HIDALGO

Excellent movie, in my opinion. Rated PG-13 for "adventure violence and some mild innuendo", this movie is based on the real-life person named Frank T. Hopkins. Hidalgo is the horse Hopkins owned and rode through many great cross-country races, was a part of the Pony Express, and had numerous adventures mounted on Hidalgo.

Hidalgo was an American mustang. Hopkins entered him in the ultimate cross-country race - the Ocean of Fire. This was a race across the Arabian Desert. He ran against the top Arabian horses of the time and fought blinding sandstorms, waves of locusts, the grueling terrain, and the intense heat of the desert to win against these horses, the pride of the Arab nation at the time. The race was 3,000 miles, which would be intimdating in any century and using any mode of transportation!

Hopkins is played by Viggo Mortensen who also starred in Lord of the Rings. He fits very well into the saddle of the amazing and beautiful horse they used for this movie.

If you love horses and western style adventure stories, then you'll really love this movie as much as I do. And it is my understanding that Mortensen actually purchased the horse after filming because he is truly an amazing animal in real life as well as in the movie.

Technorati tags: horse, Hidalgo, Viggo Mortensen, desert