Seabiscuit | |
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Directed by | Gary Ross |
Screenplay by | Gary Ross |
Based on | Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | John Schwartzman |
Edited by | William Goldenberg |
Music by | Randy Newman |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 141 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $87 million [1] |
Box office | $148.3 million [1] |
Seabiscuit is a 2003 American sports film co-produced, written and directed by Gary Ross and based on the best-selling 1999 non-fiction book Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand. The film is loosely based on the life and racing career of Seabiscuit, an undersized and overlooked Thoroughbred race horse, whose unexpected successes made him a hugely popular media sensation in the United States during the Great Depression. At the 76th Academy Awards, Seabiscuit received seven nominations, including Best Picture, but ultimately lost all seven, including six to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King .
In the early 20th century, as America enters the automobile age, Charles S. Howard opens a bicycle shop in San Francisco. He is soon selling automobiles, becoming the largest car dealer in California and one of the Bay Area's richest men. In the wake of the Great Depression, Canadian John "Red" Pollard's family is financially ruined, and he is sent to live with a horse trainer. Years pass and Pollard becomes a jockey, but amateur boxing leaves him blind in one eye.
After their young son is killed in an automobile accident, Howard's wife leaves him. He obtains a divorce in Mexico, where Pollard is struggling to make his mark as a jockey. Howard meets and marries Marcela Zabala. When he acquires a stable of racehorses, he hires itinerant horseman Tom Smith as his trainer. Smith convinces him to buy a colt called Seabiscuit. Though a grandson of the great Man o' War and trained by the renowned James E. Fitzsimmons, Seabiscuit is viewed as small, lazy, and unmanageable. Smith witnesses Pollard's similarly temperamental spirit, and hires him as Seabiscuit's jockey.
Under Smith's innovative training, Seabiscuit becomes the most successful racehorse on the West Coast and an underdog hero to the public. Howard issues a challenge to Samuel D. Riddle, owner of the East Coast champion and Triple Crown-winning racehorse War Admiral, but Riddle dismisses California racing as inferior. In the prestigious Santa Anita Handicap, Seabiscuit takes the lead, but Pollard's impaired vision prevents him from noticing another horse surging up on the outside. Losing by a nose, Pollard admits his partial blindness to Smith.
Howard declares that Pollard will remain Seabiscuit's jockey, and rallies public support for a match race with War Admiral. Riddle agrees, on the condition that they race with a rope and bell instead of a starting gate. With Seabiscuit at a disadvantage, Smith trains the horse to break fast at the sound of the bell. As the race approaches, Pollard severely fractures his leg in a riding accident. Informed he may never walk again, let alone ride, he recommends that his friend and skilled jockey George Woolf ride Seabiscuit, advising him on the horse's handling and behavior from his hospital bed.
The highly anticipated "race of the century" draws a sellout crowd, with 40 million more people listening on the radio. Seabiscuit takes an early lead until the far turn; following Pollard's advice, Woolf lets Seabiscuit look War Admiral in the eye before surging ahead, and Seabiscuit wins by four lengths, delighting the nation. A few months later, Seabiscuit injures his leg. Pollard, still recovering from his own injured leg, tends to the horse as they both heal. When Seabiscuit is fit enough to race again, Howard brings him back to the Santa Anita Handicap, but is reluctant to allow Pollard to ride and risk crippling himself for life. At the urging of Woolf and Marcela, Howard relents.
Pollard, using a self-made leg brace, finds himself and Seabiscuit facing Woolf in the race. Seabiscuit drops far behind the field until Woolf pulls his horse alongside Pollard, allowing Seabiscuit a good look at his mount. With Woolf's encouragement, Seabiscuit surges ahead and passes the others. Heading for the finish line several lengths ahead, Pollard explains that the story of Seabiscuit is not merely of three men who fixed a broken-down horse, but that Seabiscuit fixed them and, in a way, they fixed one another.
The film was released on July 25, 2003, by Universal Pictures. Universal distributed the film in the United States and Canada, DreamWorks Pictures through United International Pictures handled distribution in Germany, Scandinavia, and Spain, while Spyglass Entertainment acted as pre-sales agent in all other territories. Japanese theatrical distribution was handled by UIP separately from the DreamWorks deal, while Pony Canyon handled home video rights, [3] with Buena Vista International purchasing distribution rights in all other territories. [4]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 78% based on 206 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A life-affirming, if saccharine, epic treatment of a spirit-lifting figure in sports history". [5] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [6] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A on scale of A to F. [7]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4, and wrote: "The movie's races are thrilling because they must be thrilling; there's no way for the movie to miss on those, but writer-director Gary Ross and his cinematographer, John Schwartzman, get amazingly close to the action." [8]
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
Seabiscuit was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money-winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-horse special at Pimlico and was voted American Horse of the Year for 1938.
War Admiral was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the fourth winner of the American Triple Crown. He was also the 1937 Horse of the Year and well known as the rival of Seabiscuit in the "Match Race of the Century" in 1938. War Admiral won 21 of his 26 starts with earnings of $273,240 and was the leading sire in North America for 1945. He was also an outstanding broodmare sire whose influence is still felt today in descendants such as Triple Crown winners American Pharoah and Justify.
Man o' War was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who is widely regarded as one of the greatest racehorses of all time. Several sports publications, including The Blood-Horse, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and the Associated Press, voted Man o' War as the best American racehorse of the 20th century. During his racing career, just after World War I, Man o' War won 20 of 21 races and $249,465 in purses. He was the unofficial 1920 American horse of the year and was honored with Babe Ruth as the outstanding athlete of the year by The New York Times. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1957. On March 29, 2017, the museum opened a special exhibit in his honor, "Man o' War at 100".
John M. "Red" Pollard was a Canadian horse racing jockey. A founding member of the Jockeys' Guild in 1940, Pollard rode at racetracks in the United States and is best known for riding Seabiscuit.
Riddlewood is a residential housing development in Middletown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, a suburb of Philadelphia. The name comes from famous racehorse owner Samuel D. Riddle, who owned the property before it was developed in the 1950s. The names of the streets in Riddlewood are named after Sam Riddle's horses as follows: Man o' War, War Admiral, War Trophy, Rampart East, Rampart West, Anamosa, and Soldier Song.
Clem McCarthy was an American sportscaster and public address announcer. He also lent his voice to Pathe News's RKO newsreels. He was known for his gravelly voice and dramatic style, a "whiskey tenor" as sports announcer and executive David J. Halberstam has called it.
Whirlaway was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the fifth winner of the American Triple Crown. He also won the Travers Stakes after his Triple Crown sweep to become the first and only horse to win all four races.
George Monroe Woolf, nicknamed "The Iceman", was a Canadian thoroughbred race horse jockey. An annual jockey's award given by the United States Jockeys' Guild is named in his honor. He became known for riding the people's champion Seabiscuit to victories in 1938.
Charles Stewart Howard was an American businessman. He made his fortune as an automobile dealer and became a prominent thoroughbred racehorse owner.
Kayak II was an Argentine-bred thoroughbred racehorse who competed successfully in the United States. He was sired by a famous Argentine thoroughbred named Congreve out of the dam Mosquita. After being seen by American Lindsay Howard during a polo trip to Argentina, Kayak was purchased for $7,000 along with another horse named Ligaroti. The horses were shipped back to California, where Howard's father, businessman Charles S. Howard, owned a successful racing stable that included 1938 U.S. Horse of the Year Seabiscuit. Lin Howard and his partner in Binglin Stable, singer Bing Crosby, raced Ligaroti, while Charles Howard raced Kayak. His original name was Kajak; Howard, however, renamed him. To avoid a conflict of names, the horse had to be registered in the U.S. as Kayak II.
Robert Thomas Smith was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Born in a log cabin in the backwoods of northwest Georgia, as a young man he trained horses for the United States Cavalry and worked on a cattle ranch. In 1934, he was hired as a trainer by the wealthy businessman Charles S. Howard.
Fair Play was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who was successful on the track, but even more so when retired to stud. He is best known as the sire of Man o' War, widely considered one of the greatest American racehorses of all time. On the racetrack, Fair Play was known for his rivalry with the undefeated Colin, to whom he finished second in the Belmont Stakes. Later, Fair Play was the leading sire in North America of 1920, 1924 and 1927, and the leading broodmare sire of 1931, 1934 and 1938. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1956.
Popcorn Deelites was an American thoroughbred race horse who is best known for his career in film.
Challedon (1936–1958) was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred in Maryland by William L. Brann and Robert S. Castle, he raced under the colors of their Branncastle Farm.
Bimelech was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse who won two Triple Crown races and was a Champion at both age two and three. He was ranked #84 among U.S. racehorses of the 20th century. After retiring to stud, he sired 30 stakes winners and his daughters produced 50 stakes winners.
The Story of Seabiscuit is a 1949 American drama film directed by David Butler and starring Shirley Temple and Barry Fitzgerald in a semi-fictionalized account of racehorse Seabiscuit, the top money winner up to the 1940s. The screenplay was written by John Taintor Foote, uses the actual racehorse names, but changed the names of people involved.
Lindsay Coleman Howard was an American sportsman.
Michael E. "Buster" Millerick was an American Hall of Fame racehorse trainer.
The Scarsdale Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race open to horses age three and older first run on October 16, 1918, over a mile and seventy yards on dirt at Empire City Race Track in Yonkers, New York.
John Thomas Taylor, was an American horseman.