Hand-me-down horse story about a Texas cow pony named "Sylvester Stallone" at an Olympic equestrian event in Lexington, Ky. There is always, of course, a new generation of horse lovers who didn't see National Velvet or else can't see around its datedness. Even the present generation, however, ought to have been able to see International Velvet, which got first dibs on the subject of Olympic equestrianism. And in any case there is plenty here, too, that can't be seen around. An untried horse, no matter how natural a "leaper," is harder to accept in dressage than in a flat-out hoof-race, as in The Black Stallion. The horse here, or anyway his relationship to the teenage heroine, is not characterized very well; and the actual competition lacks a sense of competition. But the heroine's expertise at the outset ("There isn't a horse in the world I can't gentle") avoids some possible boredom, as do some other, rather hard-to-follow shortcuts. And the Texas milieu, where the movie spends most of its time and never should have left, is relaxed and comfortable -- although the photography, even out of doors in fullest sunlight, has a dark, roasted look that obscures faces and other details. Melissa Gilbert and Richard Farnsworth, what you can see of them, are very appealing. Directed by Tim Hunter. (1985) — Duncan Shepherd
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