Horse movies we love
All about style and victory, greed and speed, horse racing cuts to the core of the American spirit. And no single day of racing is more important than the first Saturday in May, the date of the Kentucky Derby. But since the much-anticipated race lasts only about two minutes, Derby-watchers could use a little more equestrian entertainment for racing fulfillment on Derby Day. Here, then, are the movies about racing that we see as sure bets.
A DAY AT THE RACES
Out of the sanatorium and on to the racetrack, the Marx Brothers run amok. A singer (Allan
Jones) buys a Thoroughbred, High Hat, to save the woman he loves
(fetching Maureen O'Sullivan) and the asylum she runs from
bankruptcy. Although not quite up to A Night at the Opera, this film
includes some of the brothers' classic skits (best: Chico selling
racing guides to Groucho). B+
NATIONAL VELVET
A precocious and adorable
butcher's daughter (Elizabeth Taylor wearing braces) is a little girl
with a big dream: to ride her wild stallion to victory in the Grand
National, England's greatest horse race. She gets a lot of help from
her wily trainer (Mickey Rooney, who played a similar role 34 years
later in The Black Stallion) and her wise mom (Best Supporting
Actress Anne Revere). A-
THE KILLING
Stanley Kubrick wrote and
directed this superbly crafted noir thriller, his third feature.
The film chronicles every detail of an almost perfect crime — the
robbing of a racetrack — to its heartbreaking conclusion. Sterling
Hayden strikes just the right chord as the cool, meticulous
mastermind. A
CASEY'S SHADOW
Lloyd Bourdelle (Walter
Matthau), a guy whose best friend is a can of Budweiser, is an
impoverished Louisiana horse trainer who risks losing the respect of
his three sons to stand finally in the winner's circle. With subtle
direction by Martin Ritt (Norma Rae) and based on a John McPhee
story, this underpublicized drama ranks among Matthau's best. A-
PHAR LAP
A drama for racing aficionados, this
is the fact-based tale of Phar Lap, the legendary Australian
3-year-old champion racehorse that died suspiciously in America in
the early 1930s. Was it poison, colic, or foul play motivated either
by anti-Semitism (Phar Lap was owned by an American Jewish gambler,
played by Ron Leibman) or just because the horse won too easily and
too often? A-
LET IT RIDE
Richard Dreyfuss plays an addicted
gambler who finally has a great day at the races. ''I'm not gambling,
I'm winning,'' he tells his wife (Teri Garr). Not well received on the
big screen, this small comedy of eccentric characters (most notably
Jennifer Tilly) who hang out at the track comes off much better on
video, where its narrow focus isn't a big handicap. B
