Movie - Seabiscuit (2003) [+]
Sep 30 2020
Seabiscuit (2003) is a film about three people and the legendary racehorse Seabiscuit. Seabiscuit doesn't even appear in the first hour, which is backstory about the three men and the Great Depression. Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) is a horse wrangler who finds himself out of work as the West is settled and horse ranges get smaller and smaller. Actually Tom doesn't get much of a story.
The next major character is John Pollard (Tobey Maguire). He is separated from his family during the Great Depression and grows up a natural horse jockey. But he has a fiery temper and lives almost out-of-control going-to-die-young life. We get a bit more of John's story.
Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) is a self-made businessman who goes from failing bicycle shop to tuning engines of the new Ford Model T that sweeps through the USA. He builds a performance car business which suffers during the Great Depression but does not bankrupt him.
Unfortunately his son dies in a car accident, wife leaves him because of the grief, and Howard finds himself in Mexico where he meets and marries Marcela Zabala (Elizabeth Banks). She gets him interested in horse and Howard finds a new passion and decides to own a race horse.
That search leads Howard to meet Tom Smith and the two purchase Seabiscuit, a scrawny failed race horse that was about to be put down after a minor leg injury. Seabiscuit is fiery and independent and Smith sees that John Pollard has the same temperament and so Pollard is brought in as Seabiscuit's jockey.
So now the rest of the movie is training, racing in local California races, and trying to challenge the top race horse of the time, War Admiral. Both John Pollard and later Seabiscuit are injured and the two together go trough the recovery process. Once both are ready there is another local California race where both Pollard and Seabiscuit make their triumphant return as the movie ends...
It's a slow movie that somehow kept me interested. It's more about the people than the horse but I guess there's not enough drama about Seabiscuit's life. This movie was nominated for a good number of awards and it seems well deserved. It's a good family film.
The next major character is John Pollard (Tobey Maguire). He is separated from his family during the Great Depression and grows up a natural horse jockey. But he has a fiery temper and lives almost out-of-control going-to-die-young life. We get a bit more of John's story.
Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) is a self-made businessman who goes from failing bicycle shop to tuning engines of the new Ford Model T that sweeps through the USA. He builds a performance car business which suffers during the Great Depression but does not bankrupt him.
Unfortunately his son dies in a car accident, wife leaves him because of the grief, and Howard finds himself in Mexico where he meets and marries Marcela Zabala (Elizabeth Banks). She gets him interested in horse and Howard finds a new passion and decides to own a race horse.
That search leads Howard to meet Tom Smith and the two purchase Seabiscuit, a scrawny failed race horse that was about to be put down after a minor leg injury. Seabiscuit is fiery and independent and Smith sees that John Pollard has the same temperament and so Pollard is brought in as Seabiscuit's jockey.
So now the rest of the movie is training, racing in local California races, and trying to challenge the top race horse of the time, War Admiral. Both John Pollard and later Seabiscuit are injured and the two together go trough the recovery process. Once both are ready there is another local California race where both Pollard and Seabiscuit make their triumphant return as the movie ends...
It's a slow movie that somehow kept me interested. It's more about the people than the horse but I guess there's not enough drama about Seabiscuit's life. This movie was nominated for a good number of awards and it seems well deserved. It's a good family film.