Okay, here's the deal. Now that the full-fledged Summer Movie Mojo is here, regardless of the calendar, let's get one thing out in the open. For the next three months or so, you'll notice a new aroma wafting through the dodecaplex. More powerful than faux-butter goop, stronger than damp carpet, and more memorable than that berry-cherry funk that hits when you open some Twizzlers.
Smell it? A combination of Aqua Velva Ice Blue, gasoline and gunpowder. This strange aroma is more commonly referred to as the "manly movie" smell. A guy smell. It wafts through the conditioned air in theatres in the summertime. Why? Simple. Summer movies are supposed to be manly. They're full of explosions and cussin' and sweaty, muscular actors. They're scripted to contain thrills and stunts and guns and blood. In short, they're aimed at the Caveman Corps who get off on mass destruction.
You doubt me? History lesson. Jurassic Park. Twister. All three Indiana Jones movies. Both Ghostbusters. The three, soon to be four, Lethal Weapons. Men In Black. Independence Day. Notice a trend here? Hint one: Find the female lead in the movie. Hint two: What did the female lead in the movie do, other than get rescued? Hint three: Was there any romantic scene in the movie longer than two minutes? And this trend is not a new thing by any stretch of the imagination. Think back to Jaws, the pace car for the Modern Memorial Day 500. Female lead? Chief Brody's wife, played by Lorraine Gary. If you said, "Who?", consider yourself proof of the theory. Chief Brody's wife could've been shark snacks in the first reel, for all her importance in the movie.
But, there's a kink in this theory that adds a saving grace to the summer. Studio execs may be fools, but they ain't stupid. They know that the female population of the world also watches a movie now and again, and they want something more than napalm and testosterone. That's why you get Phenomenon and My Best Friend's Wedding thrown into the mix. Folks tired of ammo want a kinder, gentler movie, and those folks will not settle for second-best efforts.
Hence The Horse Whisperer, the new film by Robert Redford. Consider it a dose of cure before the sickness sets in. Based on the best-selling book by Nicholas Evans, its film incarnation is infinitely better than the book, and shows the best of Redford the director and Redford the actor. It has its faults, but it's still a dang good movie.
Kristin Scott Thomas plays Annie, a workaholic magazine editor from Manhattan. Her daughter, Grace (Scarlett Johansson) and her horse, Pilgrim, are both severely injured after being hit by an 18-wheeler during a ride. Both horse and girl survive the incident, but both are also scarred physically and emotionally by the accident, and neither Annie nor her husband Robert (Sam Neill) know what to do.
Then Annie reads about a man named Tom Booker (Redford), who has a special way with problem horses. Annie begins to believe that Grace's recovery from her traumatic experience is directly related to Pilgrim's recovery, and she drives them both out to Montana to see if this "horse whisperer" Booker can help. And, yes, she also notices that Booker is quite the picture of good looks and charm. Flirtations follow, and, yes, so do the Kleenex.
No point in denying it, folks. This is Redford's movie. He has long been accepted as a heartthrob actor with a load of talent, and here, as the epitome of the Marlboro Man With A Halo, he's as at home onscreen as ever. Thomas does nice work as Annie, and it's almost comforting to see her actually look like she cares about her leading man. She spent most of The English Patient looking like she was reading a bus schedule, but here she gets to show her acting talents. Chris Cooper and the always-perfect Dianne Wiest work wonders with supporting roles as Booker's brother and sister-in-law.
And, for those of you who believe in the New Wave in Hollywood, look out for Scarlett Johansson. This young lady has talent to spare, and she uses every bit of it in this movie. Her character goes through some powerful emotions as she learns to cope with her new physical challenges, her future, and her mother's renewed love for her. I know I'm tiptoeing out on the branch a bit, but Johansson could have just jumpstarted the Oscar race for next year's Best Supporting Actress.
Redford the director shows no sign of failure. The man is known for his work with environmental issues, and he goes out of his way to show us that Montana is, indeed, one of the most beautiful places on Earth. It makes a viewer wonder if Redford has a third movie planned to direct in Montana. Levinson made his "Baltimore trilogy" with Diner, Tin Men, and Avalon. Stone did his "Vietnam trilogy" with Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, and Heaven and Earth. Redford has shown us some of the most beautiful footage ever shown of Montana in this movie and in A River Runs Through It. Or, could it be that he considers Jeremiah Johnson the third of the trilogy? Hmmmmmm.
Uncle Bob also seems to have added an interesting theme to his direction, namely in the area of cinematography. In A River Runs Through It, he draws a lot of focus to the act of fly fishing as seen through the eyes of another. The beauty of the act, the gentle choreography of casting a fly rod, the ballet of the line as it dances back and forth before it sails across the water and lands. This time, the focus is the horse. The beauty of the animal, the musculature, the strength, the character. The eye of the camera now shows us the appreciation of the animal for what it is rather than the monetary worth of the creature. Redford's direction in this way accents the metaphor between the grace of a fine animal and the young girl named Grace.
I do, however, have a big argument here. Bob, my brother, love your stuff, it's good filmmaking time and again, but there's a phrase you might want to learn, my friend. The phrase is "ENOUGH ALREADY!" At a running time of 2 hours and 48 minutes, this thing gets away from Uncle Bob like a runaway horse (oooooh, sorry...) I realize that, because of who he is and his quality as an actor and director, he gets to make films his way. But somebody somewhere should have tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Hey, uh, Sundance? We gotta carve 40 minutes off this thing." I get the point that Montana is pretty country and horses are great animals. It's all wonderful footage, but, after a while, it makes you wonder if this is a movie or a Discovery Channel marathon. I know I might be contradicting what I have praised earlier, but it does get a little weary, cutting in and out of the story with the latest promo from the Montana Board of Tourism. You took an okay book and made it into a great story. Don't sell yourself short by pumping it up with travelogues and equine anatomy tapes.
Ordinarily, I would've thought the Powers That Be would have kept a film this good out of the swamp of summer and held it up for a fall release, but since it's been held up from more than one release date, I guess they wanted it out and fighting for the educated crowd who can think beyond body count. And, hopefully, when all's said and done, The Horse Whisperer won't get lost in the smokey haze of lizard tails and meteor showers. It deserves to be seen on its own merit instead of as just an escape from the Big Race.
Image copyright Touchstone Pictures.
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