Heh.
It’s OK 
I have it on VHS and enjoyed it, as that was one of my favorite books as a kid
Acting isn’t stellar, but it’s enjoyable, not too goofy or farfetched. Doesn’t follow the book 100% but I liked it (not an oscar winner but good for a rainy cold day.)
Champions and Casey’s Shadow are both available at Amazon on DVD. They’re also both on Netflix.
Another classic is “The Electric Horseman”. Robert Redford, romance, horses, beautiful scenery…this is a good one. I love the ending of this movie when they play Willie Nelson’s “My Heroe’s Have Always Been Cowboys”. Great movie!
[QUOTE=caffeinated;5173488]
Acting isn’t stellar, but it’s enjoyable, not too goofy or farfetched. Doesn’t follow the book 100% but I liked it (not an oscar winner but good for a rainy cold day.)[/QUOTE]
Well, the book doesn’t follow reality even 50%, so not following the book perfectly only seems fair! I liked it as a kid, too, it’s just like most of Marguerite Henry’s, doesn’t hold up well if you make the mistake of learning the real story. Though it’s not nearly as bad as Black Gold in that respect. Heh…speaking of that, I wonder if the supposedly-AWFUL film about him still exists.
[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;5169324]
P.S. What do you know about Sham’s connections - was there that rivalry between the two camps and the verbal jostling?[/QUOTE]
Not so much verbal jostling but Pancho was definitely bitter that the best 3-year-old he ever had came along the same year as “HIM.” When Sham hit his mouth on the gate in the Derby and lost a couple of teeth (Pancho’s white shirt was covered in blood at the barn) it convinced him that Sham didn’t get a fair chance…in that race.
As for the owners…I interviewed Viola Sommer (Sigmund Sommer had passed away) in the early 1990s and she had nothing but wonderful things to say about Penny and Lucien. Viola and Penny seemed to adore one another - I saw them sitting together in the Turf Club at a Belmont Stakes, chattering away like two teenage girls.
Oh, shoot, I saw the movie in Lexington while there for WEG and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was not expecting accurate history. There’s no way they could have told the ‘real’ story, including Riva Ridge all the way back to Hill Prince (HOTY 1950) and make it understandable/entertaining for the general public.
As to Secretariat’s death by laminitis, I was told at the time that it was pretty much due to overfeeding so he’d ‘look good for his public.’ As told to me, he had foundered before, and vets cautioned that the food needed to be drastically cut…advice apparently not taken to heart, sadly.
What I thought was interesting was the crack about how Ronnie’s last horse had his heart burst. It’s known that Secretariat had a rather LARGE heart. I wonder if those two were related somehow?
Look good?? Jeez some of the last pics I saw of him he was positively butterball!!
[QUOTE=Beverley;5175684]
As to Secretariat’s death by laminitis, I was told at the time that it was pretty much due to overfeeding so he’d ‘look good for his public.’ As told to me, he had foundered before, and vets cautioned that the food needed to be drastically cut…advice apparently not taken to heart, sadly.[/QUOTE]
I saw the movie last evening…including us, there were 6 people in the theater.
I really enjoyed the film, but wish that Disney had stuck to the racing facts, the Wood Memorial result was somewhat bothersome…
I thought the character portrayals were good; Diane Lane was excellent, and John Malcovich too. The camera work was impressive during the racing scenes.
Some scenes seemed unlikely too, those who have seen the movie know what I mean…
There were some other liberties taken with the story that were not correct, but I guess that is Hollywood. I’d still recommend the movie for sure.
I loved it!
I choked up and cried more than I care to admit. Granted, my knowledge of racing is limited and I was 8 years old in 1973. I DO remember being mesmerized by the horse and I remember watching the Kentucky Derby from my hospital bed (fell off my pony, fractured my elbow, and was in traction on my back in bed for three weeks) and being hooked right along with the rest of the country.
I think that perhaps, it’s better if you don’t know too much and just take the movie at face value. It’s a great story even if the movie doesn’t show all of it, gets some stuff wrong, and takes some liberties.
I loved it too. I took it for what it was worth and just enjoyed the horses and camera work. We saw it 2 weeks ago in Baltimore and it was packed, like little guy with the flashlight asking people to move over packed.
[QUOTE=useventers;5171203]
Anyone seen “Champions”? The story of Bob Champion and Aldaniti winning the Grand National. Hollywood can’t make-up stories that are this good. It’s a real tear jerker, but one of my favorite horse movies. Even if you’re not into horses, this is just a good movie.[/QUOTE]
I agree. The training of the horse is real, the people are real, they even got good racing shots, even before virtual reality manipulations…
[QUOTE=danceronice;5170968]
I’ve seen the Phar Lap movie, but to be honest, I don’t remember a thing about it except Tom Burlinson’s “acting” when the horse is dead/dying. (Tip: Don’t cry on camera, hon. Some people can, some people can’t, you…well. Does he even still act at all?) “The Man From Snowy River” made a much bigger impression (though to this day I’m still too chicken to try even much shorter steep slope than the film at a walk, let alone a canter. Guy’s acting is suspect, but MAN, he can ride.
Funny, no one’s mentioned “National Velvet” (don’t hit me! Don’t hit me! Kidding.)
And odd little movie that I sort of liked (at least parts of) was “A Horse For Danny”, starring a very young Leelee Sobieski as a girl whose…uncle? Father? Don’t recall…is a trainer at of low-end horses. Setting aside some of the drama, and some dubious ‘veterinary diagnosis’ at the end, the film is interesting in the girl uses wagering to get the money for the horse, they get him by claiming him…it includes all the elements of racings movies usually ignore, when really, gambling and claiming are the backbone of the industry and most people are never going to get rich off racing, but keep working at it anyway. It has some of the usual horse-movie cliches, but it did at least portray the gritty bits (down to being in the Steward’s office and handling two claim slips on one horse.)[/QUOTE]
Thank you for mentioning the National Velvet movie, believe it or not, Elizabeth Taylor as a child did do the riding, and the horse that played the Pie, was an offspring of Man O’War. I thought the galloping scene next to the train was so beautiful, then again, so was his initial jump over the hedge and into the lane, the scenery was spectacular, and the horse running free down the lane with his head wagging and tail aloft, I just had to laugh! Too bad what Hollywood did to that beautiful child.
I always loved the overlapping scenes of the jockey and the horse prepping to come back.
I think that perhaps, it’s better if you don’t know too much and just take the movie at face value. It’s a great story even if the movie doesn’t show all of it, gets some stuff wrong, and takes some liberties.
Ha. I went to see the movie last night with my mother, who had racehorses in Canada around that time and knew all the people. And she complained constantly that the trainer’s accent was much stronger than that, and something wasn’t right about the jockey, and someone else wasn’t something…
Ooh. I learned a few years ago- don’t take a parent to a movie where you know the people portrayed. Took my Dad to see Bottle Shock, which I thought was a fun little movie, but he was incensed by the portrayals of ‘his good friends’ (I think it’s kind of fun to see the Hollywood take on people you know) and the made up but entertaining stuff about winemaking. We got an earful for days…
Don’t take them if they just know the subject, either. (See above about watching Apollo 13 with my dad.) Heck, it’s probably a good thing I watched “Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian” at my parents’ without anyone else nearby. (Feel free to PM me for “Everything wrong about the Smithsonian, its layout, and museum standards and practices as depicted in this film”. Fortunately the dogs don’t care if I talk to the TV.)
To date, it’s the #7 horse movie of all time. Secretariat BV Box office to date:$39,134,083
Opening weekend: $12,694,770
It cost $30-35 million to make the movie, so it has made the studio some money. Good news!
[QUOTE=danceronice;5185777]
Don’t take them if they just know the subject, either. (See above about watching Apollo 13 with my dad.) Heck, it’s probably a good thing I watched “Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian” at my parents’ without anyone else nearby. (Feel free to PM me for “Everything wrong about the Smithsonian, its layout, and museum standards and practices as depicted in this film”. Fortunately the dogs don’t care if I talk to the TV.)[/QUOTE]
You pretty much have to suspend a good bit of rational thinking to see most movies these days.:lol:
[QUOTE=DMK;5184898]
I always loved the overlapping scenes of the jockey and the horse prepping to come back.[/QUOTE]
You mean Champions I assume? Yes, it was wonderful.
[QUOTE=Calamber;5185855]
You pretty much have to suspend a good bit of rational thinking to see most movies these days.:lol:[/QUOTE]
Well, in fairness, it’s better than it used to be. They used to get away with flat-out stupidity (never mind improved effects these days.) Apollo 13 really only has nitpicks someone who actually worked with the program would get. Battle of the Smithsonian, 99% of viewers don’t know the difference (it drives me NUTS because I worked there and it includes a lot of things that are basically you can’t get there from here.) And heck, a lot of archaeologists LOVE Indiana Jones, despite knowing that is NOT how it works. (Well, okay, sometimes it is. But not Nazis. At least not any more.)
Underappreciated movie horses: Indy has two horseback chases! (And his horse in Last Crudade, with a slight makeup job, was Young Indy’s horse in Mexico in the Young Indiana Jones pilot.)
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