11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Widescreen format NOT included, February 19, 2008
As another customer has stated, this version does NOT include the widescreen format. I have asked Amazon to change their Web page showing the format but please be aware before you buy.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Race Of Personal Best, November 7, 2004
I watched this film the other night- I hadn't seen it since I was a teenager. I loved it.
It's a western that's much more than that. While it's premise is about a horse race- it's really about life's race; about games that seem bought and paid for, age vs youth, friendships and whether we let things come between them, and about why people run the race and how one man's reaction to it can influence others to change the dynamic(in a good way).
Hackman and Coburn make a good combination in this as former Rough Riders. Jan Michael Vincent had a role where he really had to shine and I think he gave the performance of his career, here. Ben Johnson breaks your heart in what is one of the most real roles he has ever offered (and probably a real testament to how the real cowboy lived). Candice Bergman is terrific, too.
This story handles a full range of issues (racial, sexual and animal rights) in a fair and real sense. Some have remarked about some of the cruelty depicted here, and the point Richard Brooks was making (I think) is, there are some real swine in this world. They view anything- be it animal or their fellow human beings, merely as a means to an end. They're either too stupid or too insensitive to know how dark they are. It's also an example of how we set examples for one another. If you allow stupid to do as stupid does- stupid will!
I won't spoil the ending- let's just say that it makes a point about what's really important, in a very effective, emotion filled way. I think you leave this film not only satisfied- but feeling uplifted.
My personal favorite of Richard Brooks and time extrememly well spent.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blood, sweat and Hackman, April 26, 2002
This terrific movie depicts a long distance horse race in an old west on the cusp of change. Advancing industries and machinery (sequence with Coburn and Hackman bouncing around in a motorbike and side-car reflects this perfectly, and is a hoot!) would soon render many aspects of frontier life out-moded. This movie covers great distances both geographically and in terms of the characters. Gene Hackman is tremendous and sits astride the narrative with a knock-out performance. His hard-bitten sweat-drenched horseman with a barb-wire soul is given extra depth by the fact that he is also a fighter for animal rights -a novel notion in that age. Coburn is Coburn; basso-profundo voice, grinning with all 95 of his teeth, he does all that is asked of him. Feisty Candice Bergen displays grit and guts to match the dudes and more than holds her own in a film with leaves you spent and involved. The look and flavour of the movie are rooted firmly in the 70's - a golden age of cinema - and the direction and set pieces involve you from the get-go. The sand, sweat and blood onscreen is palpable. And the struggles, deceptions and rivalries will bring out the true grit in any viewer. Heartily recommended for all my fellow honchos out there riding the lonesome trail with dusty denims and prairie dreams.
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