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THE BLACK STALLION
directed by Carroll Ballard; starring Mickey Rooney & Kelly Reno
1979
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You don't want to miss out on this wonderful family film about a boy and his dog. The fact that Caleb Deschanel was not even nominated-- Huh? ...A horse? Oh, yes! A horse, of course. A wonderful family film about a boy and his horse.
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The fact that Caleb Deschanel was not even nominated for an Oscar for his extraordinary cinematography in THE BLACK STALLION goes to prove what a dog and pony show the Academy Award presentations really are. (Dang! How'd that little dog sneak back in here again?) Deschanel's poetic work in this film belongs in an elite class which also includes KOYAANISQATSI and ONE FROM THE HEART.
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Kelly Reno's work also belongs in an elite class of highly developed performances by child actors, which also includes Bobs Watson in ON BORROWED TIME, and Haley Joel Osment in THE SIXTH SENSE.
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But what I really want to focus on with this review is something that only my fellow reviewer Candace Scott seemed to fully appreciate and noted in her July 3, 2003 assessment:
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I was fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to do a little (VERY little) professional acting in the late l970s and early '80s. It was a craft that I took very seriously and studied for many years. Having learned a bit about it, I wish to say that MICKEY ROONEY's naturalistic performance in this movie is one of the finest ever filmed! I watch THE BLACK STALLION every couple of years and end up slack-jawed every time!
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In acting there is something known as "False Notes", and these occur when a performer falls out of character and/or plays to the camera or audience. Even the greatest of thespians are guilty of committing False Notes in every performance. MICKEY's performance as horse trainer Henry Dailey may be the only PERFECT performance I have ever seen.
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Does it seem like he just isn't doing much? Does it seem like he's hardly even acting? EXACTLY!!! The viewer simply can't catch him "acting", and that's the whole point! His actions, his reactions, and his speech patterns are so organic to the character he's playing that he really ISN'T acting -- he's BEING! He's Henry Dailey IN THE MOMENT! He may have played a False Note for a brief moment in the scene where he reassures Alec who sits on the car bumper in the rain-soaked night. Maybe. Just maybe. It's arguable. I've seen many an extraordinary performance in my 57 years, but this one is really something special. There are many excellent reasons to see this film, but Mickey is the best of them. At least for me.
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I suppose I should mention the movie's one notable flaw even though it is of such little consequence: The editing in the horse race always disturbs me a little. As they cut from the long establishing shot to the thundering hooves, and then back to the long shots, it leaves the false impression that "The Black" changes his position in the field of horses a couple of times. (As if he's closed on the leader, and then fallen back again.) But c'mon, are we gonna let a little detail like that spoil such an overall artistic success for us? No way! The bottom line is: THE BLACK STALLION is a real winner -- you can bet on it!
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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KOYAANISQATSI
by Godfrey Reggio
1983
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Stephen T. McCarthy here with another Retro Theatre review from the vault.
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Some of us are too young to remember just where we were when it was first announced that President Kennedy had been shot. But if you're near my age, you may remember quite well where you were when you first heard VAN HALEN's eponymous debut album in 1978. (I was riding in Al DiMente's Cougar.)
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For those of us who were members in the "Disco Sucks" Club, it was like suddenly discovering The Holy Grail of Rock guitar albums. Remember your jaw dropping open while hearing ERUPTION and wondering if it was really possible that this sound was emanating from a guitar and not a synthesizer?
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That album revolutionized the electric guitar in the context of Rock 'N' Roll. (Eddie Van Halen "reinvented" the guitar according to Frank Zappa.) Of course, practically every Hard Rock guitarist since then has "borrowed" Eddie's technique to the point that a 20-year-old hearing that 'Van Halen' album for the first time today might say, "What's the big deal? This is nothing special." Little does our hypothetical "kid" know that THIS is where it all began.
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The same could be said for Godfrey Reggio's KOYAANISQATSI. When it first hit the theatres in 1983, it was truly a mind-blowing experience. I recall being absolutely dazzled and dragging everybody I knew to that little theatre in West Los Angeles. In the following weeks, I must have seen it 8 times or more!
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The concept and the mesmerizing cinematography was as revolutionary as Eddie's guitar had been. In the ensuing 21 years, Reggio's cinematic style has been plagiarized to the point that a youngster viewing this film for the first time today might find it passe. But if "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", then KOYAANISQATSI occupies an honored position among the most highly regarded films in history, as so many other filmmakers later copied his style. Not a day goes by that several commercials being shown on the boob tube don't obviously exhibit KOY's influence! But THIS was the progenitor, and it's STILL brilliant!
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I have often thought that one could pause this movie at any point and the image on the screen would almost always be suitable for framing and displaying. Clips of clouds seemingly alive and on a caffeine & cayenne buzz; buildings imploding; freeway traffic taking on the appearance of blood coursing through arteries; society's underdogs lost and meandering through the metropolitan jungles; and the shot of exploded rocket residue tumbling through eternity...
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What did it all mean? KOYAANISQATSI has been described as everything from "socialist propaganda" to "a call for rediscovering God". It will appeal primarily to the person who is capable of comprehending symbolism and thinking abstractly. I'm not presumptuous enough to tell you how I think you ought to approach it, but if KOYAANISQATSI doesn't get the gears turning up in your attic, then you, my friend, need to replace your cranial duracell!
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This ain't no cartoon, folks; this is serious business! Don't expect to find yourself in a jovial mood after viewing this masterpiece of filmmaking. You should be pensive or locked-up. (Although the movie does contain a couple of humorous moments: If you don't think that a shot of endless wieners being conveyed through a meat processing plant juxtaposed with an endless stream of human beings conveyed via escalator is funny, "then you'd better not go to college.")
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To this day, KOY is my all-time favorite film. The finest artistic achievements affect a person on both an emotional AND a cerebral level. KOY does that. Even all these years later, I cannot watch it without seeing the world differently for days or weeks afterwards. I think everybody should view this film at least once in their lifetime.
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Link: KOYAANISQATSI (Must-See!) Movie Trailer
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Even though Eddie Van Halen's guitar technique has been duplicated ad nauseam, he will be remembered as one of the very greatest because he did it FIRST. KOYAANISQATSI is far more meaningful to me because not only was it the first of its kind, but it packs a greater wallop than just lightning fingers tapping on a fretboard.
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Uh-oh! Although there is considerably more that I would like to express about this monumental film, I see that I have very nearly exhausted my allotment of letters, and so I guess I had better cut this review short now and just say goodb
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'WESTERN LIGHT'
featuring music from Windham Hill artists
1984
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Remember when you were 5 years old and you were the toughest, fastest-shootin' lawman in the Old West? The large family dog was your faithful steed, and the Indian warrior hiding in them thar rocks was really just your kid brother ducking behind your dad's favorite TV chair. Face it, there is a cherished residue from those wonderful years tucked into a pocket of your heart, and you still carry it around and examine it from time to time. Hey, that's OK -- not OK Corral, but OK.
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Well, guess what! You can still explore The West from the comfort of your own living room! It is the first-class photography that makes Windham Hill's 'WESTERN LIGHT' a stellar video travelogue. Myriad magical Western places are explored by the sympathetic camera, including Monument Valley on the Utah / Airheadzona border (made famous in John Ford's Westerns) and Bodie, the California State Historic Park, which is probably the best preserved Nineteenth Century ghost town in America.
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The concept & cinematography style were obviously "borrowed" from the masterpiece film KOYAANISQATSI, which had been released just a year earlier in 1983.
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For those of you who are interested in the technical aspects of such things: Kodak 7291 and 7294 film stock was used and transferred to video tape for editing. The final 1" videotape edited master and the 1" 1610 PCM digital audio source were then transferred to VHS and Beta stereo Hi-fi videocassettes. Three basic 16mm cameras were used. The ground shots (at 30 frames per second) were done with a high speed Arriflex 16SR, the aerial footage was shot with an Eclair from a fixed wing mount and a Bolex was used for the time lapse photography. Three different lenses were used: a fixed 5.9, a 10-150 zoom and a 12-240 zoom. Various filters were used throughout including a coral-3, a fog filter and a polarizing filter. I don't know what most of that means, but it sounds as impressive as the results look!
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At a time when we have grown accustomed to sound-bites and jump-cuts, here the camera rebels by lovingly and leisurely caressing the Western landscape, giving the viewer ample time to experience its nuance. The slightly "new age" soundtrack is made up of instrumental pieces from a variety of Windham Hill artists. What on paper would seem to be a very odd marriage indeed, turns out to be a surprisingly perfect tandem. Many's the night I've come home from work and unwound by viewing this extraordinarily beautiful production. At 55 minutes running time, this is perhaps the one DVD in my collection which has been played more than any other. Highly recommended! This is the next best thing to being in the West... on horseback.
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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