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What’s the Story?

Reviewed by Nell Minow

As BLACK STALLION begins, a young boy named Alec Ramsey (Kelly Reno) is on a ship with his father. Everything seems mysterious to him, the exotic passengers, the high-stakes poker game his father is playing, the wild and beautiful black horse he comforts with sugar cubes. Then the ship is destroyed in a storm, and only Alec and the horse survive. Alec patiently and persistently tames the horse. They are rescued and return to Alec's home. When the horse runs to a farm, Alec meets Henry (Mickey Rooney), a former trainer. They enter the horse in a race against two champions, and he and Alec triumph.

Is It Any Good?

5

Walter Farley's novel was adapted by director Ballard and Francis Ford Coppola's studio into one of the most breathtakingly beautiful and genuinely magical movies ever made. Part of the magic is that the movie has the courage to be quiet. There is very little dialogue, and long stretches without a single word. It allows its images to do the work, and the cinematography, by Caleb Deschanel is a joy for the eye and for the spirit, creating exactly the right atmosphere for what Pauline Kael said "may be the greatest children's movie ever made."

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