Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Kelly Reno | ... | Alec Ramsay | |
Vincent Spano | ... | Raj | |
Allen Garfield | ... | Kurr (as Allen Goorwitz) | |
Woody Strode | ... | Meslar | |
Ferdy Mayne | ... | Abu Ben Ishak (as Ferdinand Mayne) | |
Jodi Thelen | ... | Tabari | |
Teri Garr | ... | Alec's Mother | |
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Larbi Doghmi | ... | Tiny Man (as Doghmi Larbi) |
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Angelo Infanti | ... | Raj's Father |
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Luigi Mezzanotte | ... | Scarface |
Franco Citti | ... | Foreign Legion Officer | |
Robert Behling | ... | Customs Officer (as Robert A. Behling) | |
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Joe Murphy | ... | Fireman |
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Chris Larrance | ... | Neighbor |
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Loris Bazzocchi | ... | Berber on Dock |
The Black is stolen from Alec by his former Arabian owners. Alec sets off on an adventure to Arabia to reclaim his beloved horse. Based on the books by Walter Farley. Written by Lisa
Follow-up to the acclaimed 1979 film, regarding a young American lad in the 1940s who bonds with an Arabian stallion while shipwrecked on an island, picks up where its predecessor left off. The boy, having won a championship race while riding the Black, has his horse stolen by a sheik who claims the horse is actually his. Following the horse thieves, the kid stows away on a plane headed for Casablanca, where he learns the Black will be entered in a new competition. Although the horse is the same (except for the racing shots) and the kid (Kelly Reno) is the same, director Carol Ballard from the first film is missing, and one can sense almost immediately that "The Black Stallion Returns" is without Ballard's dreamy pace and caressing images (here, Robert Dalva sets up individual scenes with a ham-fisted directness that makes the whole enterprise seem perfunctory, and he has no talent whatsoever with actors). Since the story is a washout, there's nothing to occupy one's interest except for the technical accomplishments, including Carlo di Palma's fine, if inexpressive, cinematography and Georges Delerue's lovely score. As for the performances, Reno doesn't have a professional actor's polish (which is both pro and con), but Allen Goorwitz (Garfield), playing the sheik's competitor for the Black (an Arab named Kurr!), is hopelessly if amusingly miscast as the proverbial cackling-villain; Vincent Spano (as Moroccan an actor as money could buy) is equally out-of-place as Reno's desert friend, while Teri Garr returns in a walk-on as Reno's mother (it's even less of a cameo than she had the first time). Not terrible, certainly, but a turgid adventure, trotting out aged stereotypes and a formula finale. *1/2 from ****