Hidalgo Review
by Mark R. Leeper (markrleeper AT yahoo DOT com)March 15th, 2004
HIDALGO
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: A 3000-mile endurance horse race over the
sands of Arabia is the basis for this adventure
film from Disney/Touchstone. Viggo Mortensen plays
Frank Hopkins, who claimed it all happened. Too
many bad guys, conspiracies, murders, kidnappings,
Indian spirits, rescues, acrobatics, political
lessons, and one genius of a horse drag down what
could have been a good adventure story. Disney
should have stuck to Hopkins's story whether it was
true or not. Rating: low +1 (-4 to +4) or 5/10
Frank Hopkins probably had little respect for the truth and my guess is that Touchstone probably had just as little respect for Hopkins's stories. With all that latitude Disney/Touchstone could have made a better film based on the claimed adventures of Frank Hopkins.
Late in life Hopkins wrote down what are purported to be his adventures as a champion endurance horse racer. Whether the stories are true or not is a matter of controversy. Little corroborating evidence is available. But among his stories is how in 1890 he rode his mustang stallion Hidalgo in a 3000-mile endurance race across the Arabian Desert in 1890.
As the film opens, Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen) is a racer who must compete with upper class swells who look down on him and his Hidalgo because neither are thoroughbreds. He has been friends with Indians and loves their mustang horses. He has a short stint as a courier for the United States Army during which he is present to see the army's massacre at Wounded Knee. Seeing his own people commit such brutality, he is sickened in his heart. With his spirit dead he quits the army and joins Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. There he is successfully drinking himself to death when he is told of the great endurance race across the Arabian Desert. Hopkins is challenged to compete. (There is a problem in chronology. The Wounded Knee massacre occurred on December 28, 1890. Hopkins said the race was also in 1890. That does not leave much time for the race, but if the writer can throw Wounded Knee into his story, he can move events around.) This needed to be a bold, exuberant, fun adventure film for kids and adults. That sort of action does not go well with a recreation of a historical massacre. The script's reasons for Hopkins entering the race are not fully understood by the viewer until the final scenes of the film. Ironically it is actually the love of his horse that urges him to put the mustang through this grueling ordeal. The horse is portrayed as so intelligent the two may have even discussed it.
Now, this race-without-rules itself would have been a good enough subject for a film, whether it really happened or not. But for the writer to throw in all the subplot adventures makes the whole story seem rather juvenile, if a juvenile films could have a Wounded Knee sequence and graphic references to castration. John Fusco's screenplay throws in a kidnapping and rescue, fights to the death, bands of marauders, conniving females, and entirely too much else that one would be unlikely to see on the desert. If you want to see how to do a good film of an endurance horse race without padding with a lot of silly folderol see Richard Brooks's 1975 film BITE THE BULLET. The script is full of what appear to be absurdities. The viewer finds himself distracted by questions such as, would an Arabian Desert oasis hundreds of miles from anything but another oasis really have a wild rabbit? If this desert is so deadly and lacking in food, how did the rabbit manage to cross it?
Mortensen has the looks to be a rough swashbuckling hero. After THE LORD OF THE RINGS his trademark has become the two-day growth of beard. He seems to wear that constantly during the race in spite of having apparently brought shaving gear. Also present in the film are Omar Sharif and an uncredited Malcolm McDowell. Beyond that most of the actors seemed unfamiliar. The film is directed by Joe Johnston, who previously directed the very good ROCKETEER and the even better OCTOBER SKY. He had the seed of a good adventure film here. Somehow the film went wrong when someone decided that Hopkins stories were not sufficiently exciting and needed to be spiked with so many invented action sequences and overlaid the story with a political message. I rate HIDALGO a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale or 5/10.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net Copyright 2004 Mark R. Leeper
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
