Trainers Heath Harris and Bob Lovgren headed a huge team who worked with the horses and zebras on location in South Africa for Racing Stripes. For one sequence, when Stripes is entered in the Blue Moon Race, a sort of equine drag race held by kids, the trainers had the awesome task of directing forty liberty horses. Months of preparation went into this one scene.
Stripes was played by six different zebras. Since zebras are essentially wild and aggressive, they simply could not be expected to be trained to behave like horses and could not be taught to race. For certain racing scenes, Stripes was doubled by white ponies, painted with zebra stripes by equine makeup artist Tara Lawrence and her team.
Horse Bits
Filmmakers have long known that horses are powerful symbols and useful plot facilitators. In addition to amusing us with clever tricks, horses have made cameo appearances in thrillers, dramas, and fluffy romantic movies. Director Stanley Kramer cast Ralph McCutcheon’s palomino Sunny in a small but crucial role in the romantic drama Not as a Stranger (1955). The gorgeous palomino is part of a seduction sequence, as a sultry horse breeder (Gloria Grahame) teases a married doctor (Robert Mitchum) by jumping Sunny over a fence, inviting the doctor for a drink, and galloping away. The doctor’s sexual frustration is obviously symbolized in a later sequence as California, a palomino stallion doubling Sunny, rears and whinnies in his stall, pining for a nearby mare. The horse’s urgent whinnies are background music for a scene that culminates with Graham and Mitchum locked in a passionate embrace.
Director Alfred Hitchcock particularly appreciated the dramatic qualities of horses and used them to terrific advantage in Notorious (1946), in which Ingrid Bergman’s runaway mount facilitates a rendezvous with Cary Grant and later in the psychological thriller Marnie (1964), in which the troubled title character’s independent nature is emphasized by her relationship with a black hunter, Forio.
Tippi Hedren, the title character in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1964 thriller Marnie, develops a bond with a horse named Forio.
In one unforgettable scene, Marnie’s husband (Sean Connery) surprises Marnie (Tippi Hedren) by giving her the horse she had previously just rented. The horse is delivered to their front door, and although she is wearing a yellow chiffon cocktail dress, Marnie impulsively jumps aboard Forio and gallops off over a fence. The unusual image says more about Marnie’s nature than reams of dialogue could possibly convey.
Jennifer Lopez steps into Ingrid Bergman’s stirrups for The Wedding Planner (2001), when she goes riding with clients and her horse runs away, leaving Matthew McConaughey no choice but to rescue her. It’s a plot device as old as the hills, yet the runaway horse sequence adds glamour and excitement to this modern romance. In 28 Days (2000), Sandra Bullock’s character is introduced to equine-assisted therapy as a means of overcoming substance abuse. In reality, horses are used in a number of therapeutic situations. Through special riding programs throughout America, horses help handicapped kids to develop physically, mentally, and emotionally. Inner-city kids find self-esteem caring for and riding horses. In addition to working with the disadvantaged, horses teach prisoners work ethics and compassion in rehabilitation programs, which utilize former racehorses. Big Spender (2003), starring Casper Van Dien and a number of Canadian Thoroughbreds, was a television movie made for the Animal Planet cable network that featured such a program. From movies such as these, modern audiences are coming to understand Winston Churchill’s wise words, “There’s something about the outside of a horse that’s good for the inside of a man.”
The Last Laugh...
The horse may have had his heyday in Hollywood, but he keeps making a comeback. His presence was strongly felt at the 2004 Academy Awards Ceremony.
In a filmed spoof of the Oscar-nominated movies, host Billy Crystal galloped one of the racing stars of Seabiscuit and rode Shadowfax up the staircase in The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King. To create the illusions, the actor’s head was placed on the bodies of Tobey Maguire and Sir Ian McKellen through the magic of CGI, but the horses were the real thing. The bits got the biggest laugh of the night.
Afterword
On Valentine’s Day, 2004, just a few weeks before completing the first draft of Hollywood Hoofbeats, I took a break from writing to go hiking with my dog, Buster.
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and as we began the climb up Rattlesnake Trail in Griffith Park I noticed a pile of video equipment on the ground at the first bend. Just beyond, a young filmmaker (who looked no older than twelve) was manning a camera on a tripod, surrounded by his crew of three adults. A young actress, dressed in a period ensemble of a white ruffled shirt, blouse, and bonnet stood at the side of the trail as a messenger in a tri-cornered hat trotted down the hill on a gorgeous buckskin gelding. The messenger, who on closer inspection was also a young woman, handed the actress in white a rolled-up letter. “Cut!”
Under the guise of waiting for the dust to settle, I led Buster slowly past the filmmakers, obviously students and some supportive relatives. They were deciding to re-shoot the scene so I continued up the hill and around the next bend where I waited for the buckskin to return to his mark. The horse was impeccably groomed, his black points offsetting his golden brown coat, which glistened in the afternoon sun. He had a lovely head with a white star and an intelligent eye. He did not appear nervous, but alert and eager as he waited for his cue. It came after a minute or so, and his rider kicked him into a smart trot down the hill. I had just watched The Man From Snowy River (again) the night before and was reminded of the steep downhill descent on another buckskin. I watched them until they were out of sight and continued my uphill march.
Forty-five minutes later, Buster and I were headed back down the hill. The filmmakers were still at it, shooting a scene with the girl in white. I thought about approaching them but figured that—like countless aspiring filmmakers who, for many decades, have used Griffith Park as a location while building their reels—they didn’t have permits and might be reluctant to talk. I looked around for the buckskin, hoping to discover his name, but he was gone, probably back to his nearby barn. I wondered if he would ever “act” again, if he’d find his way into a feature film. I was comforted by the thought that if he did, he would never be trip-wired or overworked. If he didn’t continue his acting career, he had nevertheless left his faint hoofprints in the long history of the movie horse.
Sallie Gardner, The Horse in Motion by Eadweard Muybridge.
In Memoriam
The world has lost three of the most beloved equine actors since the publication of the first edition of Hollywood Hoofbeats in 2006. Hightower, star of The Horse Whisperer (1998), passed away in his California pasture on October 29, 2008. According to his owner/trainer, Rex Peterson, the versatile twenty-six-year-old sorrel gelding, whose career is highlighted in these pages, died peacefully of natural causes.
Less than a month later, on November 16, 2008, Billy Crystal’s beautiful horse Beechnut, from City Slickers (1991) and City Slickers 2 (1994), was humanely euthanized after an incurable infection invaded his liver. He was twenty-eight.
On March 27, 2013, trainer Bobby Lovgren lost his great buckskin trick horse, Houdini. Houdini’s many credits included The Mask of Zorro (1998), The Legend of Zorro (2005), in which he was dyed black for Antonio Banderas to ride, Seabiscuit (2003), in which he played a wild horse, Mirror, Mirror (2012), in which he was again dyed black to portray the prince’s horse, and The Lone Ranger (2013), in which he had memorable cameo (cited in these pages), again as a black. The twenty-six-year-old gelding suddenly colicked and was humanely euthanized after it was determined he would not survive surgery. Houdini was not just a partner in work, but a cherished member of the Lovgren family. Says Lovgren, “Every day he’s gone, I miss him more.”
Hightower takes a final bow for Rex Peterson.
Beechnut and his friend, Lisa Brown.
The Great Houdini.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the f
ollowing individuals for their generosity and invaluable contributions to Hollywood Hoofbeats:
Gini Barrett
Robert S. Birchard
Laurent Bouzereau
Shelley Boyle
Clair Brandt
Lisa Brown
Karla Buhlman
Polly Burson
Tap Canutt
Harry Carey, Jr.,
Marilyn Carey
Diana Serra Cary
Russ Case
Barbara Casey
Bernadine Cheviron
Victoria Countner
Robert Dalva
Neda Demayo
Steve Dent
Tim Farley
Marva Felchlin
Jay Fishburn
Rory Flynn
John Fusco
Alex Green
Douglas Green
Howard Green
Tad Griffith
Wendy Griffith
John Hagner
Donna Hall
Maxine Hansen
Heath Harris
Rusty Hendrickson
Walter Hill
Laura Hilllenbrand
Mary Hulett
Jeff Ikemiya
Suzy Jarratt
Herb Jeffries
Elizabeth Kaye-McCall
David Kiehn
Christine Kruger
Bruce Larsen
Kenneth Lee
Tim Lilley
Daryle Ann Lindley
Bobby Lovgren
Mario Luraschi
Manola Madrid
Frank Marshall
Michael McClean
Salome Milstead
Dorothy S. Mitchum
Georgia Morris
Len Morris
Viggo Mortensen
Selina Nelson
Barrie Osborne
Leo A. Pando
Mary Jane Parkinson
Melissa Paul
Rex Peterson
Mary Radford
Jacqueline Ramirez
Chuck Rand
Corky Randall
Joan Randall
Glenn Randall Jr.
Lynn Rawlins
Titus Reynolds
V. Lynn Reynolds
Dusty Rogers
Cheryl Rogers-Barnett
Karen Rosa
Joy Rose-Larsen
Gary Ross
Wilma Russell
John Scott
Michael Shamberg
Brooke Shannon
James Sherwood
Nancy Sherwood
James Gregory Simcoe
Packy Smith
Steven Spielberg
Quentin Tarantino
Caroline Thompson
Faye Thompson
Lillian Turner
Polly Ugland
Rudy Ugland
David Vidad
Marc Wanamaker
Graham Ware Jr.
Bruce Weber
Ray White
Jack Williams
Alan Young
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Photos
Marc Wanamaker, Bison Archives.
Michael McClean and Kelly Stewart.
John Fitzpatrick Photography.
The Museum of the American West, Autry National Center.
Everett Collection/Shutterstock.
Photo restoration by Howard and Jill Levine, CDS PhotoGraphics, © 2004 by The Autry Qualified Interest Trust and the Autry Foundation.
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
Robert S. Birchard and Packy Smith.
©1980 (MGM) Studios Inc., all rights reserved.
Library of Congress.
Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum.
Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody Wyoming.
ScreenSound Australia, the National Screen and Sound Archive.
Robert S. Birchard.
Diana Serra Cary.
Eddie Brandt’s Saturday Matinee.
Wilma Russell, Wilma Russell’s Western Classics.
Daryle Ann Lyndley.
Douglas Green.<
br />
Roy Rogers Museum.
Petrine Day Mitchum.
Corky Randall.
Jack Williams.
Tap Canutt.
John Hagner, Stuntmen’s Hall of Fame.
American Humane Association.
Kenneth Lee.
© Paramount Pictures, all rights reserved.
Rory Flynn Photography.
Bruce Larsen.
© Warner Brothers Entertainment, Inc., all rights reserved.
© Warner Brothers Entertainment, Inc., all rights reserved, image provided by AMPAS.
© Paramount Pictures, all rights reserved; image provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 85, 86 (left), 87
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. 86 (right), 89
© Disney.
U.S. Television Office, Inc., owner of Copyrights and Trademarks in and to the Hopalong Cassidy Motion Picture Film Library and the © 2003 Open Range Productions USA, Inc., photo by Chris Large.
Hopalong Cassidy character.
© Flying A Pictures, Inc.
Image provided by the International Museum of the Horse, Kentucky Horse Park.
© 2005 Bonanza Ventures, Inc./NBC Universal, all rights reserved.
© 1980 MGM Studios, Inc., all rights reserved; image provided by AMPAS.
Ernest Haas, image provided by Bison Archives.
Geoff Burrowes, © Snowy River Productions and courtesy of ScreenSound Australia, the National Screen and Sound Archive, Canberra.
© 1990 Tig Productions, Inc., all rights reserved.
John Scott Motion Picture Animals.
© The Weinstein Company.
© Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Jerry Bruckheimer, Inc. Photo by Peter Mountain.
Lisa Brown.
Tim Farley.
© 1943 Twentieth Century Fox, all rights reserved.
© 1983 MGM Studios Inc., all rights reserved.
© Disney, photo by David Gurr.
Randi Clark.
© Columbia Tristar Motion Picture Group, all rights reserved.
Photo from Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron TM & © 2002 DreamWorks LLC, reprinted with permission of DreamWorks Animation.
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