Stirring tale about adversity and success.

Rating: 8/10 (16 December 2003)

"Seabiscuit" is a very compelling film about one of the greatest race horses of all time and how he overcame adversity during the roughest of times to capture the hearts of America.
There's so much to tell about the horse, the people surrounding him, and the era in which he raced, but the movie concentrates on two events in Seabiscuit's life, his victory in a match race with the reigning Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, and his comeback from a ruptured tendon to win the Santa Anita Derby.
Along for the ride are "Red" Pollard, the horse's jockey, who is a story in and of himself. Abandoned during the Depression by his parents, he becomes a jockey of minor importance until he connects with Seabiscuit. He also comes back from an injury to his leg and rides the horse in his triumphal return.
Seabiscuit's trainer is Tom Smith, a fringe player at best, who loves horses and knows how to communicate with them. He's asked to pick out a horse for Charles Howard, a wealthy car dealer in California who wants to get into the business. He selects a small one who's ornery and hard to train, but who he thinks has a lot of heart.
I didn't think there was anything special about the directing in this movie - the story is so good it kind of tells itself. The scenes involving the races themselves were better than in most films of this sort. There's a built-in problem of filming a horse race because of the impossibility of placing a camera in the right spot and capturing all the action in one take. Plus, there's no way to really capture the huge crowds that followed Seabiscuit by using a few hundred extras and some clever camera angles. Still, the action was exciting.
Jeff Bridges did an excellent job of playing Seabiscuit's owner, Charles Howard. He too has faced adversity - the Depression hurts his business, his son dies in an accident, and his wife leaves him. His speeches championing America's horse and his support for "Red" Pollard and all the other underdogs in life are heartwarming and frame the story.
Chris Cooper is very good playing Tom Smith in an understated way. He's the old pro who doesn't get excited very much, and his role in the film is to support Jeff Bridges and Tobey Maguire, who plays the jockey, "Red" Pollard. Maguire seems a little out of his element in this role but he does alright with it. The real surprise is Gary Stevens, a real jockey, who is excellent as George Woolf, maybe the most famous rider of his time and who takes over for Pollard when he's injured. Stevens has several important scenes and handles them like a real pro.
Definitely a film worth watching even if you're not a horse racing fan. It's a real feel-good story and the producers were smart to put it out right before Christmas.