Review: 'Seabiscuit' Is Runaway Winner
Horse Movie Is Full Of Heart
POSTED: 3:31 a.m. EDT July 25, 2003
'Seabiscuit' (PG-13)
(out of four)
Sure, "Seabiscuit" is corny. Of course, it tugs mercilessly at the heartstrings. Yes, we've seen this story before in movies like "Rocky" and other underdog movies. But who can resist a good Depression-era story about hard luck and a down-and-out horse and jockey who end up inspiring a nation?
Based on the surprise best-seller "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand, a nation in the throes of economic disaster bets on a smallish horse with a questionable temperament. The horse and its handlers become the symbols of hope in a fairly hopeless time.
The movie begins with a bit of a history lesson: the invention of the automobile, the creation of the assembly line, and then the crash of Wall Street that took the nation down with it.
Then we're thrust into a microcosm of this broad story. Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges), a bicycle shop owner suddenly discovers the draw of the automobile. He ends up owning the largest Buick dealership in the west. A cowboy named Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) can tame a wild horse just by stroking its mane.
And a young boy named John Pollard (first played by Michael Angarano, then played by Tobey Maguire), finds that he has a talent for riding horses.
Soon the three men become thrown together by life-altering situations and shortly thereafter they become linked by a horse named "Seabiscuit."
Bridges as Howard, a sort of P.T. Barnum-type who spouts fortune cookie phrases about the future, helps to propel the story along. Maguire captures the spirit of the unlikely jockey that isn't quick to give up. Oscar-winner Cooper could find himself nominated for an Academy Award once again for his portrayal.
A wonderful surprise is real-life jockey Gary Stevens who makes his acting debut as jockey George "The Iceman" Woolf. Stevens is a Hall of Famer who has 4,700 career wins under his belt.
And watch for William H. Macy who shows up throughout the film as a radio sports announcer named Tick-Tock McGlaughlin. The role was created for the movie by screenplay writer/director/producer Gary Ross who said he immediately thought of Macy for the part after working with him in "Pleasantville." He called the role and the casting of Macy a "happy accident."
Like the horse itself, the movie isn't perfect. The first 15 minutes are incredibly slow and condensing the details of a 400-page descriptive novel into a movie is rarely successful.
It's never really clear who is doing the narration throughout the movie. Is it Pollard in later years or just an anonymous voice? The answer comes from Ross who said the narrator (voice provided by noted historian David McCullough) has been created as a separate character, but that is somehow lost in the translation.
Elizabeth Banks, last seen in "Catch Me If You Can," has little to do except wear nice clothes and hats as Marcela Howard, the second wife of "Seabiscuit's" owner.
And Randy Newman's repetitive score becomes distracting at times.
There's already Oscar buzz about this movie and it should catch the same word-of-mouth wave that "Titanic" did in 1997 for all the same reasons: a fine cast, a historic story, and despite some catastrophe, an escape back to simpler times.
(out of four)
Sure, "Seabiscuit" is corny. Of course, it tugs mercilessly at the heartstrings. Yes, we've seen this story before in movies like "Rocky" and other underdog movies. But who can resist a good Depression-era story about hard luck and a down-and-out horse and jockey who end up inspiring a nation?
Based on the surprise best-seller "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand, a nation in the throes of economic disaster bets on a smallish horse with a questionable temperament. The horse and its handlers become the symbols of hope in a fairly hopeless time.
The movie begins with a bit of a history lesson: the invention of the automobile, the creation of the assembly line, and then the crash of Wall Street that took the nation down with it.
Then we're thrust into a microcosm of this broad story. Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges), a bicycle shop owner suddenly discovers the draw of the automobile. He ends up owning the largest Buick dealership in the west. A cowboy named Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) can tame a wild horse just by stroking its mane.
And a young boy named John Pollard (first played by Michael Angarano, then played by Tobey Maguire), finds that he has a talent for riding horses.
Soon the three men become thrown together by life-altering situations and shortly thereafter they become linked by a horse named "Seabiscuit."
Bridges as Howard, a sort of P.T. Barnum-type who spouts fortune cookie phrases about the future, helps to propel the story along. Maguire captures the spirit of the unlikely jockey that isn't quick to give up. Oscar-winner Cooper could find himself nominated for an Academy Award once again for his portrayal.
A wonderful surprise is real-life jockey Gary Stevens who makes his acting debut as jockey George "The Iceman" Woolf. Stevens is a Hall of Famer who has 4,700 career wins under his belt.
And watch for William H. Macy who shows up throughout the film as a radio sports announcer named Tick-Tock McGlaughlin. The role was created for the movie by screenplay writer/director/producer Gary Ross who said he immediately thought of Macy for the part after working with him in "Pleasantville." He called the role and the casting of Macy a "happy accident."
Like the horse itself, the movie isn't perfect. The first 15 minutes are incredibly slow and condensing the details of a 400-page descriptive novel into a movie is rarely successful.
It's never really clear who is doing the narration throughout the movie. Is it Pollard in later years or just an anonymous voice? The answer comes from Ross who said the narrator (voice provided by noted historian David McCullough) has been created as a separate character, but that is somehow lost in the translation.
Elizabeth Banks, last seen in "Catch Me If You Can," has little to do except wear nice clothes and hats as Marcela Howard, the second wife of "Seabiscuit's" owner.
And Randy Newman's repetitive score becomes distracting at times.
There's already Oscar buzz about this movie and it should catch the same word-of-mouth wave that "Titanic" did in 1997 for all the same reasons: a fine cast, a historic story, and despite some catastrophe, an escape back to simpler times.Copyright 2003 by Lifewhile.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
