Limp 'Biscuit' [Review of 'Seabiscuit' with political shot at Republicans and conservatives]

Fort Worth Star-Telegram ^ | July 25, 2003 | Christopher Kelly

[willieroe]

Limp 'Biscuit' - 'Seabiscuit' pulls up lame, courtesy of a director who should have reined in the sentimentality

By Christopher Kelly
Star-Telegram Film Critic

[Review of movie snipped to avoid plot giveaway - last paragraph of review follows:]

Considering the heartless alternatives out there, I suspect this kind of big, sloppy treacle will probably go over big. All that proves is that no one ever went broke by pandering to white, middle-class audiences. Indeed, from its stately pace to its gleaming photography to the fact that the only African-American character seems to have stepped out of a regional theater production of Driving Miss Daisy, the movie has a neo-conservative undercurrent that dovetails a little too comfortably with the current political climate. Seabiscuit is deeply in love with a nostalgic, rally-round-the-underdog way of life -- a way of life that exists only in old movies and Republican stump speeches. This movie wants us to cherish "how things used to be," and it's made with so much elan that we may not notice that its version of the truth is nothing but hogwash.

[discostu]

Every time I've seen a preview for this I say the same thing:
Someday, in the dim and distant future, some one will figure out how to make a movie about a horse that's not a sad pathetic chick flick

[dirtboy]

Seabiscuit is deeply in love with a nostalgic, rally-round-the-underdog way of life -- a way of life that exists only in old movies and Republican stump speeches

That's a rather hilarious claim, considering that a tour rookie just won the British Open last week.

[.cnI redruM]

Oh, they mean the bad old days before kids got made to read "My Two Daddies" in public school.

[RippleFire]

bump

[joesnuffy]

"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." - H.L. Mencken
If you are gonna steal a quote at least give credit

[altura]

The Dallas Morning News gave it a very good review.

Interesting that there is obviously a paper in the area more liberal than the DMN.

What a sloppy track this reviewer was on.

[Arkie2]

I read the book. I don't remember a single African American character in the whole book. Since the material was meticulously researched this writer obviously wants the director to rewrite history to satisfy his politics. He also obviously has a problem with stories that have a good ending.

[Last Visible Dog]

This movie wants us to cherish "how things used to be," and it's made with so much elan that we may not notice that its version of the truth is nothing but hogwash.

Being that the movie takes place in 1938, how could it not be "how things used to be"

[princess leah]

Why is it that no one complains when African Americans make a movie that surrounds a time or event that involved only black people...I swear these guys go out of their way to have a checklist that says "1) this many blacks 2) this many gays, etc." A film should be based on its content and relevance to its subject and time frame and frankly during the 1930's there was still that old thing about segregation and most people who went to the race track were rich, white men and their wives/mistresses! How is this off the truth? Personally, I intend to go see the film because it sounds like a neat story about a great race horse that made a comeback!

[discostu]

Horse movies always get good reviews. And chicks dig 'em. But as a guy I've never found one that could keep me awake, they have all the heinous ingredients of a chick flick, including an ending that serves no purpose other than to make people cry. I hate movies that try to make you cry. There's a real cavalcade of stars in Seabiscuit, I'm sure it's ver well acted and a fine example of cinema, I'm also sure I'd be kicked out of the theater for making retching noises.

[Paradox]

I have not seen the movie myself, and it doesnt look like "my" kind of movie, but according to a quick scan of the reviews, out of 5 possible stars, the following reviews said thus:

3 stars   - Connie Ogle / Miami Herald 
3 stars   - Lawrence Toppman / The Charlotte Observer
3.5 stars - Mary F.Pols / Contra Costa Times 
2.5 stars - Bruce Newman / Mercury News 
2 stars   - Chris Hewitt / St. Paul Pioneer Press 
3 stars   - Terry Lawson / Detroit Free Press 
3 stars   - Carrie Rickey / Philadelphia Inquirer 

So overall, I'd say those are favorable reviews.

[discostu]

3.5 from Ebert, let that be a warning.

[Drew68]

The Dallas Morning News gave it a very good review.

So did the Rocky Mountain News --and RMN film critic Robert Dennerstien(sp?) rarely gives good reviews.

[jpl]

It's always sad to see someone so full of hate.

[Dems_R_Losers]

Not to mention that fact that it IS a true story. How can a true story be hogwash???

Although there were a few black jockeys in those days, they were not permitted to ride the best horses. I would guess that racetracks were segregated, too, as were most public accommodations in those days. Even basketball was a white man's game back then.

But this kind of whining from critics is ridiculous. As if every single movie about anything that happened before 1965 MUST either feature a black character, no matter how obscure or false, or else it must have a significant commentary about segregation, otherwise it is "hogwash." Sheesh. Can't we just enjoy a story about a horse without all this social-history crap getting thrown out?

[drjimmy]

Someday, in the dim and distant future, some one will figure out how to make a movie about a horse that's not a sad pathetic chick flick

[Bommer]

Christopher Kelly is a gay Fort Worth Star Telegram film reveiwer who never reveiwed a perverted movie he didn't like. Anything he reviews, I ignore!

[discostu]

OK that managed to avoid the chick flick, but they replaced it with extra doses of sad and pathetic.

What we need is a movie about a cavalry horse and at the end he'll stomp the bad guy to death. Now that would be a good horse movie.

[ShakeNJake]

Yes, it is a true story although some small liberties were taken in the movie. The first jockeys in America were black, and up until around the turn of the century, black jockeys continued to dominate the jockey colony. By 1938 however, most jockeys were white and blacks were mainly employed as grooms and stable workers instead.

Man O'War's lifelong groom and caretaker, Will Harbut, was black and used to introduce the great horse as "the mostest hoss".