related material so I can come talk it up on COTH! :yes: )
Writer Bill Nack was today’s guest for the BloodHorse’s “Talkin’ Horses” Q&A feature for Thur May 24, 2007 and he was posed the question on Ruffian and this movie:
Q: I know some people who have seen the Ruffian movie (I have not) and they are very upset or distressed about the breakdown scene. They say it’s extremely graphic. In light of Barbaro, why get so graphic?
Nack:
It was the hardest part of the movie for me to watch, but this is what happened to her—Ruffian shattered the two sesamoids in her right front ankle—and I think it’s ill-advised and a cheat to make such a catastrophic breakdown less graphic than it was. I’ve thought about this, but I just don’t think that Barbaro’s accident and fate should have any bearing on how the Ruffian tragedy was handled on film.
The Ruffian movie project was started long before Barbaro came on the scene, and I just don’t see how and why one should influence the other. While the breakdown was graphic, it was very brief, and I thought the scenes following the accident were handled with abundant sensitivity. In fact, there was nothing of that horrible scene at the barn that I witnessed and described in my book, with Barbara Janney wailing; with an uninvited vet, Dr. William Reed, giving her a shot he should not have given her; and with Ruffian going into shock, trying to lie down as she bled continuously from the ankle.
These were scenes I witnessed at the barn and none of them is in the movie.
When Ruffian awoke from surgery and started thrashing around, according to witness Frank Tours, she threw people around like rag dolls. None of this violence is in the movie. In fact, from her breakdown to her destruction, the scenes are very quiet and subdued… Some would say it’s too quiet and subdued—too far from reality, too far from what really happened after she broke down.
You be the judge.
A strongly recommend reading his transcript and his comments are always well informed and fascinating.
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