Seabiscuit (2003)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Gary Ross

Writers (WGA):

Laura Hillenbrand (book)
Gary Ross (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 July 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Sport

Tagline:

A long shot becomes a legend.

Plot:

True story of the undersized Depression-era racehorse whose victories lifted not only the spirits of the team behind it but also those of their nation.

Plot Keywords:

Seabiscuit | Jockey | Horse | Wheelchair | Profanity

Awards:

Nominated for 7 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 32 nominations

Cast

David McCullough	...	Narrator
Jeff Bridges	...	Charles Howard
Paul Vincent O'Connor	...	Bicycle Supervisor
Chris Cooper	...	Tom Smith
Michael Ensign	...	Steamer Owner
James Keane	...	Car Customer
Valerie Mahaffey	...	Annie Howard
David Doty	...	Land Broker
Carl M. Craig	...	Sam (as Kingston DuCoeur)
Michael O'Neill	...	Mr. Pollard
Annie Corley	...	Mrs. Pollard
Michael Angarano	...	Young Red Pollard
Cameron Bowen	...	Pollard Child
Noah Luke	...	Pollard Child
Mariah Bess	...	Pollard Child

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sexual situations and violent sports-related images.

Runtime:

141 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Australia:M | Iceland:L (original rating) | Iceland:LH (video rating) | Malaysia:U | Brazil:12 | Argentina:Atp | Canada:PG | Denmark:7 | Finland:K-7 | Germany:6 (w) | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:MG6 | Philippines:G | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

A contraption called Equicizer was used to film the close-up action. It resembled a hobby horse. It was a mechanical horse that had springs, a wooden head and a carpet body. It was affectionately called SS Seabiscuit. In reality, it was a 12 ft by 20 ft rolling platform with a steering wheel in the rear and front. It simulated the rolling action of a running horse and yet it ran on rails around the track. It was powered by a 454 Chevy engine and could go at a speed of 40-50 mph.

Goofs:

Factual errors: During Seabiscuit's Santa Anita Handicap win, he is running dead last early in the race. The charts for the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap show Seabiscuit running no worse than fourth at any point during the race. In fact, he was in perfect striking position around the first turn and down the backstretch.

Quotes:

Narrator: [First lines] They called it the car for every man. Henry Ford himself called it a car for the great multitude. It was functional, and simple, like your sewing machine, or your cast-iron stove. You could learn to drive it in less than a day. And you could get any color you wanted...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "How I Met Your Mother: Rebound Bro (#3.18)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

If I Had a Million Dollars

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.