One of the most revered icons in films for the past 40 years, Robert Redford has captivated audiences in both as an actor and a director. He won recognition for memorable performances in movies like “Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid”, “All The President’s Men”, “The Natural”, “The Sting”, “Jeremiah Johnson”, “Out of Africa” “Sneakers”, and “Indecent Proposal”. If acting gave him the status as a Hollywood icon, it was nothing compared to his 1980 directorial debut for the harrowing family drama “Ordinary People” that won him a Best Picture and Best Director prize at the Oscars.

Since then, Redford balanced his career as an actor and director helming two more acclaimed films he directed in the 1990s, “A River Runs Through It” and “Quiz Show”. Redford also became a champion for the independent film movement when he founded the Sundance Film Festival that became widely successful that eventually spawned an acclaimed cable channel. In 1998, Redford again went back to the directing chair, this time to appear in his own film based on Nicholas Evans 1995 best-selling novel “The Horse Whisperer” where Redford would launch the careers of one of the current hot young actresses gracing the screen, Scarlett Johansson.

“The Horse Whisperer” is about a young girl who had been in a riding accident with her horse and both are traumatized. The girl’s mother, a successful magazine editor, is seeking help to heal the spirit of her daughter and horse by driving to Montana where they get help from a horse specialist. Along the way, the mother falls for the specialist while repairing the distant relationship between mother and daughter. Directed and produced by Redford with a script adaptation by Richard LaGravenese and Eric Roth, “The Horse Whisperer” is an evocative melodramatic film that is filled with great imagery and subplots. While the film does have its flaw in its adapted script, the film does prove strong thanks to a cast led by Redford, Johansson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam Neill, Chris Cooper and Dianne Weist. Though not up to par with his better-known directorial features, Redford does manage to bring some excellence in “The Horse Whisperer”.

The film begins on a nice winter day as a young 14-year old girl named Grace MacLean (Scarlett Johansson) is looking at the snow and decide to go horse riding while her father Robert (Sam Neill) is asleep. Grace’s London-born mother Annie (Kristin Scott Thomas) is in New York City working as an acclaimed magazine editor and it seems she cares more for her work than her family. Grace meets up with her best friend Judith (Kate Bosworth, though she is credited as Catherine Bosworth) as they talk about a boy and go up to the farm to pick up their horses. Grace rides on her cherished horse Pilgrim for a nice snowy day while Annie is surrounded by her work as she calls Robert telling him that she’ll be late. The day unfortunately, becomes bad when Grace and Judith end up in a riding accident where Grace tries to save her but a huge 18-wheel truck comes and everything comes crashing down.

Judith is killed while Grace is in the hospital with severe injuries with part of her right leg was amputated. Annie is in shock over what happened while Robert is trying to console her. Annie calls for her veterinarian Liz Hammond (Cherry Jones) about Pilgrim, who seems to act violently due to shock and with severe cuts as well as she tries to calm him with tranquilizers. The injuries of Grace and Pilgrim leaves Annie distraught over what has happened as she notice a sense of distance between her and Grace. Grace uses crutches along with a wooden leg to help her walk, as she feels more at home with her dad. One night, they try to visit Pilgrim who still acts violently, even to Grace as she is in shock over his behavior and fears the horse might not be the same again.

Annie is given the chance to decide whether to have Pilgrim killed when she seeks something to repair whatever relationships she has been neglecting. She finds an article about a “horse whisperer” by the name of Tom Booker (Robert Redford). She calls Booker from his home in Montana about Pilgrim but he doesn’t sound very excited and doesn’t want to fly all the way to New York City to check on a horse. Annie instead, decides to go to Montana to take Pilgrim to Booker. Robert has to stay to work so Annie decides to take Grace, much to her own disgust. During their trip, Annie keeps asking Grace if she wants to go on some sights to look at and Grace responds with, “I don’t care”. On one stop, Annie wants to see the site of The Battle of Little Bighorn but it’s closed where Annie confronts Grace about her attitude and Grace says horrible things towards her mother and Annie is in shock as she goes to the closed site herself and cries over the lack of closeness between her and Grace.

Annie finally reaches the Montana town where she finds Booker’s ranch which he runs with his brother Frank (Chris Cooper) and sister-in-law Diane (Dianne Weist). Tom is shocked to see that Annie came all the way to Montana from NYC to see him. Tom decides to check out Pilgrim and is very cautious towards Pilgrim’s violent behavior but finds a way to calm him to the surprise of Annie and Grace. Annie and Grace meet up with the Bookers including their eldest 10-year old son Joe (Ty Hillman) and twin boys (Austin and Dustin Schwartz) where Grace has to help out with Tom since she’s the one that has a connection to Pilgrim. Grace at first isn’t up to it but then helps out more with the farming chores of the Bookers. Annie meanwhile, is still doing her work for the magazine while staying in Montana, which has become overwhelming. Frank suggests that Grace and Annie live in the guest house just to be closer to Pilgrim as Tom works on that while he bonds with Annie and Grace.

Annie finds herself in a strange, awkward world since she is used to city life as she tries to fit in with ranch life as one occasion, she goes horse riding with Tom as he talks about his life including his marriage with his old wife, who left him since she didn’t like the open ranges of Montana in favor of city life. Tom seems calm about as Annie is amazed as his relaxed tone while Grace finds herself jealous in seeing her mom riding a horse as she tries to ride one but has trouble trying to get on one with her wooden leg. Later in the night, the tension between mother and daughter becomes apparent as Grace reveals her loathing to her mom as Annie feels some blame towards their distance. Tom helps Grace out while he wants her at the right time to reveal the accident involving Pilgrim and Judith. When Grace does, she is felt with guilt and Tom gives her some wisdom over what happened and what Pilgrim was trying to do on that accident.

Just as Grace and Annie are healing their relationship, Grace finds herself starting to connect with Pilgrim, finally as things are getting on their way. Annie begins to fall for Tom but to the warning of Diane, who thinks it will go in the wrong way. Annie and Tom do get together but it becomes very brief when Robert arrives. Things get complicated as Tom focuses himself more to heal the spirit of Pilgrim and Grace.

“The Horse Whisperer” at times, can be compared to Redford’s 1992 film “A River Runs Through It” for its grand, evocative look of the American landscape of mountains, rivers, and fields. The only differences between the two films are in its dramatic tone and story. Redford and cinematographer Robert Richardson do bring in a grand, cinematic look to the film that would be great to see in the theaters as the images are shot in a very grandeur, subtle tone, notably the open spaces of Montana. Even the film’s subtle, light orchestral score by Thomas Newman captures that subtlety. The film’s major flaw, like many film adaptations of books is in its script, notably the romance between Tom Booker and Annie MacLean, which lacks sparks and at times, disrupts the flow of the entire film later on, even in its ending that kind of comes out in an unsatisfying way. The result of the Tom/Annie relationship makes the film uneven when the audience would feel that the focus should’ve been more on Tom trying to heal the spirit of Grace and Pilgrim. Despite that flaw, Redford does manage to bring in a melodramatic film without going overboard while laying it down with beautiful imagery.

On the performance front, with a cast as rich as in “The Horse Whisperer”, it couldn’t really go wrong. Well, apparently, it kind of does. While Sam Neill, Chris Cooper, and Dianne Weist are excellent in their respective roles, at times they’re a bit underused in favor of the scenes with Thomas and Redford. Neill is in the film for the first thirty minutes then disappears and then comes back for the last thirty minutes like he just pops up unexpectedly and it’s frustrating for someone of his talent. Weist is the same thing but to a lesser extent, especially the always brilliant Cooper, who just shows up to say a few phrases of wisdom while bringing in some humor. Though it was one of his earlier roles before he would breakthrough a year later in “American Beauty”, Cooper shines in a fine supporting role. The smaller roles of Liz Hammond and Ty Hillman are well used although I would’ve loved to see more of Ty Hillman since he actually does bring some chemistry in the few scenes with Scarlett Johansson.

Robert Redford, the actor, is always brilliant and alluring as the wise, relaxed Tom Booker who isn’t afraid to be vulnerable he’s a guy who doesn’t provide answers, he’s just a simple man with a great gift and Redford, always delivers. Kristin Scott Thomas is excellent as Annie MacLean as this perfect mother who wants everything for the best but reveals her own neglect and she develops into someone who is desperate to be more of a mother, even if it meant losing her job. Redford and Thomas early on do have great, tender moments but when it comes to the romance, it doesn’t really work and it feels very out of place with the entire film.

Finally, there’s Scarlett Johansson who takes a step up from her 1996 breakthrough performance in the 1996 indie-road drama “Manny & Lo”. Where in the previous film, Johansson played an intelligent, realistic 11-year old girl. In “The Horse Whisperer”, Johansson’s character starts out as an innocent teen who then loses all hope and wonders about her own future. Johansson brings in a performance that not many teen actors could possibly live up to as she brings a lot of magic in her scenes with Redford and Thomas, especially in the first fight scene where Johansson says “Bullsh*t” to her with immense loathing, that the look on Thomas’ face after that is extraordinary. Originally, this role was supposed to be played by Natalie Portman but backed out to do a Broadway production of “The Diary of Anne Frank”. If Portman, stayed on, she would’ve done an excellent job but Johansson however, showed more range, especially in her more vulnerable scenes where she tries to struggle with her emotions to Thomas and Redford.

Now I know I might be over praising Scarlett Johansson a bit but damn it, this is an actress to watch out for. One thing I noticed in many her performances in the film’s she’s been in like “Manny & Lo”, “Ghost World”, “An American Rhapsody”, and her best work to date, “Lost in Translation” is the way she looks at things in front of the camera. She plays roles like a voyeur looking for something amiss whether it’s good or bad. Johansson has that natural ability to do that. Another trademark that was heard in “The Horse Whisperer” is her raspy voice, that would later play a pivotal part in her later films and it’s another sign of her maturity. With her upcoming role in Peter Webber’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, Johansson might eclipse many of her acting peers in her age group with very few that includes Zooey Deschanel, Jena Malone, and Maggie Gyllenhaal to rise up to the challenge with their own acting skills.

***Updated DVD Tidbits on 6/28/04***

The DVD for “The Horse Whisperer” doesn’t include very much since its original release in 1999. The only feature it has is a wonderful theatrical trailer and Dolby Digital 5.1 Sound. While the film may look good on TV, on DVD it looks even better without some of its dreamier shots in the romantic scenes between Redford and Thomas. The resulting picture is clearly superior than seeing it on full screen because the 2.35:1 Widescreen format complements more of the film’s cinematic quality, notably Robert Richardson’s vast cinematography. The only feature that might be suitable for film trivia fans is the French language track, mostly because of the dubbing with “Swimming Pool” star Ludivine Sagnier providing the dubbing voice for Scarlett Johansson’s Grace character and Sagnier does a fine job in the dubbing. Hopefully in the future, there will be a far superior release of this film on DVD with a making-of feature, interviews, and maybe a retrospective from Redford and his actors along with audio commentary, which is something, most fans of the film will anticipate for.

***End of DVD Review***

While not as groundbreaking or as brilliant as “Ordinary People”, “A River Runs Through It” or “Quiz Show”, “The Horse Whisperer” is still an excellent film from Robert Redford. Fans of the films he directed will enjoy the film’s earthy, grand visuals and Redford’s relaxed performance while some will find the film’s near 3-hour length to be a bit much along with its somewhat inconsistent script. Though it didn’t get the recognition of his greater film when it came out in 1998, Redford did succeed in giving recognition to Scarlett Johansson after her indie-breakthrough in 1996’s “Manny & Lo”. Really, it’s a Redford-Johansson film rather than a film starring Redford and Kristin Scott Thomas. In the end, “The Horse Whisperer” is a beautiful, evocative drama from Robert Redford who led the way for one of the most promising young actresses of the past five years.

Scarlett Johansson Reviews:

Manny & Lo (1996):

http://www.epinions.com/content_109962628740

Home Alone 3 (1997):

http://www.epinions.com/content_132750216836

Ghost World (2001):

http://www.epinions.com/content_108939415172

An American Rhapsody (2001):

http://www.epinions.com/content_112778645124

The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001):

http://www.epinions.com/content_112639446660

Eight Legged Freaks (2002):

http://www.epinions.com/content_126273883780

Lost in Translation (2003):

http://www.epinions.com/content_113414475396

Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003):

http://www.epinions.com/content_120964615812

The Perfect Score (2004):

http://www.epinions.com/content_128189369988



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older