If the viewer has ever studied any behavioral psychology they will love this film, which is highly accuarte in its approach to dealing with a difficult horse, and for that matter for dealing with difficult people. David Niven shines as ever, in what, so far, is the only Western I have seen him in.
Four Star Playhouse (TV Series)
Henry and the Psychopathic Horse (1955)
User Reviews
Review this title3 Reviews
Vaguely reminiscent of 'The Big Country'
montydicksion19 August 2016
A silly little episode, yet one that was typical for those days, so I could accept it for its 1955 light-hearted entertainment value. Many elements of the story reminded me of the excellent 1958 western epic film, "The Big Country," starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Charleston Heston, Chuck Connors, Carroll Baker, Charles Bickford, Burl Ives and Alfonzo Bedoya. For example, the stars in both stories were "dudes" from the east who went west to get their fiancées. Both had their courage questioned when they were challenged to ride the unridable horse. Both raised the ire of their fiancées for appearing to be cowards. Even the scenes of both stars' encounters with the untamed horse were similar - David Niven with ranch-hand Andy (Eddy Waller) and Gregory Peck with Ranch-hand Ramon (Alfonzo Bedoya). There were so many similarities, it made me wonder ...
It could have been good...but wasn't.
planktonrules16 February 2016
The basic idea for this episode is pretty good. Unfortunately, the writing just isn't very good and the characters are more like one- dimensional caricatures than real people.
When the show begins, a young lady has taken her fiancé, Henry (David Niven) out west to meet her father. However, she is apprehensive to introduce him as her fiancé because Henry is about as far from a cowboy as she could have chosen. Instead, he's a seemingly wimpy psychiatrist and the dad (Barton MacLane) is less than impressed by him. When he learns the man wants to marry his daughter, he announces(?) that the man who breaks his unbreakable horse can have her (does this make any sense on any planet?!). Being extremely broadly written, Henry thinks the horse is angry because it has some sort of neurosis and works on curing it!
This show was usually exceptional...here, it's just dumb. In fact, it made me cringe as I watched it. Pretty awful.
When the show begins, a young lady has taken her fiancé, Henry (David Niven) out west to meet her father. However, she is apprehensive to introduce him as her fiancé because Henry is about as far from a cowboy as she could have chosen. Instead, he's a seemingly wimpy psychiatrist and the dad (Barton MacLane) is less than impressed by him. When he learns the man wants to marry his daughter, he announces(?) that the man who breaks his unbreakable horse can have her (does this make any sense on any planet?!). Being extremely broadly written, Henry thinks the horse is angry because it has some sort of neurosis and works on curing it!
This show was usually exceptional...here, it's just dumb. In fact, it made me cringe as I watched it. Pretty awful.
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