Shannon's Rainbow | |
---|---|
Directed by | Frank E. Johnson |
Written by | Linda Morris John Mowod Larry Richert |
Produced by | Joycelyn Engle Frank E. Johnson |
Starring | Julianne Michelle Claire Forlani Louis Gossett Jr. Eric Roberts Daryl Hannah Michael Madsen Jason Gedrick Charles Durning Steve Guttenberg |
Cinematography | Dean Cundey |
Edited by | Patrea Patrick Jack Tucker |
Music by | Charles David Denler |
Distributed by | Supernova Media |
Release date |
|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Shannon's Rainbow (also listed as Amazing Racer) is a 2009 family film produced and directed by Frank E. Johnson. It stars Julianne Michelle and Claire Forlani, with a musical score by Charles David Denler. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
The film was shot in western Pennsylvania from a script written by John Mowod and Larry Richert and based on Mowod's own experiences seeing his brother rehabilitate an injured horse and win a championship horse race. [2] [4] [5] [6]
The main character's story about recently experiencing the death of her father is loosely based on the death of Jeff Gardner, good friend of Mowod and Richert. Mowod and Gardner collaborated on the outline of the film before Jeff Gardner was killed in an accident. The film takes its name from Jeff's oldest daughter, Shannon, and is dedicated to Jeff. [4] [7]
A 17-year-old girl named Shannon (Julianne Michelle) faces and overcomes hardship with the discovery of the mother she never knew and with her love for a hobbled horse named Rainbow. With her father dying in the earliest moments of the film Shannon has to learn from a friend of the family that her father participated in kidnapping her from her mother (Christine) moments after birth. Once the hospital therapist is through with her she ends up moving from Florida to Pennsylvania where Christine lives and works as a neo-natal pediatrician. She gets involved in the lives of Christine's boyfriend Eric and his nephew Brandon and niece Rio. They have a stables that works in harness racing and have been bringing along a filly named Rainbow who takes very strongly to Shannon. Eric and those around him are targets of a spiteful grudge held by the rich Mitchell Prescott who buys the filly for $15,000 in a claiming race she was entered in for experience. Mitchell runs Rainbow into the ground, having her beaten until nearly dead for the sin of having a mind of her own and an unshakable preference for Shannon, then sells her off to the knackers. Eric is alerted to this and tracks down the horse van en route to the location where Rainbow is due to be slaughtered and buys her back for $400. The filly is returned to Shannon's care and a trainer with a murky past (Max) is given the task to return her to health and soundness. They move Rainbow to a neighboring farm to train her to racing fitness while avoiding a spy at Parker stables. The culmination is at the Pennsylvania Cup harness race.
Eric Anthony Roberts is an American actor. In a career spanning over 50 years, Roberts has amassed more than 700 credits and appeared in blockbusters, independent films, television series, animation, short films, student films, and music videos. As of 2024, he is one of the most prolific English-speaking screen actors of all time.
KDKA-TV, also known as CBS Pittsburgh, is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Jeannette-licensed WPKD-TV, an independent station. The two stations share studios at the Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh; KDKA-TV's transmitter is located in the city's Perry North neighborhood. KDKA-TV, along with sister station KYW-TV in Philadelphia, are the only CBS-affiliated television stations east of the Mississippi River with "K" call signs.
Rainbow Blue was the 2004 American Harness Horse of the Year as well as the Canadian Harness Horse of the Year.
Dreamer is a 2005 American sports drama film written and directed by John Gatins in his directorial debut. The film stars Kurt Russell, Kris Kristofferson, Elisabeth Shue and Dakota Fanning. It is inspired by the true story of an injured Thoroughbred racehorse named Mariah's Storm. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2005 and was theatrically released on October 21, 2005 by DreamWorks Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics, and earned $39.5 million on a $32 million budget. It also received a Critics' Choice Award nomination for Best Family Film.
A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four years old. The word can also be used for other female equine animals, particularly mules and zebras, but a female donkey is usually called a "jenny". A broodmare is a mare used for breeding.
Larry Richert is an American journalist.
Mariah's storm is an American thoroughbred racehorse, bred by Donald T. Johnson's Crescent Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. She suffered a serious injury while racing but later made a full recovery and continued her career.
Ruffian is a 2007 American television film that tells the story of the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred filly Ruffian who went undefeated until her death after breaking down in a nationally televised match race at Belmont Park on July 6, 1975 against the Kentucky Derby winner, Foolish Pleasure.
Home in Indiana is a 1944 Technicolor film directed by Henry Hathaway. The film, starring Walter Brennan, Lon McCallister, Jeanne Crain, June Haver and Charlotte Greenwood, is based on the novel The Phantom Filly by George Agnew Chamberlain (1879–1966). The film was remade in 1957 as April Love.
Peppers Pride was an undefeated, multiple stakes winning American Thoroughbred race horse.
The Hollywood Casino at The Meadows, formerly The Meadows Racetrack and Casino, originally (1963) just The Meadows horse-racing track, is a Standardbred harness-racing track and slot-machine casino which is located in North Strabane Township, Pennsylvania, United States, about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Pittsburgh. After 44 years as a racetrack, the casino was added in 2007. The real estate has been owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties since 2016, with the business operations owned by Penn Entertainment since 2018, including a long term lease agreement to Gaming and Leisure Properties.
Julianne Michelle is an American film and television actress.
Frank E. Johnson A.S.C. is an American cinematographer, producer and film director. He is best known for cinematography on The A-Team, but has also worked the camera for such feature films such as Predator (1987), The Taking of Beverly Hills (1991), and The Man in the Black Suit (2004). He was twice nominated for an ASC Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography", in 2000 and 2001. He has a film set for release in 2009 as producer and director for Shannon's Rainbow.
James Joseph Fortune is a retired Irish thoroughbred jockey who in a 30-year career won over 1,800 races, including 16 Group 1s, and 1 British Classic, the 2007 St Leger.
Intrepidity was a British-bred, French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. In a racing career which lasted from April 1993 to November 1994 the filly ran twelve times and won four races. Unraced as a two-year-old, Intrepidity proved to be the outstanding three-year-old filly in Europe in 1993, winning the Prix Saint-Alary and the Prix Vermeille in France and The Oaks in England. She also finished fourth in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, beaten one and a half lengths. At the end of the year she was voted European Champion Three-year-old Filly at the Cartier Racing Awards. Intrepidity was kept in training as a four-year-old, but failed to win, although she finished second in the Prix Ganay and the Prix Foy. She was then retired to stud where her record as a broodmare was disappointing.
Sorcery was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare who won the classic Oaks Stakes at Epsom Downs Racecourse in 1811. In a racing career which lasted from April 1811 to July 1814 the filly ran twenty-six times, winning twelve races and finishing placed on eleven occasions. Sorcery won the Oaks on her third racecourse appearance and went on to win other important races including the Epsom Gold Cup, the Trial Stakes, two editions of the Oatlands Stakes, a King's Plate and several match races. After her retirement from racing she became a successful broodmare, being the dam of the 1828 Epsom Derby winner Cadland.
Landscape (1813–1834) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare that won the classic Oaks Stakes at Epsom Downs Racecourse in 1816. The filly's entire racing career consisted of one run in 1815 followed by three races in the space of thirteen days in June 1816. After winning the Oaks on her second racecourse appearance, she finished first and second in races at Ascot. Already pregnant at the time of her classic success, Landscape was retired from racing after Ascot and produced her first foal in the following spring.
Racing Lady is a 1937 American drama film produced by RKO Radio Pictures, which premiered in New York City on January 12, 1937, and was released nationally on January 29. Directed by Wallace Fox, the screenplay was written by Dorothy Yost, Thomas Lennon, and Cortland Fitzsimmons, based on a story by Damon Runyon, which had been further expanded by J. Robert Bren and Norman Houston.
Proud Spell is an American Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. As a two-year-old in 2007 she was rated one of the best juvenile fillies in the United States, winning her first three races including the Matron Stakes before finishing second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. She was even more successful in her second season, winning four races including the Fair Grounds Oaks, Kentucky Oaks, Delaware Oaks and Alabama Stakes. She was retired from racing after a single unsuccessful appearance as a four-year-old.
The American Success Company is a 1980 American comedy-drama film directed by William Richert and starring Jeff Bridges. It was written by Larry Cohen. Re-edited versions of the film have appeared under the titles American Success, Success, The Ringer, and Good as Gold.