Adapted from the beloved novel by Walter Farley, this 1979 family classic was hailed by no less than hard-to-please critic Pauline Kael, who wrote that "it may be the greatest children's movie ever made." A visual feast from start to finish, the timeless tale of The Black Stallion plays out on almost mythic terms. A young boy survives a shipwreck and is stranded on a deserted island with a graceful black stallion, with whom the boy develops an almost empathic friendship. After being rescued and returning home, the two make a winning team as jockey and lightning-fast racehorse under the tutelage of a passionate trainer, played by Mickey Rooney in an Oscar-nominated role. From its serenely hypnotic island sequence to the breathtaking race scenes, this delightful film is guaranteed to enthrall any viewer, regardless of age. The Black Stallion is a genuine masterpiece of family entertainment. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Rating:
Summary: THIS KNOCKS YOUR HOOVES OFF!
Comment: The beauty, the thrill, the classic story is now unleashed into a spleandid masterpiece starring the old but never failing Mickey Roony.
The young Alec Ramsay is sailing with his father on a boat when it crashes and the only survivors are he and a magnificent black stallion. Stranded and alone, Alec slowly gains the stalion's trust until a close bond of love passes between them. Suddenly rescused and jolted back into life, Alec takes his black stallion home but the horse escapes, found by the old and grizzled Henry Dailey. Alec and Henry see a great racing horse in the stallion and Alec wants to race him. So they train for months until there is a match held between the two fastest horses on the planet- and The Black, Alec, and Henry all enter the race to prove that The Black is faster than all of them!
Incredible, beautiful, and awesome! Buy this DVD and enjoy the masterpiece!
Have fun,
Moonwhisker

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful family film
Comment: The Black Stallion is a great family-friendly film. Love the story and the cinematograpy. It's different than other movies, and we love it at our house. It's a timeless movie.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Disappointed...
Comment: Bought this DVD because of the spectacular scenes and audio and wanted to see it on current home theater equipment. Quality was poor, with detectable video camera jitter and visual artifacts typical of an old copy of the original film. No FBI warning, so my first thought is that maybe it's a Chinese copyright-infringing ripoff???

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Customer Rating:
Summary: 'if you can ride that horse, you can have that horse'
Comment: So runs the great, symbolic--even prophetic--advice, given by a father to his son, shortly before the father's unexpected death, in the form of a story about Alexander the Great.

The son is a 10 year old boy who will go on to tame a wild horse after both become castaways on a deserted island.

Though with very little dialogue, the first 45 minutes of this film are simply awesome; they set a precedent which is very hard to follow. In short: the son lives up to his father's advice while on the island, with the ultimate result of saving the life both of himself and of the horse; along the way, giving his all, the boy also realizes a union with nature which can perhaps and might best be described as creation--or at least the horse--becoming the boy's surrogate father. The boy and the horse do become deep friends. The methods the boy adopts to tame and ride the horse are gentle, ingenious, beautiful, and frankly, believable. Upon his rescue and return to civilization, the boy soon realizes that this "ownership" he attained of the horse while on the island is called into question--as are his somewhat asocial coping skills he developed while living on the island. The boy thus shifts his attention to finding the place of the horse in the world and thus his own place at the same time. This takes the form of training the horse as a racehorse, and himself as a jockey--with the help of a new found friend.

The transition from the island to civilization is a bit jolting to the audience; at moments it even feels like a different film; but it is done with suitable humor, and merely replicates in the audience the same experience as the boy.

In the end, the boy succeeds in being "alone" with his horse while being "in civilization" at the same time. The film comes full circle; the closing credits have some of the most beautiful scenes in the movie.

A very inspiring, very moving and very beautiful film. A must see for anyone who likes horses, nature--or even people; about as close to a religious experience you can expect from a movie...at least for a movie that is not religious...

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Not as good as I remembered......
Comment: I totally agree with the DVD transfer being really bad. But I also think the movie wasn't as great as I remembered when I was a kid. It seemed shorter and not as exciting. I am a fan of all the actors, I wish they had more lines. It didn't hold my children's attention. My daughter (a horse lover) liked it ok. It's a good story and I would love to see them remake it. With the special affects they have now a days it could be really cool.

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