Hey folks, Harry here... It seems that not only is it a wonderful life for George Bailey, but it was also a wonderful film.... well according to George Bailey, ALL THE PRETTY HORSES is a wonderful film I mean. Now, back MOOOOONTHS ago ALL THE PRETTY HORSES test screened here in Austin with a cut that lasted about 55 minutes longer... and while we didn't get reviews from that screening... Johnny Wad and Line Person Jan both commented to me about the film. L.P.J. liked it quite a bit, and Johnny Wad felt that the movie was too long. Well... ya can't say that now. Seems that Billy Bob has cut it down to a very managable length that at least for George here... played like a charm. I can't wait to see this one... I was on set for a bit of shooting, and Henry Thomas and Matt Damon had been beat to hell... and another point I saw Penelope Cruz... and she was simply enchanting on the monitor. This is a December release... so it looks like there's a bit of fine tuning... but this looks like a winner....
Hey Harry-
Thought you'd like a report on a New Jersey test screening of All The Pretty Horses. It was in a packed house at the local multiplex with all the Miramax brass in attendance. OK, here's the lowdown: We saw a cut that ran about 140 minutes without credits. The print was scratchy and in need of color correction and we were told there was some temp music. All The Pretty Horses is not an easy story to bring to the screen (and it will be a bitch to market). There are elements of romance, action and highbrow drama, but it is a film that refuses to be pigeonholed. And that is to its credit.
In a nutshell, there's no short way to summarize this film. The story is of two young ranch hands, John Grady Cole--played by Matt Damon and his buddy Lacey Rawlins, set in post WW II West Texas. After his granddad's ranch is sold, COle convinces Rawlins to travel to Mexico where they can take up as ranch hands at a spread south of the border. During their trek by horse, they meet up with another south-bound rider, the teenage Jimmy Blevins (Lucas Black) who is riding away from an abusive stepfather. Once in MExico, Blevins does some foolish things that lead to him stealing back his own horse, with some assistance from Cole and Rawlins. Blevins splits away and soon, the two friends are signed on at a huge ranch run by a very modern padrone, played by Ruben Blades, who flies his own plane when not riding his ranch. Cole quickly catches the eye of the padrone for his skills with horses and is soon promoted up and out of the bunkhouse to a private room above the stables where he works the padrones expensive, imported horses. Cole also catches the eye of the padrone's comely daughter, Alejandra (Penople Cruz) and it's love on the hoof. BUT the rich beauty is not for him, as Cole is reminded by his loyal pal and the girl's great aunt who insists, with great logic and no evil in her heart, that the relationship will only injure the girl's reputation, the one thing she has which cannot be reclaimed if lost.
Cole and Rawlins find themselves dragged away from the ranch and arrested as the accomplices of Blevins, who resurfaces after having done some very bad things to try to reclaim the stolen horse and rest of his property. There are a series of tense and unsettling events that will remain unnamed here for fear of spoiling the film. How the events turn out are, to a great extent, less important than what they do to the bodies and souls of Rawlins and, most especially, John Grady Cole.
I thought the film was terrific. It's going to look gorgeous when the colors are right and it sounds great already as the music is lovely. The performance by Damon is a tour de force. He exceeds anything he has done in the past with a character who most frequently expresses his emotions by repressing them. Henry Thomas and Lucas Black do excellent work as well as does Blades in a small, but memorable part. Cruz, while beautiful, was less successful for me. I actually thought she was a little too old and worldly for the character. The great-aunt, an actress whose name I do not know as there were no credits, takes a pivotal role and runs with it. Her scenes express some of the central messages of the film and she communicates clearly.
Billy Bob Thornton has done a courageous job with this film. He took a great, difficult book and found a way to bring it to the screen with a minimum of compromises. It is not an easy film. There were walkouts. It is paced deliberately, but not incorrectly. If anything, there were parts where I wanted to see more, especially in the development of the romance. The camera shows us some beautiful vistas and some harsh realities. Thornton's choices were right on. There is an interrogation scene that is the definition of unsettling. This film moves through a lot of emotions. The ending I saw indicates that life has no easy choices, no pat answers. And that's the way things really can be, isn't it?
See this movie.
George Bailey
Harry- FYI, I was in the focus group with about 20 others. 3 rated the film excellent, 10 very good, the rest split between good and fair. There were no poors and most people said they would recommend it. The Miramax folks I talked to and eavesdropped on (including Harvey) are most concerned with the pace of the film and the inability of today's audience to deal with a film that takes its time.
