Seabiscuit Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)July 24th, 2003
SEABISCUIT
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'And though he be but little, he is fierce." Jockey Red Pollard paraphrasing Shakespeare
Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) was always interested in locomotion, moving from New York City to San Francisco to open a bicycle shop in the early 1900s. A fortuitous breakdown of a Stanley Steamer in front of his store got the man interested in the automobile and he made a fortune selling the vehicles before tragedy struck on both wide and personal scales - the stock market crash and the death of his son. Tom Smith (Chris Cooper, "Adaptation") was an aging cowboy with an almost spiritual sense for horses at a time when the horse was becoming overshadowed by the machine. Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire, "Spiderman") knew how to ride a horse, but was struggling to put together an existence at second rate racetracks and boxing rings. These three men would all converge to be redeemed by a horse everyone else had already given up on - "Seabiscuit."
Laura Hillenbrand's non-fiction bestseller about the underdog racehorse that engrossed our country seventy years ago came along at another time of economic bleakness when formerly ordinary Joes like firemen are declared heroes. Director Gary Ross ("Pleasantville") does a great job plunking us into the middle of a horse race, but his adaptation of the novel is so heavily weighted setting up the misfortunes of his three main characters that the Seabiscuit years are given short shrift. Furthermore, that initial hour is woefully unbalanced, the three stories braided together like a lumpy, lopsided horsetail. Still, the horse races are heart-pumpingly exciting and the production a handsome one.
After Howard's young son dies in an ironic driving accident, and his wife is (rather inexplicably - a breakdown is hinted at in a movie that hints at a lot of things) taken away, his buddies take him to Tijuana for some cheering up. He meets Marcela Zabala (Elizabeth Banks, "Catch Me If You Can's" bank teller), a beautiful 'one of the boys' kind of woman half his age, at the Agua Caliente racetrack. Love blooms as does the yen for horse ownership. Informed that first he should find a trainer, Charles's eye is drawn to a strange man, whom we've seen in a couple of previously intercut scenes roping wild horses and calming a spooked circus horse, tending a horse out in the brush. Charles is impressed with Tom's rationale for rehabilitating a ruined animal ('You don't throw a whole life away just 'cause it's banged up a little.') and hires him.
Meanwhile, we've witnessed a boy from a large family with a healthy respect for literature get left with a stable owner by bankrupt parents who promise to call but don't. Years later John 'Red' Pollard has a less kindly boss who pays him less than he charges for his keep, forcing the kid to enter the boxing ring to make up the shortfall. (It's hinted at that one of these fights is responsible for the loss of sight in one eye although the injury actually occurred during a horse race and Pollard never disclosed it as he does in the film.)
Tom catches the eye of Seabiscuit, a horse reduced to running low claims stake races, across a misty track and his breath is taken away (this emotionally powerful, visually intriguing scene is weakened by unnecessary narration). Later, at Saratoga, as Tom watches stable hands trying to restrain the Howards' new racehorse with one eye, he spies a feisty jockey, Red, engaged in fisticuffs with the other and pairs the two spirited misfits up. Red realizes the horse's potential too and soon the horse is beating track records, but Charles Howard will not stop until his scrappy Western underdog is given a shot at Eastern triple-crown winner, War Admiral.
Ross has put a lot of effort into capturing the horse races from the inside (adrenaline, danger) and out (suspense) and it's all on the screen. Horse wrangler Rusty Hendrickson ("The Horse Whisperer") put together a stable that needed to be trained to recreate details of historical races under conditions that would normally spook a horse (camera mounts, etc.). Race designer Chris McCarron, a retired Hall of Fame jockey who also plays War Admiral's mount Charley Kurtsinger, hired the professional jockeys and plotted the course. Director of Photography John Schwartzman ("Pearl Harbor," "The Rookie") covers the events dynamically, with conversations between riding jockeys accomplished with redesigned equicizers (mechanical devices used to train the riders). Thundering hooves, thousands of extras and Production Designer Jeannine Oppewall's ("Pleasantville") track recreations complete the spectacle.
Yet "Seabiscuit" is lacking outside of the track. Jeff Bridges, a great and undervalued American actor, has played a period automobile magnate before and it shows. Announcing to a crowd at a whistle stop 'Our horse is too small, our jockey's too big, our trainer's too old and I'm too dumb to know the difference,' he radiates good-hearted showmanship, but he can't sell us Charles Howard over his own image. Maguire, who persevered over great physical hardship with extreme weight loss and training, is encumbered by the PG-13 rating and his own wide-eyed boyishness in giving us the Pollard Hillenbrand has made so familiar. Of the three stars only Cooper disappears into the skin of his horse whisperer. Whether caring for a horse of playing mischievous games with the press, his every gesture feels authentic.
Supporting players fare better. Banking on Banks was a good investment as the actress delivers a perfect mix of gutsiness and period femininity. In a role written for him, William H. Macy ("Pleasantville") has a blast as colorful Santa Anita announcer Tick-Tock McGlaughlin, streaming out overblown announcements accompanied by a plethora of self-supplied sound effects. Another Hall of Fame jockey, Gary Stevens, is a natural as Pollard's rival and friend George "The Iceman" Woolf, who rode Seabiscuit when Pollard suffered a horrible injury. Eddie Jones ("Return To Me") gives a memorable turn as the arrogant and conniving East Coast businessman who owns War Admiral.
Ross's adaptation, while highlighting the men around Seabiscuit, also glosses over such details as Pollard's salty language, alcoholism and marriage and the trials Howard and Smith endured with handicapping and ridiculously bad luck with weather conditions. Scripting metaphors are often obvious (Howard turning Smith's words around on him when Pollard admits his blindness) are even groan-inducing (Pollard equates a woman beating a rug with a jockey's whip). His choice of dropping in montages of black and white depression stills for historical background unfortunately recalls the opening credits of "Cheers" and narration (by historian and "John Adams" author David McCullough) is
overutilized.
Even with its handicaps, though, "Seabiscuit" is an uplifting ride that concludes with the joyous comeback of two heroes displaying more heart than either of their unsuited bodies should have been able to hold.
B-
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