The Black Stallion

1979 boy and horse movie

Rating: 16/20

Plot: A boy is shipwrecked on an island with the titular horse. They become friends and are rescued, and then people want to see how fast the stallion can run. Pretty fast!

I thought I could have just watched Hoyt Axton playing poker on a boat for two hours, but this movie really only gets better from there. I mean, the scene with Mickey Rooney pantomiming the riding of a horse is probably the sexiest thing I've seen in my entire life, and that took place way after Hoyt Axton fell in the ocean, befriended a delightful band of mer-people, and enjoyed sexual encounters with several of them, both male and female.

None of that is shown, by the way, so don't get your hopes up, you pervs.

I love how much of this story is told visually. Well, it's pretty much all of the story. The way the friendship between this boy and this horse develops is just beautiful. The boy and the horse don't even exchange dialogue during these scenes on the island, but Carroll Ballard knows how to use use pictures to tell the story. The scenes on the island, where Ballard uses God's special effects so effectively, are my favorites, but the chaotic chaos of the boat scene, training sequences, and the editing of the horse race finale are all great, too.

The score is by Carmine Coppola, and it's mostly really good. The music works best, ironically, when it's not even used at all. The climactic race scene, as well as all the pre-race stuff, is storytelling without any music.

Cass Ole gives one of the greatest horse performances I've ever seen.