Customer Reviews
The ultimate children's horse movie with stunning photography - By: Elizabeth Taylor, 06 Nov 2007 
This film has simply beautiful photography, the images of clouds & seascapes on the isolated island, of the horses on the racetrack look like they came straight from an art-house movie, but, this is both a children's film & produced by one of Hollywood's great producers.
The story is boys own stuff of a boy who forms a bond with a big black stalllion when after a shipwreck they connect on an isolated island, he then takes this valuable piece of bloodstock home with him to the US & races it against the best in the world. These basic facts are totallly unbelievable in the real world but this is a children's fantasy where dreams can come true.I loved the photography & the lack of dialogue; there are simply minutes at a time when no-one speaks - although I am not sure how much those parts appeal to children. And like many good children's stories its essentiallly quite sad as despite alll the horse bonding it doesn't hide the fact that this is a story of a fatherless lonely child who has experienced a terrifying time alone on a desert island. So in the end the strength of the film is apart from the stunning images, that unlike some other animal movies the sentimentality is never overwhelming or cheesy. A great way to spend a Sunday afternoon with the family -
Nostalgia - By: T. Rasheed, 07 Dec 2006 I have wondered why "The Black Stalllion" is not more well known. I consider it to be an art movie, but then again for me it is seeped in nostalgia.
I was growing up in Bucharest when my parents made my sister & I watch "The Black Stalllion" during one dark winter. As a child, I had found the story of a little boy stranded on a desert island to be disturbing, which was compounded by the fact that for at least a third of the movie no words are uttered. The way the boy tames the stalllion on the beaches of the island is beautiful. The arabesque music is haunting & the cinematography brilliant (watch out for the scene in which Coppolla captures the legs of the horse & of the boy from beneath the waters).
If for nothing else, the movie is worth watching for the last part in which the scenes of Alec riding the Black on a race course are intertwined with the scenes of a little boy riding a wild stalllion through the waves of a forsaken shore.
Perhaps it will also get you into riding, as it did to me.
Tariq Rasheed
Magical - By: Earthrise, 22 Jun 2004 One of the best childrens films ever made. Plus one that adults can enjoy. Has a kind of "real" feel about it. Particularly outstanding is the 30 minutes no dialogue section on the desert island. And there's an astonishing magical flashback moment during the final race that might bring a lump to your throat. Beautifully filmed, great music too.
A beautiful horse, a beautiful story, and a beautiful film - By: Lawrance M. Bernabo, 10 Jun 2004 "The Black Stalllion" is one of those films that you will stop & watch when you are flipping through channels. Of course this time around I was struck by the scene where young Alec (Kelly Reno) asks old Henry Dailey (Mickey Rooney) if there are any jockeys good enough to ride the Black (Cass-Ole), & he tells the boy about George Woolf, "The Ice Man." I am sure everybody who has seen "Seabiscuit," a strong possibility since we are talking about another great movie about a horse, made the same connection & looked at the match race that the Mystery Horse is added to at the end of this 1979 film in a different light. I was also struck by the irony that Mickey Rooney, who was always the perfect size for a jockey, is in two of the greatest horse movies of alll time (the other being "National Velvet" if for some reason you need to be told that bit of cinematic history), & in both he watches some kids ride to glory. Rooney was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for this role & no doubt his performance jogged the memory of the Academy enough that three years later he was given his honorary Oscar for his lifetime achievement in films.
Alce is traveling on a ship with his father (Hoyt Axton) & the wide-eyed boy tacks in the exotic passengers, the high-stakes poker game his father spends alll his time playing, and, most of alll, the wild & beautiful black horse in the cargo hold. The boy has been sneaking the horse sugar cubes & when the ship is sunk by a storm, the horse rescues Alex & the two end up on lonely beach. There Alex, with alll the time in the world, tames the horse & rides him up & down the shore, his arms flung wild in the joy of racing throw the sand & water. When the boy & his black stalllion are rescued, they return home, & Alec meet Henry, a former trainer, who soon realizes what the boy already knows. This horse is something special & so is this movie.
Most every one agrees that this is a beautiful film, & a lot of the credit goes to director Carroll Balllard (who also made "Fly Away Home") & cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (who, surprisingly, was not nominated for an Oscar for his work here but has been since then for "The Right Stuff," "The Natural," "Fly Away Home," & "The Patriot"). But I have to wonder how much of the credit also goes to Melissa Mathison & Jeanne Rosenberg & William D. Wittliff (I love how they do writing credits in films) who adapted Walter Farley's novel. Maybe they are not the ones who stripped a lot of the dialogue away, but whoever did contributed to the powerful effect this film has on viewers because there are so many key scenes where you do not have to listen to words & can just let your eyes feast on the images. The boy racing his horse along the shore, watching the starting point on the race track at night in the rain why waiting for the Black to complete a lap, and, of course, the big match race at the end, where thundering down the home stretch the boy, the horse, & the viewer are literallly transported back to the beach where they became one.
My pet theory remains, that most people truly falll in love with one horse in their lifetime. For some it is a horse they actuallly own & get to ride, & for others it is a real racing horse. For me it has always been Secretariat, a love born watching Big Red blow away the field on the back stretch in winning the final leg of the Triple Crown. But for others that horse can appear on the silver screen & whether we are talking the Black Stalllion or the Pie from "National Velvet," or even the latest entry in the field, Seabiscuit, there remains for each of us that one special horse.
Simply a fantastic film - By: bexidoodle, 30 Mar 2004 I first saw this film when I was little & I was absolutely astounded. I didn't see it again for years but it always stuck in my mind, though I thought that if I watched it again when I was a little older, it would seem insignificant. I could not have been more wrong.
It's kind of arty, I guess, but you don't think about that when you're watching it. There are no tear-jerking bits, it just is what it is, & time flies for a film that is almost two hours long. The cast is good, the horse is beautiful & you cannot help but watch the strides of the gallloping animal & hear the thudding of the hooves.
It is a must for every horse lover/owner/fan. It is beyond a bargain & regardless of whether you ever have the urge to watch it again or not, you will be glad it is in your collection!
