As requested....
A Film by Gary Ross
Seabiscuit is the kind of story that if we didn t already know that it was true, we d never believe it. At its heart, it is the story of a horse that was too small and a jockey that was too big and nobody believed that team could win anything. Now add the facts that the trainer was nobody that anyone wanted around, the owner didn t know squat about horses, and the jockey was blind in one eye, and you have yourself an unbelievable story that is too strange not to be true.
The early pacing of the movie is rather slow and Gary Ross takes the time to establish the era of the movie. We learn what kind of families these characters came from and what helped shaped them into the men they became. The early part of the film is narrated by David McCullough (author of the Pulitzer Prize winning book John Adams), who has the perfect narrating voice. We are presented with the sense of time and place that becomes important throughout the film. The film is heavy on exposition as we see Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) move out west to open a bicycle shop, but pulled himself up even higher and became incredibly rich selling cars (he makes a comment I wouldn t pay $5 for a horse, these automobiles are the future ). He buys a huge ranch, but puts race cars in the horse stalls. We see Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) riding his horse in the open range, but coming up against fencing that wasn t always there. We see a well-off, loving family spending time together. Then the stock market crashes and the Great Depression hits. Smith is an outcast, the Pollard family is ripped apart as they send their son, Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire) to live with someone else, and the son of Charles Howard dies in an accident. Howard s wife leaves him. The Depression has broken these men, and it has also broken America.
Flash forward six years. After more than a little bit of exposition to give us the setting, the movie begins to move forward and gets a whole lot better. The main characters start to come together. Howard is down in a border town watching a bull fight when he steps outside, not liking what he was watching. He meets Marcela (Elizabeth Banks), ends up marrying her, and buys a horse to race (she gets him back into riding and more interested in horses). Howard needs a trainer before a horse, so as they are walking and talking Howard sees a man standing off to the side grooming a horse. He asks who that man is and is told that he is just some kook. Howard later approaches Smith and they start talking horses and Smith ends up working for Howard and looking for the perfect horse to buy and race.
Seabiscuit, the horse, came from impeccable breeding but disappointed everyone and became a lazy an angry, lazy animal with no interest in much beyond eating. Tom Smith saw the heart in the animal and convinced Howard to give the horse a chance. Now all they needed was to find a rider. Red Pollard was pretty much down and out, having not been the most successful jockey (despite being a natural at it). He was working, yelling at a horse but treating it well. Smith saw something in Pollard and brought him in to work with Seabiscuit. It was a match made in heaven as the horse improved and it appeared he might even be able to race.
Now all the important parts have been brought together and from the point that they began to come together the movie is an absolute gem. We have Seabiscuit overcoming obstacles, winning races and becoming what seems like a national treasure, the little horse that could. One of the many things this movie does right is the racing scenes. Even expecting that Seabiscuit will win the races, Gary Ross still manages to make them look exciting and suspenseful. There are several races and each of them have their own feel. The most masterful piece of editing comes in the glory race against War Admiral that when the bell sounds the film shifts to documentary style photography of people listening to the radio and we hear the radio broadcast of the race. I was so impressed with that scene that it was almost a minor disappointment when they went back into race footage (which again, was beautiful and perfectly done).
The only quibble I have with the movie is that it leans rather heavily on the metaphor of the little guy being beat down but making the most of a second chance. Everyone involved with the horse was that sort of rising above the circumstances story, but the movie pushed the metaphor even further into Seabiscuit (the horse) being the metaphor for all of the millions of Americans hurt by the depression. It was probably necessary for the film to do this, but I felt that it was pushed at us a little bit too much. This is only a minor quibble and the rest of the movie more than surpasses this little bit of sentiment.
I know that there is half of the year left for movies, but right now Seabiscuit has to be thought of as the first real Oscar Contender. Cooper, Bridges and Maguire are all stellar, but the real gem (in a movie filled with gems) is the supporting work of William H Macy as Tick Tock McLaughlin, a radio man who provides quite a bit of humor and spark into the film. Simply put: Excellent movie.
4.5 pugs out of 5
A Film by Gary Ross
Seabiscuit is the kind of story that if we didn t already know that it was true, we d never believe it. At its heart, it is the story of a horse that was too small and a jockey that was too big and nobody believed that team could win anything. Now add the facts that the trainer was nobody that anyone wanted around, the owner didn t know squat about horses, and the jockey was blind in one eye, and you have yourself an unbelievable story that is too strange not to be true.
The early pacing of the movie is rather slow and Gary Ross takes the time to establish the era of the movie. We learn what kind of families these characters came from and what helped shaped them into the men they became. The early part of the film is narrated by David McCullough (author of the Pulitzer Prize winning book John Adams), who has the perfect narrating voice. We are presented with the sense of time and place that becomes important throughout the film. The film is heavy on exposition as we see Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) move out west to open a bicycle shop, but pulled himself up even higher and became incredibly rich selling cars (he makes a comment I wouldn t pay $5 for a horse, these automobiles are the future ). He buys a huge ranch, but puts race cars in the horse stalls. We see Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) riding his horse in the open range, but coming up against fencing that wasn t always there. We see a well-off, loving family spending time together. Then the stock market crashes and the Great Depression hits. Smith is an outcast, the Pollard family is ripped apart as they send their son, Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire) to live with someone else, and the son of Charles Howard dies in an accident. Howard s wife leaves him. The Depression has broken these men, and it has also broken America.
Flash forward six years. After more than a little bit of exposition to give us the setting, the movie begins to move forward and gets a whole lot better. The main characters start to come together. Howard is down in a border town watching a bull fight when he steps outside, not liking what he was watching. He meets Marcela (Elizabeth Banks), ends up marrying her, and buys a horse to race (she gets him back into riding and more interested in horses). Howard needs a trainer before a horse, so as they are walking and talking Howard sees a man standing off to the side grooming a horse. He asks who that man is and is told that he is just some kook. Howard later approaches Smith and they start talking horses and Smith ends up working for Howard and looking for the perfect horse to buy and race.
Seabiscuit, the horse, came from impeccable breeding but disappointed everyone and became a lazy an angry, lazy animal with no interest in much beyond eating. Tom Smith saw the heart in the animal and convinced Howard to give the horse a chance. Now all they needed was to find a rider. Red Pollard was pretty much down and out, having not been the most successful jockey (despite being a natural at it). He was working, yelling at a horse but treating it well. Smith saw something in Pollard and brought him in to work with Seabiscuit. It was a match made in heaven as the horse improved and it appeared he might even be able to race.
Now all the important parts have been brought together and from the point that they began to come together the movie is an absolute gem. We have Seabiscuit overcoming obstacles, winning races and becoming what seems like a national treasure, the little horse that could. One of the many things this movie does right is the racing scenes. Even expecting that Seabiscuit will win the races, Gary Ross still manages to make them look exciting and suspenseful. There are several races and each of them have their own feel. The most masterful piece of editing comes in the glory race against War Admiral that when the bell sounds the film shifts to documentary style photography of people listening to the radio and we hear the radio broadcast of the race. I was so impressed with that scene that it was almost a minor disappointment when they went back into race footage (which again, was beautiful and perfectly done).
The only quibble I have with the movie is that it leans rather heavily on the metaphor of the little guy being beat down but making the most of a second chance. Everyone involved with the horse was that sort of rising above the circumstances story, but the movie pushed the metaphor even further into Seabiscuit (the horse) being the metaphor for all of the millions of Americans hurt by the depression. It was probably necessary for the film to do this, but I felt that it was pushed at us a little bit too much. This is only a minor quibble and the rest of the movie more than surpasses this little bit of sentiment.
I know that there is half of the year left for movies, but right now Seabiscuit has to be thought of as the first real Oscar Contender. Cooper, Bridges and Maguire are all stellar, but the real gem (in a movie filled with gems) is the supporting work of William H Macy as Tick Tock McLaughlin, a radio man who provides quite a bit of humor and spark into the film. Simply put: Excellent movie.
4.5 pugs out of 5
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