Synopsis
While traveling with his father, young Alec becomes fascinated by a mysterious Arabian stallion that is brought on board and stabled in the ship he is sailing on. When it tragically sinks both he and the horse survive only to be stranded on a deserted island. He befriends it, so when finally rescued both return to his home where they soon meet Henry Dailey, a once successful trainer. Together they begin training the horse to race against the fastest ones in the world.
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Cast
- Kelly RenoAlec Ramsey
- Mickey RooneyHenry Dailey
- Teri GarrAlec's Mother
- Clarence MuseSnoe
- Hoyt AxtonAlec's Father
- Michael HigginsNeville
- Ed McNamaraJake
- Doghmi LarbiArab
- Cass-OléThe Black Stallion
- John BurtonJockey #1
Recommendations
- 100
TV Guide Magazine
This touching and beautifully photographed, if slightly overlong, tale of a boy and his horse follows the escapades of young Alec Ramsey (Reno), who is traveling across the ocean with his father. - 100
Variety
The Black Stallion is a perfect gem. - 100
Boston Globe
Generations from now, when people talk about horse movies, they won't be talking about "National Velvet" or "My Friend Flicka," they'll be talking about the majestic beauty of Carroll Ballard's The Black Stallion. [07 Feb 1980] - 100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
The relationship between man and beast develops slowly and mystically - the island interlude, utterly without dialogue, lasts 50 minutes, and is one of the most sustained, lyrical, rapturous sequences in the history of motion pictures, a visual symphony whose beauty cannot be oversold. [15 Mar 1980] - 100
Chicago Sun-Times
The first hour of this movie belongs among the great filmgoing experiences. It is described as an epic, and earns the description. - 100
Washington Post
The Black Stallion is one of the few movies that justifies the word "sublime." It casts an immediate pictorial spell of wonder and discovery and sustains it until a fadeout that leaves you in a euphoric mood, lingering over images whose beauty and emotional intensity you want to prolong and savor. [9 Dec 1979, p.G1] - 90
Chicago Reader
The film represents a studied, sophisticated approach to instinctual emotions: it's carefully, calculatingly naive, and amazingly it works. - 90
Newsweek
Shot in stunning color by a gifted cinematographer named Caleb Deschanel, beautifully scored by Carmine Coppola in moods ranging from Arabian Nights impressionism to Wagnerian exaltation, the first hour of The Black Stallion is a state-of-the-art demonstration of film as a purely visual medium, a formal exercise that is nonetheless suffused with feeling. [29 Oct 1979, p.105]
