Seabiscuit (2003). The film centers on three men, Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire), Charles S. Howard (Jeff Bridges), and Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) who come together, respectively, as the principal jockey, owner, and trainer of championship horse, Seabiscuit. The story follows the redemption of the three men as they rise from troubled times to achieve fame and success through their association with the horse. Red Pollard is the child of a wealthy family, financially ruined by the Great Depression. In desperate need of money, the family leaves Red with a horse trainer. Red eventually becomes a jockey, and makes extra money through illegal boxing matches, which leave him almost blind in one eye. Charles Howard is shown as a clerk in a bicycle shop when he gets asked by a passing motorist to repair his automobile, a technology which has recently been introduced. Some years later, Howard is the largest car dealer in California and one of the Bay Area's richest men. However, his son is killed in an automobile accident while driving the family car, which sends Howard into a bout of deep depression, which eventually results in his wife leaving him. On a trip to Mexico in order to obtain a divorce and to drown his sorrows, he meets Marcela (Elizabeth Banks), whom he marries.
Howard then runs into Tom Smith, a horse trainer who has been homeless. Howard hires him to take care of his newly acquired stable of horses. Smith later tries to get a jockey to ride Seabiscuit, but the jockey is frightened off when Seabiscuit rips off a bit of his shirt. Smith then finds Red Pollard fighting with other stable boys and sees in him a similar temperament to the horse, and decides to make him the jockey. The story then follows the three men as they begin to race Seabiscuit. It especially focuses on their efforts to provoke a race with War Admiral, the top race horse in the country. 1st at Pimlico racetrack. While they wait for the date to come around and train Seabiscuit, Pollard is asked to exercise a race horse for an old friend. While they are on the track, two men suddenly start a tractor, spooking the horse. The horse rears, and Pollard falls off and is dragged along until he crashes into a wall, fracturing his leg. When the doctor reports that he will be unable to jockey again, Red suggests that Howard get George Woolf (Gary Stevens) to jockey. Red teaches George about Seabiscuit's handling and mannerisms, and the horse beats War Admiral easily because of a secret that Pollard tells George Woolf, to hold him head to head with the other horse so he gets "a good look at the Admiral". Afterwards, Seabiscuit is entered in a race at the Santa Anita Race track under George Woolf. While he is racing, he is injured and has to stop. Red Pollard helps him to recover and get fit enough to race again. The last race is again at the Santa Anita track, and Red Pollard races him this time after putting a special self-made brace on his own leg to keep it stable. George Woolf is also racing, albeit on a different horse. When Seabiscuit drops to last place and trails the pack of horses, George Woolf trails back to be with Pollard. After a short conversation, Seabiscuit gives Pollard the signal that he is ready to go. Seabiscuit then surges towards the pack of horses and Pollard steers him through them to win the race. The film ends with Pollard narrating "You know everyone thinks that we found this broken down horse and fixed him, but we didn't, he fixed us, everyone of us, and I guess in a way we kinda fixed each other too". {Source: Wikipedia)
I love watching movies like this one (especially the true to life ones) because of the inspiration it imparts. I loved the line, "he just needs to learn how to become a horse again," and funny it may seem of me to compare horses with people, somehow we just have to learn how to become humans again. Life throws us a lot of lemons, and sometimes these were ought to test our strengths. No matter how big or small, there were just problems we are difficult to get over with, and yes, we just have to learn how to become human again and fight.
A small and limpy horse with a big jockey whose eye was blind... yet they proved that even if they're outside of the "cookie-cutter world," they could be triumphant. So inspirational!
Runners up for this category would be:
- "Walk the Line" (Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon) - I just love how Johnny Cash rose to fame.
- "Ice Castles" (Lynn Holly-Johnson) - Despite the tragedy, she still rose to prove she's still a great figure skater.
- "Legally Blonde" (Reese Witherspoon) - Who says blondes are always dumb?
