Ross622 This movie truly touched my heart when i first watched it because of the emotion throughout the entire movie. 4 time academy award nominee Mickey Rooney gives the very best performance of his career for his great supporting work in the film. Director Carol Ballard had the guts to make this family movie masterpiece come into a box office success. And also Teri Garr gives one of her best performances.The movie has great acting, photography, and it has great costume design. Also the black stallion has a touching plot to it. In my opinion this was a magnificent movie. The movie compares to such inspiring movies such as The Pride of the Yankees, Rocky, The Blind Side, Million Dollar Baby, Saving Private Ryan, The Pursuit of Happiness, and Remember the Titans. This is a true must see movie for all movie lovers and in my opinion The Black Stallion is one of the best movies ever made.

A_Different_Drummer Giving this film a "10" is a no brainer. If a film is the best in its class, if it verily redefines the class, it is by definition setting the bar that other films must beat. Clearly, prior to 1979 there were other "animal" films, all more or less following in the well-beaten paths set by the likes of Born Free, Lassie Come Home, or The Incredible Journey. (We will specifically and deliberately not mention Old Yeller, a production unleashed on unsuspecting children at a time when Disney was clearly off his meds.) All had one thing in common, they tend to focus EITHER on the furry stars OR the human stars, but never really both. And then out of nowhere comes this one-of-a-kind film (once again, in fairness to the producers of Black Stallion Returns, whose parents may or may not have ever married, we will not mention THAT film, EITHER.) This film is magical. The setup, like the film, is one of a kind. Allowing the horse and the boy to get to know each other on an iconic "desert island" is a wonderful trick -- it allows the audience to get to know them at the same time, without feeling self-conscious. This creates "connection" and, as I keep saying in these reviews, connection is the difference between a so-so film and a classic. The secondary roles are delightful as well. Rooney at the end of his career still powerful and memorable as a cranky old duffer. Teri Garr outside her "comedy" comfort zone is completely charming. As any good film should, the story just keeps dragging you in, the race, the prize, the undersized jockey, the conflict, the suspense, the resolution. I have seen a lot of films but this one is in my special collection, it can be watched over and over. Like the stars, it never gets old. Like the audience, it never wants to.

billnich-1 Carroll Ballard and Francis Ford Coppolls succeeded in taking a children's book and elevating it to a multi-layered story of the mythological journey of Alec and the Black, reminiscent of the ancient mythology of Alexander and his horse Bucephalus.Looking over the many reviews of this film, none (although I might have missed it) mentioned the parallels between Alec and the Black with the story of young Alexander the Great and his horse Bucephalus, told by Alec's father at the very beginning of the film. You have to hear the father tell that story if you are to understand the multiple levels of the rest of the film. In that vein you can't understand the nuances of the "home" sequence without the island sequence, nor the island sequence without the story of Alexander.The shipwreck occurs immediately after Alec's dad tells the story. After the shipwreck, Alec and the Black leave the world (a death of sorts falling into the dark sea) and enter a realm of timelessness on the island. No indication of when the story takes place is found on the island once Alec cuts the Black free from his ropes and Alec's pajamas deteriorate to little more than a lion cloth. On the island, they enter the realm of timeless myth where Alec, like Alexander (in Dad's story) tames the wild Black Stallion (we even see from Alec's point of view the Black passing behind the figurine of Bucephalus). When Alec tames and rides the Black he/they is/are now master of the island. Once Alec/Alexander has tamed the Black/Bucephalus, they now return to the world of 1946.Once home, Alec must again train/tame the Black as a racehorse, with the help of his mentor, Henry Daly. However, to win the race, the Black and Alec must retain some of their wild island nature (Alec casts off his helmet, lets go of the rains and grabs the Black's mane during the final race). (The racetrack is like the arena of Dad's story at the movie's beginning.) Also, Alec's connection to the Black is part of his coming to terms with his own father's death. An important scene is the one with his mother before she agrees to let him race. In this scene he makes the connection between the Black and his father ("I was in the water. I couldn't breathe. It was dark. I called out for dad. I looked up and there was the black, and I grabbed on to him.")With a mind for mythology, I saw this film on many levels that are consistent with a typical mythological story. The Dad's story of Alexander and Bucephalus slingshots you through the rest of the film, in which the story, links the island and "home" sequences to the story told at the beginning of the film.

Momcat_of_Lomita If you were a horse-crazy girl kid who didn't have a horse to ride, you read "The Black Stallion" series of books, or at least the first book. They were like a religion for horse-loving kids.Revisiting the books as an adult is like going back to any place you remember as a kid: it's smaller, it's not as nice, you see flaws you weren't aware of when you were a kid.So when I found out they were making a movie out of "The Black Stallion," I was mentally braced for a disappointment. Movies rarely are able to reproduce the magic of books we loved as kids; especially if the movie is consciously made as a "kid's movie," which is to say an adult's version of what a kid is supposed to want to see.I was absolutely stunned by how beautifully the book was translated to film. Carroll Ballard's interpretation of Walter Farley's book is tender without being precious and is true to the spirit of the book without being slavish in following every detail. And above everything else, it's BEAUTIFULLY photographed. There are sequences, like when young Alec Ramsey (Kelly Reno) first rides The Black, that are pure visual poetry. And Carmine Coppola's score for the movie is beautiful, right on the money in setting the mood and the rhythm.I have to comment on Mickey Rooney as hardboot horse-trainer Henry Dailey. I think that this is the best thing I've seen Rooney do as an older adult actor. The scene where he's explaining to Kelly Reno's character Alec how you ride racehorses is so vivid and well-done that it's stayed crystal clear in my memory since I saw the film the first time in 1979.For all the visual poetry and the excellent translation of the book to the screen, this is not a perfect movie. There are some schmaltzy, kitschy moments to it, where as an adult viewer you're just kind of gritting your teeth for them to move on to something that's authentic and not contrived. And in discussion with other horse-lovers, I know that not everyone who is familiar with Farley's book is happy with the liberties that have been taken by the filmmakers in adapting the story for the screen. Also, this is unabashedly a horse story. If you aren't into horses, if they don't stir up any romance or poetry or love of their beauty in your soul, this is not a movie you're going to enjoy or even understand.But if you love horses, there are parts of this movie that are going to be pure magic to you. I have to regard the sequence of Kelly Reno riding The Black for the first time right up there with the chariot race sequence of Ben-Hur as the two most beautifully evocative scenes involving horses that have ever been filmed, and I think that is reason enough to recommend this movie.