Great Film: Seabiscuit
An old-fashioned winner all the way
It's fitting that a film about underdogs giving it all they've got has
been
released among the standard summer action fare. No other movie this summer
has capitalized upon the David vs. Goliath theme so thoroughly and
effectively as `Seabiscuit' has.
The story of `Seabiscuit' is actually the tale of four long shots: Charles
Howard (Jeff Bridges), a wealthy self-made man and natural salesmen who's
suffered both personal and financial loss through the Depression, Tom
Smith
(Chris Cooper), an aging horse trainer unsure of his place in the world
with
the ending of the frontier, Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire), a short-tempered
jockey with various handicaps against him, and Seabiscuit, an undersized
mustang whose been mistreated his whole life.
It's the Depression, and times are hard on everyone. The assembly line
philosophy of business is starting to squelch independent spirit and
people
are looking for anything to help escape the dreary day-to-day of life.
During this maelstrom of hopelessness, horse racing quickly gathers
favoritism among those wishing to witness a spectacle in otherwise bleak
times. It's under these circumstances that the film's four main parties
come
together. Howard, seeking a new business venture in horse racing, hires
Smith as his horse trainer and Pollard as his jockey, and upon Smith's
insistence, purchases the ill-tempered Seabiscuit.
It's not long before Seabiscuit becomes the `little horse who could,'
gaining favor among the sporting fans on the West Coast. But despite the
popularity the mustang and his team gains, they are seen as just a cheap
novelty by the East Coast horse racing elite, led by Samuel Riddle, owner
of
the 1937 Triple Crown Winner War Admiral. This mushrooms into a media
circus
as Howard tries to gain public favor in order to force Riddle to put his
money where his mouth is.
The story should have felt cliched and by-the-numbers, but a funny thing
happened: the film makers took a nearly forgotten moment in time and
managed
to invest it with immediacy and suspense. The near mythic meeting of
Seabiscuit and War Admiral on November 1, 1938 at Pimlico is an extension
of
the movie's overall theme; Seabiscuit, the representative of underdog
hopes
and pioneering dreams, and War Admiral, the recipient of champion breeding
and training, a product of assembly line thinking.
Bridges and Maguire give spirited performances, with their characters
forming a father and son bond that both men desperately needed. Cooper,
who
won this year's Best Supporter Actor Oscar, can give this kind of
performance in his sleep, bringing a quiet, stoic depth to the Smith
character. The supporting cast is top drawer as well, especially William
H.
Macy as `Tick Tock' McGlaughlin, the initially skeptical radio sports
commentor who becomes a full blown Seabiscuit supporter.
Director Gary Ross captures the time period marvelously, with broken human
beings slowly recapturing their dignity and pride against a landscape of
barren ruin. The conflicts are fought not on traditional battlefields, but
atop magnificent beasts along a circular track, and Ross wisely utilizes
this metaphor to full effect.
Many film goers this season will most certainly pass on `Seabiscuit,'
choosing instead to see standard fare like `American Wedding' and `Tomb
Raider: The Cradle of Life.' Others will undoubtedly avoid it because it
looks to artsy to be entertaining. For whatever reason, it will be a shame
that this film will not do well financially; the horse race scenes are
some
of the most intense I've ever seen, and the animals are pure poetry in
motion.
9 out of 10 stars. A nearly flawless motion picture.
Cast
- Charles Howard played by Jeff Bridges
- Narrator played by David Mccullough
- Bicycle Supervisor played by Paul Vincent O'connor
- Tom Smith played by Chris Cooper
- Steamer Owner played by Michael Ensign
- Car Customer played by James Keane
- Annie Howard played by Valerie Mahaffey
