Can It Be 15 Years Ago?

Back in the days when the boys were younger, I was working longer hours on the job, and I didn't have a DVD player, I watched way fewer movies.  So when I selected The Horse Whisperer from the racks at the library last weekend, it felt like I would be watching a relatively recent movie.  1998.  When that horrific accident with the horses and lumber hauler on an icy narrow road occurs, I was back in 1998.  That scene was filmed up here, near Albany.  As my "I hate celebrities" review indicates, I am not one to watch local movie making, forget Salt or from Beyond the Pines, and would never ever audition for being an extra.  I even seem to recall that Redford rented a home near Siena.

I just checked out Wiki before writing this blog and unsurprisingly, it compares THW with The Bridges of Madison County, aging or at least middle aged actors and actresses, finding some version of love, a snippet to cherish and store away as the female leads decide their pre-affair lives are inevitable and "right."

I love horse movies.  The scenery of Montana was striking.  Scarlett Johansson, at least a foot shorter than she is now, is a believable look alike daughter of Kristin Scott Thomas.  Another six degree of separation instance, as KST is a take off on Tina Brown, who was also portrayed of sorts by Streep in TBOMC.  Is America's cadre of actors/actresses so thin that these people recycle through films that are targeted to certain market sectors?  Streep keeps aging and Hope Springs.

I really thought Redford was completely miscasted as the whisperer.  The story would have been more real if the male lead was not one of the industry's icon idols ... a more average looking man with special horse taming talents, someone who looked more natural around a farm and didn't always wear ironed dungarees under his chaps, would have made the attraction seem more based on talent instead of testosterone.  Although I have to admit, Redford's compression of Thomas spine through her clothes as they dance is damn sexy.