The little movie that could...

Rating: 8/10 (30 August 2003)

I don't believe that I have ever felt more interested and concerned about a motion picture. I grew up being told that successful movies are worth getting excited about. Jaws scared the water out of me. Star Wars gave me a sense of granduer. Raiders of the Lost Arc reminded me of A sense of adventure. Close Encounters of the Third Kind was just plain weird.

Seabiscuit has all of the enjoyment of what I grew up with and it's much closer to what real people contend with.
It's a long story, a grand story about "the lone plainsman".
A story about a bicycle repairman who realized the American Dream.
How a fully literate prize fighter and horse jockey could only fully realize his potential in the saddle of the greatest horse who ever raced.
Horse trainers are the craftiest, most ornery and slickest beings to ever walk the earth.
Horse owners are best left out of important decisions and are only relied upon to deliver the tough ones.
Horse Jockeys were the bravest souls ever asked to deliver so much reward for so little personal gain.
Such was the times and Laura Hillenbrand's book delivers a long turn around a wide story. The movie strives to deliver the beating heart of a particular racehorse who ran into and right through the lives of millions of Americans. It is in this effort that it succeeds brilliantly.
This movie is the story of a select group of people and horses who came together at the right moment in time to prove to everyone that most people don't know crap about horse racing.
It is worth seeing because the actors involved delivered perhaps the finest ensemble performance of Oscar quality acting in film history.
Jeff Bridges is the quintessential actor. His performance as Charles Howard is stunning. Chris Cooper's portrayal of Tom Smith should be studied by actors everywhere for many years to come. Up against this kind of talent you might think that Tobey Maguire might seem a bit intimidated. That might have been the case if Mr. Maguire had not delivered a tour de force on the part of his character.
Here is the rare movie. Or I should say the rare story told well.

Thanks Charles, Tom, Johnny, George, and Seabiscuit.
Thanks to all of you that lived the story and to all of you that remembered the story. Remembered the story and brought it back.
Thank you Laura for seeing the goal.