Running Free (1999)

Director:

Sergey Bodrov

Writers (WGA):

Jean-Jacques Annaud (story) and
Jeanne Rosenberg (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

2 June 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Family | History | War

Plot:

The tale of the extraordinary life and times of Lucky, a horse that was born in captivity but achieves his dream of running free with the help of a stableboy.

Plot Keywords:

Horse | Foal | Free | Companion | Desert

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Chase Moore	...	Young Richard
Maria Geelbooi	...	Nyka
Arie Verveen	...	Adult Richard
Jan Decleir	...	Boss Man
Graham Clarke	...	Mine Supervisor
Patrick Lyster	...	Officer
Morne Visser	...	Groom
Dan Robbertse	...	Colonel (as Daniel J. Robbertse)
Nicholas Trueb	...	Hans, Boss' Son
Robin Smith	...	Blacksmith
Iluce Kgao	...	Nyka's Friend
Lukas Haas	...	Narrator (voice)
Fat Albert	...	Caesar (the horse)
Kateefa	...	Grey Mare / Lucky's Dam

Directed by
Sergey Bodrov

Writing credits (WGA)
Jean-Jacques Annaud		(story) and
Jeanne Rosenberg		(story)
Jeanne Rosenberg		(screenplay)

Produced by
Jean-Jacques Annaud	....	producer
Dschingis Bowakow	....	line producer: Germany
Lloyd Phillips	....	executive producer
Alisa Tager	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Nicola Piovani

Cinematography by
Dan Laustsen

Film Editing by
Ray Lovejoy

Casting by
Janet Meintjies

Production Design by
Wolf Kroeger

Art Direction by
Zack Grobler
Jonathan Hely-Hutchinson

Set Decoration by
Emilia Roux		(as Emilia Roux Weavind)

Costume Design by
Jo Katsaras

Makeup Department
Pia Cornelius	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Angela Phillips	....	production manager: second unit
Michael Saxton	....	post-production supervisor
Birgit Wittemann	....	production manager: Germany

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ellen M. Hillers	....	second second assistant director
Philip A. Patterson	....	first assistant director
Andre Weavind	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Herbie Adler	....	lead construction
Dirk Buchmann	....	property master
Vivienne Gray	....	draughtsperson
Gregor Mager	....	property master: Germany
Peter Menne	....	art director: Germany
Tracy Perkins	....	painter
Laurel Pickering	....	lead scenic artist
Clive Pollick	....	construction coordinator
Gordon Russell	....	construction
Elaine Seidel	....	painter
Liz van den Berg	....	scenic foreman
Tim Pannen	....	assistant art director: Germany (uncredited)

Sound Department
Rodney Glenn	....	supervising sound editor
Conrad Kuhne	....	production sound mixer
Ruth Sullivan	....	foley artist
Andy Thompson	....	assistant sound re-recording mixer
Mark Kenna	....	consultant: Dolby film sound (uncredited)

Special Effects by
David J. Brown	....	special effects foreman
Brian Cox	....	pyrotechnician
Rick Cresswell	....	special effects supervisor
Gerhard van der Heever	....	special effects foreman

Visual Effects by
Kent Houston	....	visual effects supervisor
Andrea Adams	....	CG animator: Peerless (uncredited)
Martin Body	....	optical cameraman (uncredited)
John Paul Docherty	....	digital effects supervisor (uncredited)
Ditch Doy	....	CG supervisor: Peerless (uncredited)
Susi Roper	....	visual effects producer (uncredited)
David Smith	....	optical cameraman: Peerless Camera (uncredited)
Kurt E. Soderling	....	visual effects camera operator (uncredited)
John Swinnerton	....	compositor (uncredited)
Marc Twinam-Cauchi	....	CG artist: Peerless Camera (uncredited)
Pat Wong	....	digital compositor (uncredited)

Stunts
Edwin Green	....	stunts
Grant Hulley	....	stunts
Russel Loomes	....	stunts
Cordell McQueen	....	stunts
Francois Rademeyer	....	stunts
Danie Van Rensberg	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Anthony Bannister	....	still photographer
Carlos De Carvalho	....	focus puller
Mauriece Jacks Jr.	....	video assist operator
Peter McCaffrey	....	camera operator
Alexander Palm	....	assistant camera: Germany
Kurt E. Soderling	....	aerial director of photography
Kurt E. Soderling	....	director of photography: second unit
Roger Vernon	....	wildlife director of photography
Adi Visser	....	first assistant camera: second unit

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Carolyn Marston	....	costume supervisor

Editorial Department
Nerissa Black	....	post-production facilities coordinator
Ian Differ	....	assistant editor: avid
Emma Gaffney	....	second assistant editor
Jo Harland	....	assistant editor
Giulia Maura	....	post-production coordinator

Music Department
Graham Sutton	....	music editor
Fabio Venturi	....	music recording engineer

Other crew
Wiebina Berrington	....	second unit: script supervisor
Zelie Bullen	....	assistant animal trainer (as Zelie Thompson)
James W. Gavin	....	aerial unit coordinator
James W. Gavin	....	aerial unit director
Heath Harris	....	animal trainer
Lara Holmes	....	assistant to producer (as Lara Reyes)
Julie Huntsinger	....	assistant: Lloyd Phillips
Roly Jansen	....	safety advisor
Tish Johnson	....	assistant accountant: Namibia
Lance Julian	....	marine consultant
George Lakes	....	production accountant
Bobby Lovgren	....	animal trainer
Alvin William 'Dutch' Lunak	....	assistant animal trainer (as Dutch Lunak)
Elizabeth McMullan	....	animal trainer
Richard Morrison	....	title designer
Paul 'Sled' Reynolds	....	head animal trainer (as Sled Reynolds)
Alec Schulmann	....	production assistant
Jim Stockley	....	animal trainer: lions
Janine van Assen	....	accommodation coordinator
Beetle Van Graan	....	unit assistant
Catherine Charlton	....	adr dialogue (uncredited)
James W. Gavin	....	helicopter pilot (uncredited)
Joanne Goldstone	....	location accountant (uncredited)
Alida Rubens	....	assistant accountant (uncredited)
Dean Wares	....	title typography (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation
• Moonlighting Films (production services)
• Reperage

Distributors

• Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) (2000) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (2000) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Films de Argentina (2000) (Argentina) (all media)
• LK-TEL (2000) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2000) (USA) (DVD) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Films (2001) (France) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2001) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Video (2002) (Japan) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar (Brazil) (VHS)
• LK-TEL (2000) (Argentina) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Peerless Camera Company (visual effects) (as Peerless Camera Company Ltd., London)

Other Companies

• Moonlighting Films  production services
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services
• Sylvia Wheeler Film Services  negative cutting

Also Known As:

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | France:U | Germany:o.Al. | Spain:T | UK:U | USA:G | Singapore:PG | Iceland:L | Australia:PG

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Fun and entertaining horse movie shot in sensational African outdoors

The tale of the extraordinary existence and times of Lucky , whose leading character, a marvelous horse , narrates the entire tale , being supplied with the minds, vocabularies and values of humans , (actually, it's the voice of Lukas Haas) . The beautiful scenery , photography and music enhance the story of Lucky's adventures . It starts in 1914 , when a German supply ship is en route to Namibia with a cargo of work horses when one of the captive horses gives birth to a foal . The colt is soon separated from his mother and arrives in a mining community . Lucky is a horse that was born in captivity but achieves his dream of running free with the help of an orphan stableboy (Chase Moore) . When war breaks out , the farm is bombed and the stable is abandoned , the lonely pony flees into a nearby South African desert , where empathizes an Oryx and a native girl who looks after him become his companions and teach him to survive .

Enjoyable kiddie film about the adventurer life of a wonderful horse and the feats on the African desert . As the animal has to survive on his own , as the horse deals with a plucky orphaned boy who works at a stable , an antelope , befriends a native little girl and many other things . The scenes featuring the horses were breathtaking , colts racing over desert , a filly and pony trotting together , their sinewy legs moving together in smooth rhythm, elegant stallions rearing up; they were all absolutely beautiful . It is treated in good sense and high sensibility , though some moments results to be some boring and slow-moving , suffering from terminal hoof-in-mouth disease . The redundant voice-over and the sugary music score combine to enhance the glories of nature, one of which, after all, is silence . Exotic and colorful cinematography by Dan Laustsen (Silent Hill, Brotherhod of the wolf, Mimic) . Sensitive musical score with emotive leitmotif by Nicola Piovani , who had previously won an Academy Award for ¨Life is beautiful¨ . For the music lover, ¨Running Free¨ is an emotional ride in which the music all too well toys with the human soul. The music is so delicately composed, performed, and chosen for the movie that it is worth seeing just to enjoy the soundtrack. Written and produced by the French Jean Jacques Annaud , an expert on animal films such as ¨The bear¨ and ¨Two brothers¨ . Sergey Bodrov's first English language movie , who had formerly directed the notorious ¨Prisoner of the mountains ¨, and subsequently the spectacular ¨Nomad¨ and ¨Mongol¨ ; furthermore realized another picture with animal as ¨Bear's kiss¨. Rating : Acceptable and passable , worthwhile watching ; despite seems to be widely ignored . The flick will appeal to children and horse lovers , however the picture failed at box office . The bottom line is if you love animals at all, especially horses, then you will completely adore this film.