Little Tony DeFranco
03-15-2004, 04:50 PM
My impression of the trailer to Hidalgo was "Mummy " meets "Seabuscuit" but it's not all that. It's just a good old fashioned adventure story about an Arabian horse race ("Black Stallion Returns" was good for reference) and a half-breed horseman named Frank Hopkins (a real life legend ). He was an express rider for the cavalry and witnessed the slaughter at Wounded Knee, moving to Buffalo Bills Wild West show as a drunkard with a very loyal mustang horse named Hidalgo. Frank is invited to become a contestant in a cross desert race against the Arabian Sheik's finest bred stallions and riders through "The Ocean Of Fire" (3000 miles of sand and locusts and bad guys in turbans with swords and guns).
Viggo Mortensen (a dead ringer for Kirk Douglas in the younger years) is just fine as the man with horse that doesn't mind if you mess with him, "but don't mess with mah horse". Two fisted and good with a Colt pistol, YEEEHAAAHHH! Wait, there's Omar Sharif as the noble Sheik and he gets his best role in over a decade, ready to chop the head off an infidel for touching his daughter.
Director Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park 3, Jumangi) does a great Spielberg inspired job with collaborator John Fusco (they did 'October Sky' together) and it is so old school high adventure workmanship. Not perfect because it wants to do so much that the race becomes the back-story to a princess being kidnapped by thugs. Still it's all fun anyhow, but Browntown says "check out 'Bite The Bullet' with Hackman and Colburn for a better job on the same hitch".
http://www.browntownjohnny.com/index.php
Heartbeat is a Love Beat
Viggo Mortensen (a dead ringer for Kirk Douglas in the younger years) is just fine as the man with horse that doesn't mind if you mess with him, "but don't mess with mah horse". Two fisted and good with a Colt pistol, YEEEHAAAHHH! Wait, there's Omar Sharif as the noble Sheik and he gets his best role in over a decade, ready to chop the head off an infidel for touching his daughter.
Director Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park 3, Jumangi) does a great Spielberg inspired job with collaborator John Fusco (they did 'October Sky' together) and it is so old school high adventure workmanship. Not perfect because it wants to do so much that the race becomes the back-story to a princess being kidnapped by thugs. Still it's all fun anyhow, but Browntown says "check out 'Bite The Bullet' with Hackman and Colburn for a better job on the same hitch".
http://www.browntownjohnny.com/index.php
Heartbeat is a Love Beat