(no subject)

[which_chick]

I took the day off from horses yesterday, partly because the horse could use a break, partly because I could use a break, partly because Tasha had a thing she had to go to, but mostly because of the torrential, monsoon-quality rains we had.



So, this post will be about something other than horses? 'Fraid not. Tonight we're going on a horse outing again, only this time we're having a Horse-Themed Movie (with mojitos for all) afterwards. The horse outing will likely involve large quantities of trotting over the countryside, as is typical for our outings. The Horse-Themed Movie is, of course, that best and most fun of all Horse-Themed Movies, The Man From Snowy River. The neat thing about this movie, the reason we like it so well, is that when the horses are running in the movie? They're really running. For real. They're not cantering along under wraps like that white horse with the chick and Frodo being chased by ringwraiths. (If I had ringwraiths after me, my horse would be doing a lot better than a canter, you betcha.)

We do not like most Horse-Themed Movies because we do stuff like watch Black Beauty and complain that the horses are the wrong color or the wrong gender or that the minor, supporting-character horses are not there. The Elizabeth Taylor version of National Velvet has a horse of totally the wrong color and she doesn't even ride it. Unsatisfactory, I say. We watch The Black Stallion and whine like hell that the little grey horse who is supposed to be a mare? Isn't a mare. He's a feminine-looking gelding. (Yes, it DOES matter.) We watch animated horse movies (like Spirit, Stallion of the Cimmaron) and complain about the non-horse behaviors. (Horses do NOT lap water. They sort of put their lips together and slurp it. Sometimes there are slurpy noises and sometimes there's just a faint glug glug glug as the horse swallows. Most of the horses I've ever met, their ears tip forward and back as they swallow. If you're going to do fluff articles about how "realistic" your horse animation is, please try to get the basic behaviors right or we will sit in the back of the theater rolling our eyes and making snide comments about your film. Also, courtship behavior and postures were totally wrong in Spirit.) We have trouble with the donkey in Shrek. (Equids do not circle like dogs before laying down. They also do not lift a leg to pee. They have a peeing posture, but that ain't it. We do not mind the fact that the donkey TALKS. That's ok.) We watch movies that are NOT ABOUT HORSES (like A Knight's Tale) and comment on the horses. We have a favorite horse in every movie that has a horse in it. We watch Rome for the possible anachronisms in the horse gear. We don't like how horses in movies talk too much. Real horses don't make that many vocal utterances in normal life. They communicate more by posture than by sounds. Also, the vocalizations they use in movies are freaking inappropriate. We wonder if the movie people have ever met real horses.

The Man From Snowy River is not a *good* movie. It's an OK movie, but the horse scenes in it are top-notch. We are very happy with the running-down-the-mountain climactic part of the movie. It looks real, like the guy on the horse REALLY IS the actor and like they are REALLY going down a steep hill at one hell of a clip. (The reason it looks so real is because a guy really did ride the horse down the very steep hill at one hell of a clip. For real.) We like that a lot. We like that enough to watch the entire movie, including the boring plot parts, to get to the part where he goes over the cliff and into legend. Yeah. It'll be even better with mojitos.

Comments

[wynnsfolly.livejournal.com]

well at the very least, the sound guys have never been around real horses. same with the wagon drivers who start of flapping their reins.


ok. refresh my memory, but wasn't the birth sequence in Spirit the noisiest foaling on record outside of any in a foaling barn that didn't involve the handlers screaming ohs**tohs**tohs**t while trying to extract a badly tangled foal?
my theory is that donkey really is a dog with funny years anyway.

[zhasper.livejournal.com]

What wynnsfolly said. Shrek is not exactly in the category of omg-wtf-our-animals-are-so-darn-lifelike-stfu movies; it's more in the category of let's-parade-some-stereotypes-and-have-a-bit-of-a-laugh. Donkey acting more canine then equine is definitely in keeping with the rest of the film, and complaining about that is like complaining about overacting on a daytime soap.

[sara-merry99.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen The Man From Snowy River since I was 15, but OMG I loved it then. The horse bits were wonderful and I enjoyed them, but romance was just first rate to a rather romantic and sappy teenage girl. :D

I'm almost afraid to watch it now because I'm afraid I won't love it as much as I did then.

And I'm *thrilled* to know that they really did get the horse scenes right!

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

Having seen the movie (albeit through a mojito haze) last night, I am pleased to report that the horse parts are still as good as I remembered them, allowing for "acting" in the 'wild and unruly horse' scenes. There *are* no wild/unruly horses on movie sets... so anytime that you see that from a movie horse, it has been trained to do it. It usually doesn't look all-the-way-real if you're watching for it, so you have to suspend disbelief a bit, there.

The cross-country scenes where they are chasing the brumby herd... those are very nicely done and the herd movement is quite realistic. (Standard of comparison is "domestic herd of horses running around and being chased by men-on-horseback". I don't have anything else to compare it to as herds of feral horses don't live in Pennsylvania.)

For people who do not want to watch the entire movie, the good part is on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZBXLYJwgt4). It's four and a half minutes of really excellent horse-movie action.

I was not paying a whole lot of attention to the plot because I've seen the movie before and was only watching for the horses. It is, however, sappy.

[cousin-sue.livejournal.com]

I am fond of The Man from Snowy River.

I like Kirk Douglas, and the horse stuff is keen!

You couldn't fool me twice! *I* knew this was going to be about horses!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_the_firedancer/]

*has clickied* Wow. That's cool. Beats LoTR into a cocked hat and then some. I shall have to watch that.

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, you have now seen the entire and total point of the movie. You can watch the rest if you want, but you've seen the very best part right here. The rest of it's just a movie.