The Horse Whisperer: An Illustrated Companion to the Major Motion Picture [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Gretel Ehrlich (Author), Robert Redford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 11, 1998

The grandeur of the American West. The breathtaking beauty of one of the earth's magnificent creatures. The emotional intensity of a man, woman, and child caught up in a spellbinding human drama. The Horse Whisperer has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions with its nearly magical blending of landscape, horses, and people. Now this photo-filled companion lets you experience the magic of the incredible movie-making event that is The Horse Whisperer.

Inside you'll find exclusive information about Robert Redford's discovery of the novel and his determination to make it into a film...a breathtaking photographic history of the American West...the challenges of training the film's courageous horses...plus personal insight from the film's major stars, fascinating information on costume, production design, and over 100 lush photographs make this extraordinary book a keepsake volume to treasure-and a riveting behind-the-scenes look at the movie, the phenomenon, the legend.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Just as Robert Redford is not a typical movie star, Gretel Ehrlich is not some run-of-the-mill hack hired to bat out a "making-of" book for a movie. Ehrlich is a prizewinning writer with grants from the NEA and the Guggenheim Foundation, and she knows her way around the wide-open spaces of The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans's adventure-romance about a maimed girl, her wounded horse, her horrible New York fast-track mother, and the mystical horseman who helps everybody heal and attain higher consciousness. By deciding to direct and star in the film from the book, Redford helped make it the most successful unpublished novel in history: it earned $8.15 million while still being written. He did not stint in hiring a writer to do this movie tie-in book. Ehrlich, who spent 17 years working on sheep and cattle ranches, poured into this assignment some of the authentic western flavor of her nonfiction books The Solace of Open Spaces and A Match to the Heart: One Woman's Story of Being Struck by Lightning. Here, Ehrlich puts Redford's horseman character in his proper context. All this and 141 color photographs, too! --Tim Appelo

From the Inside Flap

The grandeur of the American West. The breathtaking beauty of one of the earth's magnificent creatures. The emotional intensity of a man, woman, and child caught up in a spellbinding human drama. The Horse Whisperer has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions with its nearly magical blending of landscape, horses, and people. Now this photo-filled companion lets you experience the magic of the incredible movie-making event that is The Horse Whisperer.

Inside you'll find exclusive information about Robert Redford's discovery of the novel and his determination to make it into a film...a breathtaking photographic history of the American West...the challenges of training the film's courageous horses...plus personal insight from the film's major stars, fascinating information on costume, production design, and over 100 lush photographs make this extraordinary book a keepsake volume to treasure-and a riveting behind-the-scenes look at the movie, the phenomenon, the legend.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Dell; illustrated edition edition (May 11, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440508401
• ISBN-13: 978-0440508403
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 0.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,780,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth it for the photos alone, November 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Horse Whisperer: An Illustrated Companion to the Major Motion Picture (Paperback)

Just received the book and haven't had a chance to read it, but I was knocked out by the quality of the photographs. Beautiful all round and, sorry, but I have to say it, some heartstopping pix of the eternally stunning Mr R. A beautiful keepsake that seems to do justice to the movie.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Horse Whisperer: An Illustrated Companion to the Major M, March 1, 2000

By 

Doris Wishner (Cleveland, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Horse Whisperer: An Illustrated Companion to the Major Motion Picture (Paperback)

Was a little disappointed. Typos in book and reprint of most photos are poor quality. Many of Redford have had so much touch-up done, he is barely recognizable. I thought there should have been more about shooting the film and interesting problems they encountered. Fortunately they don't charge too much for it, so it's ok. Seems like it was put togerther quickly and that shows. But interesting nonetheless.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Book is informative companion to a magnificent film, May 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Horse Whisperer: An Illustrated Companion to the Major Motion Picture (Paperback)

Mr. Redford has adapted the plot of the novel into an entertaining and meaningful film. The essentials of the story -- serious tragedy, tenuous hope, realistic recovery, and responsible love -- play against a beautiful landscape, a delicate soundtrack, and an overall philosophy of simple heroism and intelligence. When you join an audience in a packed movie theatre for over 2 1/2 hours and hear absolute silence from everyone (including the children), you tend to get the impression that this is an involving, engaging, and splendid film. When the audience leaves the theatre commenting such things as "excellent" or "incredible" or "wonderful", you have to agree.

After having an opportunity to see the film, this companion book serves as an excellent memento. It expounds on the ideas and philosophies of the film. Further, its pages are crowded with high quality photos of the production, the movie, and the dramatic natural landscape. Gretel Erlich has written a charming and spritely text, easy to read from about age 14 upwards. This is not a book that describes the mechanics of making this film but one that presents the ideas behind the plot, both of the book and the screenplay, and the interrelationships between horse and human. As a learning experience, it describes the history of ranching and the evolution of the horse. Probably the only lack is that the author hasn't referred us to sources for additional reading. And there is the occasional obscure word more appropriate to academic publications than popular, particularly if one is aiming towards a young audience.