Sadly Over-hyped

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

While traveling with his father (Hoyt Axton), young Alec becomes fascinated by a mysterious Arabian stallion who is brought on board and stabled in the ship he is sailing on. When it tragically sinks both he and the horse survive only to be stranded on a desert island.This film is noted for its beautiful cinematography. Indeed, some of the scenes have no words at all and rely on the horse and the island to tell the tale. And whether it is a good tale or not, it is a good-looking one.Unfortunately, I watched it on the DVD from MGM, which only hints at the bright and brilliant colors. My assumption is the new Criterion disc will take the negative and give it the quality it deserves. If so, I would be more than happy to give the picture an extra star.

The first half of The Black Stallion probably has the most beautiful combination of stunning photography and music of any movie of any time. A boy and a horse in a desert setting with turquoise seas and glistening red sunsets set to exotic tones. The second half is an against the odds drama with a thrilling night scene on a racetrack with the sound track blaring the breathing of the stallion and the pounding of hooves against pouring rain. It is an appropriate film for any child over 4 or 5, especially for children, who love horses. The first part of the first half of the movie does have the sinking of a ship scene, which is confusing and may be scary for a young child.

Time has perhaps taken a tiny tick off the perfection of this for me (the ending is a bit abrupt, etc.), but this is still one of the best, most beautiful, most emotional, and most entertaining 'family' films ever made. Eschewing dialogue entirely for large blocks of time, and then only using words sparingly when people do speak, this is story told in pictures, both breathtaking wide shots (often tracking shots moving so fast, but so smoothly that it seems impossible) and intimate close-ups revealing subtle details of emotion. The sequence with boy and horse making friends while trapped on an island is justifiably what people remember most, but there's lots that's great here, including what was arguably the best performance of Mickey Rooney's long career.NB: The DVD releases are frustrating. The US release isn't even anamorphic, and the UK, while anamorphic, has lots of dirt, grain, and less than perfect moments. And they're still gorgeous.

Francis Ford Coppola was a busy man in 1979; his Vietnam War epic 'Apocalypse Now' had been released earlier that year, and he was soon at work on another project - a marvelous story about a boy and an Arabian stallion marooned on a remote island after a shipwreck. That project, of course, was 'The Black Stallion' - often considered Coppola's 'forgotten child' of 1979.Some of Coppola's 'Apocalypse Now' crew also worked on 'The Black Stallion'; namely producers Fred Roos & Tom Sternberg and Coppola's father Carmine, who wrote the beautiful, moving score that surrounds the film. For direction, Coppola handed over the director's chair to Carroll Ballard, whose very capable hand made this film absolutely stunning.The story is well known, from Walter Farley's classic novel - a young boy, who escapes a shipwreck off North Africa with a horse he had helped rescue, bonds forever with the animal after they are washed up on an island. After being rescued the two return to the United States, where Alec keeps the beautiful horse in his backyard. When an innocent garbage man triggers a fear in the horse's mind, the animal escapes to a farm owned by a former jockey & horse trainer, Henry Dailey. When young Alec follows the horse to the barn, he asks Dailey if there's ever a way to learn to ride him. Dailey is skeptical at first; the horse is considered wild, and no papers exist. He does, however, start teaching Alec the ways of riding, and they are soon making runs with the horse - now known as 'The Black' - on a racetrack. The day comes when Dailey shows the horse to a reporter, who promotes the animal as a 'Mystery Horse' to challenge the country's fastest Thoroughbreds in a race. Alec will ride The Black in the challenge match - to a triumphant finish...The photography is absolutely spectacular; most of the island shots (done in Sardinia) are made with no dialogue, which some have called 'meaningful silence', with only Carmine Coppola's soundtrack in the background - piano chords as the horse kills the cobra and a spectacular trumpet fanfare as Alec looks up at The Black standing on a cliff. Great care was taken to make the city shots (done in Toronto) realistic; the racetrack shots especially reflect this. The costumes and vehicles are authentic for the period - this was especially true on race day when The Black goes up against the 2 thoroughbreds.Unfortunately, this great work was largely ignored by AMPAS at that year's Academy Awards; this is absolutely shameful as this photography rivals that of Coppola's 'Apocalypse Now' from the same year.All around, this is one of the finest family movies ever made. I saw it when I was around 8 in the theater and did not see it again until I was about 39, when I showed it to my little girl (who loves horses). I give it an 8/10.