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Originally Posted by Riot
I thought it a typically marvelous Sam Shepard performance, showing how much Whitely loved this horse and the sport.
Whoever played Mike Bell was good - and the guy who plays Minnor the groom - hey, he was Seabiscuits groom, too! (seems this actor has found a niche role)
Yeah, it was technically amaterish regarding the racing and barn scenes, the vet hospital scenes, etc; and the horses they used were quite distracting as they were a bit ... common (they showed a closeup of "Ruffians" leg, the hairy horse leg had skin eruptions! <g> And showing the vet talking to Nack when he just walks up and asks about Ruffian - at the end of her 2-year-old year: "Yes, hairline fracture" - I about died!)
The horses were distracting to me, as TB's fit and on the muscle are just incredibly beautiful and awesomely powerful, people seeing them up close in a paddock for the first time are always amazed ... but I know I'm a hard audience to please in that respect.
I didn't think the closeup of a cannon bone collapsing through into the dirt of the track was needed, but they didn't dwell on it, and I think for the general public watching, having to know how irreversibly severely this filly was injured, it served it's brief, one-second purpose.
They avoided alot of the horribleness of that night - her shock, her lack of stabilization during surgery, the truely rough way she awoke from anesthesia and what happened then that caused her euthanasia, etc.
It was not sensationalized in the least. Very respectful to the filly and her connections.
I thought the nicest part of the film was at the end under closing credits, they showed film of the real Ruffian, winning her races, getting bathed, etc. That was lovely.
Horse racing needs every bit of "open" exposure it can get. I think this helped.
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06-10-2007, 02:53 AM
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