The wonderful Carroll Ballard film of “The Black Stallion” (1979) turns forty in October!!
Here’s a nice article by Elizabeth Kaye McCall that just came out in Arabian Horse Life.
You can reach her; elizmccall@earthlink.net
There are a bunch of my photos that haven’t been seen before -so take a LOOK!
Black Stallion movie article
How about that Derby race?????
Happy Mother’s day to all you moms, grandmoms, step moms, moms in law, wanna be moms, etc……. and thanks for having us!!
A clean and sharp copy of “The Black Stallion” will be screened at the Egyptian Theater (map) in Hollywood on Sunday, April 29. It’s a bit early, 9:15am, but sure it will be a great show.
Screenwriter Jeanne Rosenberg and critic Leonard Maltin will introduce and discuss the film. Try to make it if you can. Only $20 for walk in seats!
It’s a beautiful theater and going to be a really fun time!
http://filmfestival.tcm.com/programs/films/the-black-stallion/
If you didn’t get to see Mel Brooks and “The Producers” at last night’s Gala (neither did I) here’s the skinny;
ROBERT OSBORNE AWARD/THE PRODUCERS ( 1968 )
SCREEN TO STAGE
6:30 pm
TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX
THE ROBERT OSBORNE AWARD: For the inaugural award, TCM will celebrate world-renowned filmmaker director Martin Scorsese and his longtime dedication to preserving and protecting motion picture history. This presentation will be made as part of the official Opening Night Gala and the screening of THE PRODUCERS (1968) to follow. THE PRODUCERS (1968): Mel Brooks once stated that one of his goals in life was to make Adolf Hitler a laughing stock. One of his first attempts in that direction was answering questions about his next project with “Springtime for Hitler.” Over time, however, he conceived of a failing Broadway producer (based on producers he had known or heard of) overselling shares in a guaranteed flop to outwit auditors with a musical romp about Hitler. Brooks was met with resistance as all of the major studios turned the film down as tasteless, as did Zero Mostel, who only agreed to star in the picture because his wife thought the script was funny. Distributor Joseph E. Levine agreed to back the film but didn’t want Brooks to direct, wanted to fire co-star Gene Wilder and, finally, didn’t want to release the film at all. It took urging from Peter Sellers, who had screened a print, to get it into theatres, where it flopped, even though Brooks went on to win an Oscar for Best Screenplay. Within a few years, however, college screenings had turned it into a cult hit, and it is now considered one of the funniest pictures ever made and went on to inspire a hit Broadway play. From Mostel’s seducing an elderly backer (Estelle Winwood) to get her money, through Wilder’s hysterical outbursts to the hilarious “Springtime for Hitler” number, the film is an almost non-stop barrage of inspired, off-beat humor. Restored in 4k by Studiocanal. (d. Mel Brooks, 88m)
MARTIN SCORSESE, MEL BROOKS, LEONARDO DICAPRIO
Here’s a recent (and funny) interview by Mel Brooks:
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/26/605297774/mel-brooks-says-its-his-job-to-make-terrible-things-entertaining
Here’s a recent article from Horse Collaborative I thought you’d enjoy.
11 Things You Never Knew About the Making of “The Black Stallion”
Nina Fedrizzi | July 23, 2015
It’s been more than 35 years since The Black Stallion film first captivated audiences around the world by bringing to life Walter Farley’s timeless story of Alec, the young boy shipwrecked on a deserted island alongside a wild Arabian stallion. This month, The Criterion Collection has released a new, Blu-ray edition of the movie, complete with interviews with director Carroll Ballard and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, bringing the tale to life once again for a new generation of horse lovers.
But no matter how many times you’ve seen this beloved flick, we’ve tracked down some fun facts that may surprise you. Here are 11 things you never knew about the making of The Black Stallion.
1. The film’s 12-year-old star, Kelly Reno, originally accepted the role of Alec in part because he wanted to learn how to swim.
(via youtube/The Criterion Collection)
Reno took lessons so he could film the movie’s underwater scenes.
2. The riding scenes, however, were a piece of cake.
Reno grew up on a ranch in southern Colorado. After injuries sustained from a serious car accident cut his acting career short, he returned to work as a cattle rancher for 20 years.
3. The Black Stallion was filmed at several locations around the world, including Toronto, Sardinia, and Rome’s Cinecittà Studios.
The movie’s shipwreck sequence took place in Cinecittà Studios’ huge outdoor water tank. Filming it took three weeks.
4. Four main horses were used to portray the Black throughout the film. The two most prominent were the Texas-bred Arabian stallion, Cass Ole, and his double, Fae Jur.
Cass Ole (via allbreedpedigree.com)
Cass Ole appears in 80 percent of the film’s shots, though he had white legs and a star that had to be painted black for filming.
5. Ironically, though, it’s Fae Jur that stars in two of the film’s most memorable scenes.
His independent streak and love of fake-fighting made him the first choice for the scenes where Alec befriends the Black on the beach, and also when the stallion protects him from a cobra.
6. Producers originally wanted the Egyptian racehorse El Mokhtar for the title role, but his owners wouldn’t negotiate.
(via colorgenetics.info)
They eventually relented, and El Mokhtar stars alongside Cass Ole in 1983’s The Black Stallion Returns.
7. For the swimming scenes, none of the actor horses were comfortable in the water, so the crew brought over horses from France’s Camargue region, which contains Western Europe’s largest river delta.
Camargue Horses (flickr.com/Philip Haslett)
Reportedly, the white horses were not much to look at and had to be painted entirely black before filming, but in the water, they were incredibly graceful.
8. The Black Stallion proved to be a cash cow for production company American Zoetrope.
Produced for about $4 million, it grossed roughly $38 million at the box office.
9. The film was produced by none other than Francis Ford Coppola, who used his Godfather clout to get The Black Stallion made.
Coppola may have needed the film to succeed more than he let on, however, after a typhoon wrecked his Apocalypse Now set the same year, leaving him severely behind schedule and over budget.
10. Francis’s father, Carmine Coppola, is responsible for the film’s beautiful score.
(via godfather.wikia.com)
Carmine was nominated for two Golden Globes for Best Original Score in 1980, both for The Black Stallion and Apocalypse Now. Alas, the Vietnam War flick won the day.
11. Mickey Rooney was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Henry Dailey, a retired jockey who helps Alec train the Black for the movie’s final race.
(via movpins.com)
Rooney also played the washed-up jockey, “Mi”, alongside Elizabeth Taylor in 1944’s National Velvet.
You can watch The Criterion Collection’s interview with The Black Stallion’s cinematographer, Caleb Deschanel, here:
Thank You HC!! Enjoy the ride and visit the shop, too!
Coming in July this summer! The all new Criterion Collection Special Edition remastered Blu-Ray edition of “The Black Stallion”!!
This is the DIRECTOR APPROVED – SPECIAL EDITION, by Carroll Ballard.
This is sure to be a winner as the digital transfer was supervised by master cinematographer Caleb Deschanel himself!
It has loads of special features – here’s what’s going to be included;
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:
**New 4K digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Caleb Deschanel, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
**Five short films by Carroll Ballard, with introductions by the director: Pigs! (1965), The Perils of Priscilla (1969), Rodeo (1969), Seems Like Only Yesterday (1971), and Crystallization (1974)
**New conversation between Ballard and film critic Scott Foundas
**New interview with Deschanel
**New piece featuring photographer Mary Ellen Mark discussing her images from the film’s set
**Trailer
**PLUS: An essay by film critic Michael Sragow
The exciting new cover art is by Nicolas Delort.
It will be great to see it again as it should be seen! It’s about time!
Be sure to get a Bucephalus of your own – better than popcorn!
Check back close to the release as we’ll try to get discount codes for purchasing this fantastic NEW edition of “The Black Stallion“!
Here’s a nice article on the Black Stallion in the movies written by our friend Elizabeth McCall.
This were great days in Italy with so much to see, do and learn. Very talented people working on a “small” film like Black Stallion was very, VERY exciting.
Let’s Do it Again!!
Life on the Set of the Black StallionWalter Farley’s son, Tim, talks about the filming of the movie just in time for its 35th anniversary.By Elizabeth Kaye McCall | November 2014 Tim Farley was wrapping up his photography degree at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, Calif., when his father Walter’s 1941 novel, The Black Stallion, began its transformation to the big screen. Francis Ford Coppola’s Academy Award-winning feature film was released 35 years ago this fall, and it remains a cinematic classic. It’s the story of a young boy named Alec Ramsay, who is shipwrecked on a desert island with a wild Arabian stallion that he befriends and names The Black. After being rescued and later discovered by a veteran racehorse trainer, they enter a match race between two champions of the track. Inspiring millions when it debuted in 1979, the film’s exquisite portrayal of the horse-human bond is more appreciated than ever today.  Kelly Reno, who plays Alec, grew up riding and was a natural when it came to the bareback scenes. When the movie first headed into production in 1977, Tim skipped his graduation ceremonies to work on it. Were you there from the start? What did you do? But actually my dad is the one who came up with the fun sequence in the jockey’s room before The Black races. It became a humorous scene in the movie, because they kept adding weight to this little kid. The way the script was originally written had Alec sneaking weight into his pockets, or putting on a weight belt or something. My dad said, “Nobody would ever do that because the officials add all the handicap weight jockeys must carry before a race. They would never sneak weight.” He came up with some helpful ideas. What was it like being on the set? It was exciting. Even though we had to take cold showers! Working on those beach sequences, there were no hotels out there. We stayed in an empty school with cold-water showers. Every once in a while you’d see a tourist come through for an hour or two, but we were pretty far out. Almost all the locations were like that. How were those galloping-on-the-beach scenes filmed? What stands out? The budget on The Black Stallion wouldn’t even pay for most TV commercials these days. I think that the actual budget, including advertising, was under $15 million. You took lots of photos on set. How was shooting Cass Ole? What else was memorable? It was fascinating driving to the set daily with Mickey Rooney in Toronto, the location for our 1940s New York scenes. Mickey had been in a long career slump, but The Black Stallion brought him an Oscar nomination and he returned to the stage.  Corky Randall trained Cass Ole to come with the crack of a whip. Here’s to the 35th anniversary. What’s ahead? Speaking of Blu-Ray … ELIZABETH KAYE McCALL is an author, journalist, and media consultant based in Los Angeles, Calif., specializing in the horse industry, travel and entertainment. Her new children’s book about a talking horse, Rajalika Speak, was inspired by her own Egyptian Arabian stallion that “speaks on request.” President and creator of TheBlackStallion.com, the official Black Stallion fan site, TIM FARLEY is based in Florida, where he furthers the spirit of The Black Stallion legacy along with his work as co-founder of the HorseTales.org literacy program. |
