Fusco Fest - Hidalgo (2004)

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Welcome back midnight viewers to Fuseco fest. Oh man, it's been a minute, but now we're back. We're back in it, and I can't do it alone. I can't talk about John Fusco by myself. I need HP to do it with me.

You just go fest this back, father Malone. I'm so excited. What are we digging into today?

It's like spring break, man. I just want to fucking run around and drink beer from funnels and ride horses. That would be appropriate. What are we watching today? My god Man from March the fifth, two thousand and four, that was the release date, directed by Joe Johnston, written by John Fusco, starring Vigo Mortenson. Oh marsha reef, motherfuckers, this is Hidalgo.

My father was a cowboy scout and you fell in love with the chief's daughter, Mariner. I was never really sure where I'm a Sometimes I think the only one I can count on, I said, though I've done me proud partner.

Frank Hopkins and cauld all go or legends they've never lost a long distance race. Perhaps you have never heard of the Great Ocean of Fire, a three thousand mile race across the Arabian Desert.

Were betting on the last American cowboy. You think we got one more on us.

I'm greatly pleased that you've accepted my challenge.

What breed is your study?

Mustang? Mustang?

Also the ready Indiet small mixed blood.

Mixed mustangs don't belong in races with thoroughbreds.

You can say that you are about me. I'm do have to.

Ask you not to talk about my horse.

Maybe we should give you a headstuff.

I'm not here to insult anybody, sir, of course.

Ms the race touchtone pictures presents Your horse is too small, This land is too dangerous.

You are gambling with your very life.

The incredible true story of a man who went halfway around the world to find himself. The Indians of the West. Have you seen their vanishing kind, armor, kind and the friendship that inspired a legend?

And I'll go is the one who believes in you? Can you believe in yourself? Little wouldn't send.

I didn't get you into this, You got me into it.

HP.

Yeah, was this your first experience with Hidalgo?

This was the first time I saw it. In fact, I was in my mind. I thought this was a movie from the mid to late nineties. It had that feel to it. Maybe part of it is seeing that good old Touchstone Pictures logo at the beginning kind of put me in the mind of that. But yeah, this was my first I was surprised that this came out after Lord of the Rings, after Vigo Mortensen's star making turn as Aragorn. So I was shocked. I was shocked

I was a movie theater projectionist who showed this movie back in the day, back in two thousand and four. That's I was already in Las Vegas. So I was showing it at over at the Orleans back in the day, and because of that, I was convinced I had seen the movie. I had never seen this fucking movie. I couldn't believe I had never seen this movie. And now I remember building it up. I remember checking the cues and that the reels were all cut together, that the

I'm really shocked. I thought for sure that this was something you'd seen forever ago.

No, and shame on me, but I'm glad to have seen it for this And what was the story on this one? HP was the story of Hidalgo.

So the story of Hidalgo father alone is an interesting one now here. As I recall, Disney got into a little bit of hot water about how they marketed this movie. This movie was marketed as being based on a true story,

Are it's three thousand miles. It's three thousand miles on horseback through the most inhospitable territory you could possibly imagine. This is a desert race. The race itself is called the Ocean of Fire.

Yeah, sh of Fire. See. The problem though, is that very little of this is verifiable in real life. There's from what I gathered, there's precious little evidence that Frank Hopkins actually did. I don't even think this race truthfully actually existed. It did.

They just didn't have a fanciful name for it.

They didn't have a name for it. But the I think part of what doomed this movie originally, and maybe part of the reason why I wasn't that enthused at the time, was because there was such a backlash against this movie. I don't know if you recall for them alone but it was almost immediately slammed as how could you say this is based on a true story. This guy, Frank Hopkins was nothing but a charlatan or somebody who made up all of these things like a Baron Munchausen

I would invite everyone to watch any biographical pick from Time immemorial. Go back and watch Yankee Doodle Dandy and tell me how much of that was true? You morons?

Well, I think if the Internet existed back then, they probably would have been debating the merits of Yankee Doodle Dandy excellent.

I do you know?

I know that that The backlash was so fierce that years later, John Fusco himself created a website, or at least contributed to a website which aimed to clap back at all of those people who said that it wasn't true. He had interviews with people who actually knew Frank Hopkins, and what is not what is not in dispute, is that the man was an incredible advocate for the much as John Fusco is, and he did do a lot of these horse races. He was known as a stellar

Yeah see, I thought, I know that. I never saw the movie before because in my mind this was a movie about a guy who enters a camel race with a horse. I could not be more off the fact that these were all horses racing. I was like, I was stunned. I was like, where are the camels? I remember this having camels. Maybe there is a movie out there about a horse racing and a camel race that I've confused with Hidalgo. But yes, HP, I do remember all the controversy at the time, and who gives a shit?

I will go ahead and quote Roger Ebert's review of the movie, and I think this he's speaking for all of us spotting alone. The final line of his review is, and please ignore any tiresome scolds who complain that the movie is not really based on fact. Duh, And that's it. I basically he's doing the William Shatner Get a Life with You people, because it's beside the point. Is the movie fun? Did it transport you? Was it exciting? Was

What's to think of the movie?

I liked it. I liked it. I having said that, I don't I didn't think it was a perfect movie by any means that there were issues that I had with it, but overall I really liked it. I kind of wish there was more of the horse racing that gets a little derailed in the middle third of the movie, but look, it's Joe Johnston Number one. I love and I know you do. I love Joe Johnston. We're talking the Rockets here, We're talking Captain America. This guy knows how to shoot an old timey film serial.

I think, oh my god, y absolutely, if you want something nostalgic, call Joe Johnson, because not only is he going to give you the nostalgia, he's gonna do it stylishly. HP. In the run up to watching this movie for this podcast, I actually avoided any information. I mean, I knew John Fusco wrote it. I knew Vigo is starring in it, and Amarsha Reef is in it, and I knew the basics of the plot and everything, but the actual minutia of who made the movie I didn't know. And there

The vibe I got from it. Not to make a direct comparison, but it felt at times like Raiders of Lost Arc the original Raiders, because it really is at times a real swashbuckling type of adventure, which I really liked about it, and I think Joe Johnston placed with strengths there.

Not only that as far as the sort of this movie delivering what you're not expecting, because I did get that vibe a lot the writers of Lost Arc vibe anytime it gets into a sort of rip rower and action adventury kind of situation. It Look, you know, Joe Johnson did Jumanji as well, so that's if you know he did The Rocketeer like this is, that's who we're talking about. If you haven't seen Hidalgo, so you know that he can sort of deliver it in that regard.

We're we talk about Joe Johnston and how he how he delivers on a lot of different levels.

Oh ok, yeah, not only that, So not only is Joe Johnson doing that, and well he's delivering what he always does. But this script was constantly defying my expectations. Man, this script is a lot of story. This is a two hour and fifteen minute movie, and I honestly did not feel it first of all, which is the hallmark of any good movie when you don't know the passage of time and it's freighted with a lot of emotion. Man, like the opening of this movie, now we said it

Gay exactly, but it's also freighted with the idea that he is much like we talked about Thunderheart previously, he is all you find out that he is also half

Good looking guy who is a good looking guy.

The actor's name is David mid Thunder, which I'm sure will be familiar to you father alone, because he is Amber mid Thunder's father. Amber mid Thunder, of course, the badass Naarou in the incredible movie Prey, the Predator sequel that basically redefined the series. Isn't that cool?

It's a fucking dynasty. I love it is.

Yeah. The second I saw his name and his surname, I said, I wonder if he's related to Amber mid Thunder, And sure enough, he's her father.

I thought that was the Barrymore's, the Arquettes, the mid Thunders.

Indeed, where were we?

Oh?

Oh okay, yeah, listen that Fusco was able to sort of sneak in the Wounded Knee massacre in what is promised to be just a rollicking, old fashioned adventure across the desert is remarkable. And not only that he then follows it up with not only the character is now broken drunken period that he needs to be pulled out of that's sort of typical of any story like this, but he puts him in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West

I love that. First of all, we have to mention obviously that JK. Simmons is playing Buffalo Bill Cody. I didn't know that he was in this movie either, and I said, this is every new little tidbit that I'm watching, I'm going I love this fucking movie even more and more. But the way that that is depicted and written that like you said, he's doing penance every single night, and

That was Floyd Red Crow Westerman.

By the way, as from the Doors, he was the shaman in the.

Doors, He absolutely was. He was. Yeah, he was the great Okay, yeah, so that was him. Also in I agree Buffalo Bill Cody's being performed by JK. Simmons. Is there never a role or is there ever a time when JK. Simmons shows up in a role where you don't immediately think, oh, perfect.

He's amazing, and I just the fact. I mean, I know he was in OZ. I didn't watch OZ, but I know that was his big star making role. That must have already been what that was probably the early two thousands also, But frankly, I wasn't that aware of him.

I was the nineties. He was already j Jonah Jamison by now.

Oh Spider Man, of course, but it's just I was so because he's now, He's JK. Simmons. He's a big deal, so to speak. So it was really a delight to see him and others in this movie. But you're right, he just brings so much to every role. He's fantastic, whether it's something more sinister or someone more open hearted, he can do it all.

I want to say that before we move on past the opening scene, because this is just all sort of prologue to the actual race. But playing Annie Oakley here was Elizabeth Barridge, who if eagle eye viewers would recognize her as Costanza or Stanzi from Amadeus, which he's so young and adorable in, and then she ended up as that girl on Night Court, you know, the bailiff, the bailiff with bull, the sort of pinched face kind of girl.

Wow. Wow, I didn't put that together. That's amazing. The original Night Court.

Yeah, that was Elizabeth Barridge. Geez, what happened to Elizabeth Barrett? She was fucking I don't know, man.

And she's really good in this.

She's gray here.

She's not in it a ton. This is, as you said, this is all prologue to getting us to the race. But everybody up to this point, even somebody who's in it just a little bit like her, it's fantastic. They this movie is just stocked with great character actors.

Now, speaking of prologue and character actors. Before we even got here, before we get to Wounded Me, we're introduced to Frank Hopkins in a race where he's racing a particular dandy I love this by the name of Preston Webb, that's the character's name. Who's all you know, a spit and polish and how dare you say? Your mixed race? Hoss played by c Thomas Howell.

He's where did he come from?

Where you see? Where did he come from? He's grained here. It's so jarring that he's here that I thought, clearly he's going to be in the rest of the movie. No, that's the one scene.

I had the same reaction because it's essentially like a glorified cameo. He only has maybe two lines and a little bit of a dust up in a bar with Frank Hopkins where he gets his ass kicked, basically, but that's it. But it made me think, is there a connection? Is there some did he work with Joe Johnson or somebody else previously? And this was like his hey little cameo,

Oh, come on a couple of years from from this, he would be helping Spider Man in The Amazing Spider Man.

I just I was delighted because, like you grew up with so many movies that he was in The Outsiders obviously that was the big one. So it was kind of it was jarring, and I had this the exact same reaction. I said, Okay, this is going to be one of Frank Hopkins antagonists. Nope, He's in it for about five minutes and he's gone onto the next adventure.

Indeed. But and okay, so you mentioned it that this movie is predicated on a slight basically that the claim has gone out that Frank Hopkins horse is the fastest and longest distanced running horse in the world, and a chic around the world has taken umbrage with this and has invited him to join the race and prove it. Put up her shot up. Basically, it's one thousand dollars basically and a thousand silver coins with one hundred thousand dollars perse so the all of the wild West show

He does?

He even have a credit for them.

Alone as major devintort. Oh, hello, Vigo Mortenson, how are Yeah? That's my Malcolm mcdowald pression.

It's very good.

It is.

Well, So he's on the ship, he's en route to Africa, and some of the crew are taunting or basically taunting at his horse and haunting.

They're like kind of giant stick and they're like menacing it, and they're all like ringed around the pen and like taunting it, like fucking swatting at it.

Ah, they're poking him. And I will not stand for animal abuse of any kind. So I'm already on Hidalgo's side in a big way. But his so Major Davenport's wife, Lady Davenport, who becomes who figures very prominently in the main story, breaks up the fight, and that's how he ends up meeting Major Davenport, and they have a nice little tete a tet.

They're horse traders, as it turns out, but they are competing in the race as well. And yeah, Lady Davenport, let's talk about Lady Davenport. Who's the actress. Let me find her name, Louise Lombard as Lady and the Davenport apparently was on CSI for a couple of years, the actual cs I, but that was the show I checked out, and as soon as William Peterson was gone, so was I.

She looked exceedingly familiar to me, but I did not watch CSI, nor could I really associate any of her credits to something that I would have known her. She's very good in this, though, I will say, for somebody who has a bit of a hidden agenda, I think she plays it really well.

Deceiver. You can tell she's a deceiver right from the beginning.

Yeah, well, somebody anyone who wears as many veils and weird hat things that drape across her eyes. I think that's Joe Johnston signaling us without telling us that this person has a veiled agenda, so to speak.

She has many secrets. Okay, Now, look, here's where we meet our other major star in the movie. Although we keep meeting major stars and like not to discount JK. Simmons and or C. Thomas Howe and or fucking well, we're talking about O Marsherive. He does dwarf. It's gone damned.

Omar Sharif, Oh yeah, I mean the man is larger than life. That phrase is so overused, but in this case it's completely warranted.

Doctor Javago, for God's sake, Lawrence of Arabia, Omar Sharif, the thirteenth Warrior, Omar Sharif, world.

Class bridge player. Omar Sharif so good father Malone. He had his own computer game called Omar Sharif on Bridge in nineteen ninety two. It actually featured him narrating the game that you play, so it would say, like, you know, he would say, bidding goes to the North, and then you would play it, and then if you did good, he would say that was a good play.

Wow.

Badly he would say, oh, tough break or something like that. But he was That was his big passion in life, and that's something that he was kind of known for outside of acting. Did you know that he was a world class bridge player.

I had no idea. I just know he was devastatingly handsome.

He was the man. The man had it, that's for sure. They're not many like him at all.

The it's factor. And now I'm going to tell my I don't have a story about him, but I have a story of him. When they're filming Lawrence of Arabia, the big no prisoners charging the train sequence, Oh Marsh Reif went to Peter O'Toole and said, I'm really nervous about that. So I've had myself tied to my saddle and Peter O'Toole said, oh, I'm just getting drunk, and Oh Marsh said, oh, I'm already drunk.

Are there any bad Peter O'Toole stories. Don't they all elicit some kind of laughter, Father Malone? Isn't that the point of these stories?

They do? But there is an expiration date on that kind of behavior that's acceptable and such, you know what I mean, Like those old hard drinking English guys like Oliver Reed and Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton, like those fuckers, you know, the oh my god, Richard Button is drunk, you know that, Like those old stories like you know, oh, you know, we had an intermission, we'd run over to the pub. But those we don't want those stories anymore. Stop doing this.

Sure we're more enlightened as a society. But having said that, you know, yeah, I guess the expiration would be probably what maybe the eighties, maybe after that it was a little sad to be in that sort of company. But before that, in the golden age of Hollywood, that was Cachet right there.

Another thing about Omar Shariff I'd like to point out, just because I recently was doing a twenty thousand leagues under the Sea or Beneath the Sea deep dive because of the new show Nautilus, and Omar Shariff was the first person to play the character of Captain Nemo of Middle Eastern descent. Everyone else was white before him, and that was only in the mysterious Island in nineteen seventy two.

On a related note, Bother Moline, can I ask you a question.

Yes, struggled with this a little bit.

I might have just been a little over sent. But when we get to when we get to the race and Hawkins meets the chic of Chichs and his whole corterie of helpers and servants and what have you, how did you feel about it? Did it did you think that the ethnic stuff was handled well? Did you feel uncomfortable uncomfortable about it? Did you feel like it was ripped? How did you feel about the representation given that it was back in two thousand and four. I'm just curious what your thoughts were.

Oh, I thought it was pretty even handed, to be honest with you, I think like most of your skots things. Even if I had a question about it, I know that guy's intentions. Maybe that's coloring it a little bit, but I didn't find anything untoork. The only time I kind of winced during this movie was when the ghost dance figures showed back up. But at least that was a fucking hallucination of a man in the middle of a desert who had been racing for twenty five hundred miles.

True, and that kind of I put that in the same case category as Thunderheart, where he kind of hallucinates or sees his elders. That's I was a little uncomfortable with that for much the same reason. But I just

What was bothering you about their portrayal of Omar Sharif and his harem.

Oh hang One second, Oh, sorry about that. I heard a door open. I thought someone was coming into the house, but it was Sam coming up from downstairs. What was it? It wasn't necessarily like I said. It could have been just me being very sensitive to this after having gone through a few of these movies and thinking about in those terms, And to be honest, I didn't do enough research into the actual ethnicity of some of the actors

Elmar Sharif is Egyptian.

It definitely I was concerned at times that maybe it's playing into the stereo type of these sort of Arabs as being very ruthless and warlike and stop at nothing kind of thing. That's what got me a little bit. And I can't say how much of that might have been true for the time, or how much of that was ginned up just for this movie. That's what I struggled with a little bit.

I found no I found no truck with that. But you know, I found Fusco's motivations to be above board, and.

I think his intentions are all making a mistake. I don't think his intentions are ever anything but pure and honest, and I think any shortcomings that I felt are of the time. So it's not like this discussion there's there's an easy answer to any of this. I just was just curious about your impressions of it as you were

That's true. Okay, listen, where was I going somewhere?

So we're where I'm going?

All right? Yeah, Oh, I wanted to talk about the villain for a bit. Oh wait, god, no, wait, what was I gonna say? Shit, I don't know.

Can we talk about let's do this. Can we talk about the horse for a minute.

Oh my god, let's talk about the horse. Let's talk about horses in general. Let's talk about mustangs.

Yes, I As I mentioned earlier, Fusco. When you look into Fusco's history and his socials and so forth, you will see that there is probably no bigger advocate for the good treatment of horses and the resettlement of wild mustangs in particular than John Fusco. And I think that's very well reflected in this movie.

Oh there's a deep love of the animal obviously that you know. You often say, like you know that the animal is like a major character, but it really is in this case. Like, was this just one horse? I didn't do any research at all. Is this just one horse?

It's several. Actually, I did a little bit of research. The only reason I know that it was several because I know after the fact that Vigo Mortensen adopted one of the horses that portrayed Hidalgo, and also John Fusco himself resettled. I don't know if he owned it and then but it brought it to some farm or something. But both horses were basically adopted by both Vigo and John Fusco. But they however, they however many horses there were.

There are.

Yeah, and he's giving these looks when things happen story beats, the horse gives a look, which I some of that is context, of course, but the way they got this horse to react and the way that Frank Hopkins treats the horse, because he most often calls the horse brother and I love yeah, Yeah, it's so sweet the relationship between the two of them because they need each other ultimately, and the way they got this horse or horses to act in the picture is really phenomenal.

Yeah, there is at no point in this movie did I feel a presence of a trainer off camera? And too often you see that in a movie with animals. At one point you're gonna you're gonna feel like, oh, somebody's shaking something or calling or just to the left of the lens. But here it felt like a fucking performance. It felt like he was an actor in there, mixing it up. I'm sure he improv some of his lines.

The horse. They the horse does so much that I began to be a little fearful, wonder just how they got this horse to perform, Like is it a mister ed situation where they're electrocuting this poor horse to get him to do things. But the fact that John fusc goes involved, and also Vigo Mortenson in particular, gave me all the faith I needed to know that these animals were treated humanely on this set. So frankly, I don't know how they got the horse to do it other than it's a really good actor.

God bless it. Speaking of good actors, let's talk about the villain right now, katib He of the long and Pointy Beard, Silas Carson. Listen up, nerds, I love this.

This is another great trivia bit, go for it.

Eh Silas Carson, who is the villain of this piece overall, happens to be a sitting member of the Gedi Council. He was Kayati Mundy in all three Star Wars prequels. He remember when he gets betrayed in in in Revenge of the Sith, when his guards turn on him, He's like running with him and he stops. He's like, where are you guys? And then they fucking shoot him. Fuck those Imperial motherfuckers.

He's really good in this The fact that he could portray this villain someone who is basically twirling their mustache. He could have been twirling his mustache at many points in this movie, but yet he is this iconic Jedi from the prequel trilogy. I was like, Bravo, whatever your This actor's name is are Silas What was his last name?

Carson?

Carson wonderful. I think he's done a lot of voiceover work for video games and that sort of thing. I just think he's a really versatile actor.

Oh hey, listen up, nerds. He's the voice of the Oode in Doctor Who. You gotta be super nerdy to know that. One. Yeah, theme as a villain is great. I loved him. This was a villain I wanted to die. That doesn't happen often with movies for me anymore. And now I'm just like, can we all just get along By the end of the movie, this guy was like, you need to fucking go. Man.

It was really brutal too. That the whole sequence where he spoiler alert. Obviously anyone who comes into these things, Father Milon should understand there's a spoiler alert blanketed across this.

Well, it's definitely starting now because we're kind of in the end of the movie here, we're not wrapping up, but we got to talk about this because it's kind of vitally important and incredibly violent and yet somehow appropriate.

So it's the closing sort of reaches of the race and he so the villain's motives. First of all, let's say what he wants. Let's kind of give a little bit of a clue there. So he is the nephew of the sheik of sheikhs. He's the nephew of Omar

That's what Alhatal is the name of the horse, by the way, big prize for the Sheikh and for all for all of his relatives.

And that's where Lady Davenport figures into this also because initially she's she has her own horse that's racing, but she's actually find out that she's actually in cahoots with Katib because he if she wins the race, she her horse will be able to breed with Al Hatal and that's the only way that she can get her hands

Oh god, yeah, it's the worst.

It's so the horse and Frank Go fall into this

It looks completely photorealistic. I've never felt so bad for an animal in a movie as during this sequence.

Really sad. But that's that leads eventually to Katib's down.

No no, no, wait, Before that, they get out of that fucking pit, and at a certain point, Frank Hopkins is deciding whether or not to kill Hidalga. Yes, hul he's got the fucking revolve. Is it a revolver?

Right? No?

It a knife?

Well, no, he has the knife. He uses the knife to remove the spike from his his flank, but then he pulls out his revolver and.

He and at that point HB I didn't know if Hidalgo was going to live or die, and I've never when listen, this might be some sort of manipulative thing. But as soon as he was saved, I fucking cried my eyes out, just in absolute relief that Hidalgo was going to continue to live.

It was. It was so incredible because I don't know if it was the actual horse or what but as he's so, Frank is basically talking to the horse and effectively telling him like we've had a great run, but I'm sorry I have to do this. And it's wrenching, and the horse is on the ground looking at trying to look at Frank as he's saying this, and it's it rips your heart out because you're like, he's about to put a bullet in this poor horse's brain. Horse

There's probably a far less a problem that here.

To your point, I guess you could make the case that he was literally hallucinating because of dehydration and everything else.

They but Joe Johnson literally turned them into mirages. They are shimmering in the heat, these Native American spirits.

Yeah. I just the fact that I don't know if

He know he did, and that is one of the FUSCO facts that was confirmed that he was in fact half half Lakota.

Suit That's fine, then I will then, I you know what, I'll take back my criticism then, because I was afraid that might have been something that was invented to connect him with this whole Native American lore. But if that's the case, then I guess I will give it a pass. You're right though, the initial wave of tribesmen that surround him are But at the same time, when his mother appears to him with him in tow, that's not so Miraji. That looks like she's standing right there in front of him,

Here, man, a ghost dance is asking your ancestors for help. That's all he's doing right now.

That's fair. I'll put it aside.

I guess come on, that was listened. His name is Vigo Mortensen and he's from Sweden or something.

But it's okay, but you know, but it's fine. But anyway, that gets you to the sort of the swelling moment where Hidalgo finds the strength despite this grievous injury too, because it's really his decision to keep racing. If it was up Frank, he would have said, that's it, I'm done. But Hidalgo standing up in the face of such a grave injury to his flank was incredible. And I don't know, I just like I said, I can't say enough good things about the horse that portrayed Hidalgo, but it's fantastic.

But all of that leads to a moment where we would get Katib himself standing on one of these pungy traps but it hasn't broken through. It's one of these don't move kind of situation. And then Frank takes a rope and throws it to him, and I thought, at that moment, you know what, he is a decent guy. I guess he is going to save Katib here, and instead he has lassoed a piece of that pungy flooring and rips it off, so he immediately plunges in. It is fucking impaled.

Yeah, it's and he has one of those sort of Schwarzenegger lines. Afterwards, he says something like, don't never hurt my horse, and then he rips it and the guy falls in the part of the reason why you think he going to save the guys because just prior to that. So in this race we should mention you are forbidden to help any of the other racers. That's you know, if you see someone go down and their life is in jeopardy, you're supposed to just keep on going there,

I love that guy with his falcon, Like, what what a great bunch of supporting characters in this race. Man, if at some point Burt Reynolds and Don Delawa's drove in the background in a fucking ambulance, that it wouldn't it wouldn't have been out a character Captain Chaos.

There's a by the way, there's a great moment where it's right after Hawkins has reached this camp and all the racers are gathering it. He wakes up in the morning and there's I think it's a rabbit start to dart across the sort of prairie or whatever, and he takes out his gun because he's gonna shoot it and eat it for dinner, and out of fucking nowhere, that falcon that this guy has had on his wrist for a while like just darts down and fucking kills that rabbit,

Played by Will Forte, the falconer.

Good call. At a certain point, falcon guys is racing and he falls into what amounts to it's not it's kind of like quicksand in the desert. It's this big, muddy, boggy area where arrow falls in its harrowing.

Harrowing sequence.

Brother, because not only is he you know, he's falling into this thing, but it's hot, it's like hot mud, and you can tell that it's burning him as he's sitting in this thing. Anyway, Frank hop happens upon him and it's nice time and the guy says, just leave me. You don't rescue me, just put me out of my misery. But Frank, being a decent guy, he throws a rope in, pulls him out, and kind of nurses him back to

Here's one other aspect of this movie that I absolutely loved, which is as soon as he gets to the beginning of the race, he is assigned a squire. Basically some of too teach him the ways of teach him the local customs and the ways of the race and tips. Basically, he's going to be like Mickey in Rocky's Corner. This is his guy. His character is named Usef and he's

Yeah, from the very beginning, the moment he meets him, all this guy does is tell him how arduous this trip is going to be, this race, and all the reasons why he will never make it, why he shouldn't even start to begin with. And that basically continues throughout the movie until the eventual conclusion, which I guess we won't spoil just yet. But yeah, he's that character is hilarious.

It reminds me of and it came later than this movie. I talk about the movie maybe too much, but Walk hard the relationship between Dewey Cox and his first wife, Kristen Wigg, where every conversation is her telling him that he's never gonna make it, so like he'll call and she's like, hey, honey, I can't really talk right now. By the way, you're never gonna make it click.

Yeah, it's really good and it's I don't know, I just I the movie does have a lot of heart. It has a lot of humor. There's a lot of action too, but a lot of the humor is because

That once again expectation versus reality. Given the trailer for this movie, I thought this was effectively a family movie, which it kind of is, But nevertheless it's not because this movie never pulls punches, not in any of these sequences, including the opening fucking massacre at wounded 'n He, and then it never what's crazy is what we're describing sounds like the ridious movie of all time, but it somehow manages to also be this rollicking, old fashioned family flick.

It is, and actually, come to think of it, I actually agree. I'm not sure if my kids were younger that I would have them. It's kind of a family picture in the way that Temple of Doom. I guess if you think you know about it in a certain way,

Or child slavery for that matter of course. But Don Marapis, by the way, was the name of the falconer. That's the actor who played Sucker.

Ah. Okay, there's a few, but shockingly everybody who kind of comes out to help Hidalgo, not the Shekh, because the Sheikh is there through the whole movie. But there's at one point, and this was maybe one of my other big problems with this picture of Father Malone is that I wanted, I said earlier, I wanted more of

I think if you're talking about it in a hindsight way and coupling with the lack of race, because I do agree with you, the one thing this movie is lacking is more of the race. Ordinarily, I would never be saying that in a movie about race. I'd be saying, let's race, give me some more character. In this case, not there not that they skimp on the race at all.

So yeah, it was sort of necessary in a way because initially the Sheikh has a sort of a jaundice view of Frank, and in fact, later his daughter visits Frank in his tent and that's a big no no. And when he's discovered. Actually, and this is another kind of horrifying bit of a movie, the penalty that Frank incurs upon himself is basically he's to be gelded like a horse.

Basically, they're going to cut his balls off, and they have even little utensils that are ball shaped. This is not the first time this is.

And that's really uncomfortable to watch anyway, and you I know as a viewer it's not going to come to that. But basically this is he has this penalty and inflicted upon him, and then this raid happens in the midst of all of this, and that is what allows the Sheikh to bargain with Frank to say, look, if you can bring my daughter back before the next night fallo or what have you, I will not you will not be punished for this slight but the punishment is still

And Vigo fucking sells it.

Matt.

Yeah, let's talk.

About Vigo martins In for a second, shall way. Vigo Martinsen, coming off of the Lord of the Rings movies, chooses this as his big Hollywood think this one hundred a million dollar movie it getting made without Vigo martins and I don't think.

And he's so good in it, it's hard for me to imagine anybody else who could really pull off that. The soulfulness of Frank Hopkins, the guilt that he carries, and the really the plain spokenness of the character. There's one hundred percent no subterfuge with the character of Frank Hopkins. Here.

Of mustang to get the plot in motion.

There was nothing. It didn't make sense to me why

So let's face it, it's the fucking horse that won the race, so it really.

He owes it to the horse to do this, and in fact he sets hid I'll go free at the end too, which is a wonderful moment. But my point is in saying all of this, is that the character is so pure and true, and not that he doesn't have, you know, an edge to him, and not that he doesn't have flaws and foibles. But like I said, I don't know anybody who could really pull off the character with all of those shadings like Vigo Mortensen does.

This is our second tangle with mister Martinson and mister Fusco in our Fusco Fest. He was John W. Poe back in Young Guns two, a like the most tonic of the Western characters in that movie. I think I said it then too, like Young Guns One's Dirty Steve and Young Guns too. It's definitely John W. Poe. He's great there, He's fucking great here. He did a movie with Ed Harris a few years later called Apple Lusa. I encourage everyone to see that because he's even better there somehow.

Well, don't forget about him in a History of Violence. He's amazing. He's amazing and everything he does.

I was talking about his Western performances. Thank you, Sorry you had to go on David Cronenberg. But he's the guy, remember him in the Eastern Eastern Promises. It was with his dick out.

Ve Go's the man. He's awesome, man.

I met him once at a diner in Santa Monica.

Did you really was he just kind of a schlump? I imagine him very schlumpy and kind of hey, what's going on?

Man?

Yeah? It was. He was very hippyish with kind of a beard. Well it was the early nineties too, by the way, so it wasn't like he was Eric yet.

Well he and he also had a very heavy spoken word thing going on for a while, So the hippie thing makes perfect sense.

Oh yeah, he was with Exene Cervenka at the time.

Oh, they probably performed together. I know they. I think

Man, I love Viego Martins, and there was such a decency in there. And when he's playing just a decent fella without any agenda, you really feel how good a person can be. Kind of weird to say, but like, like, I don't he seems he can make himself seem innocent. I guess it is my point, and that doesn't seem possible when you look at that man.

It's a rare quality and I think it's one that serves him well in this part in particular, because you have to root for this guy. You want to root for him, and the way that the character. Look the fact that he's talking to his horse and calling him a little brother, and all this sort of stuff could on paper sounds a little goofy, but man does he sell it, him and the horse both. But he sells it.

I do want to say one thing before we start wrapping things up. Okay, One time I had a gig in Denver, Colorado. So I had to drive from Las Vegas to Denver, which means you're driving through the mountains. And at one point I went through basically a tunnel and into like a cavernous valley where directly across from me, across from the road, there was a river. And then on the other side of the river a train was

It's shocking because they the movie. The PostScript of the movie makes mention to the fact that Hidalgo's forebears or whatever, the children, grandchildren and so on Hidago are still alive and still running free in this area of the car. And look at you and I were raised on the East Coast. There ain't no mustangs around here. The closest we can see is maybe, I don't know, a coyote or something like prowling around. There's not a lot of wild animals that can shock and surprise us and fill

There's a reason that car is named Mustang, because it's fucking awesome. Because mustangs are fucking awesome.

They are, But again, how do mustang How do wild mustangs wild horses survive.

Where they drink? They drink water from the stream and then they eat the hay that grows naturally.

I mean, do ranchers like take on mustangs and just I don't know, Like, is there any benefit to having a mustang that you don't train to be a riding horse?

I think you should just let them be themselves and there and doing their thing. I don't want anyone jumping on a fence and putting a saddle on me and saying, now you're my horse. I have a question for you, HB. Is this the best horse movie you've ever seen? If not, which is.

That's a good question that begs the response, what other horse movies have I seen?

The Black Stallion?

No? I never saw it?

Wow?

Really I saw that movie in the theater twice.

No.

I remember the commercials on TV, but it wasn't something that I was clamoring to see.

Wait, why do you think of that? I'd like to say Earlier I mentioned that the sort of advertising this movie convinced me it was a children's movie. It also convinced me that a good portion of this movie was going to be spent during a sandstorm where has been sequence lasted about two minutes.

Yeah, and that also features some of the awful special effects. I have to say it. We didn't talk about it yet. Some of the effects in this movie are abysmal, and they all have to do with computer generated the state of the art at the time. There's the sandstorm, which looks terrible. There's at one point Katigue as part of his trap to kill Hidalgo, he releases two leopards into

Disagree. I loved it. Yeah, okay, oh yeah, I was in for penny, in for a pound, and you know what, it was never going to look real unless they were actually having those animals, and it was never going to happen.

It felt a little bit like, no, like Gladiator, well when they released the lions and stuff.

But not that bad man, come on, No.

No, not that bad. But an answer to your question, it's it's up there with my favorite horse movies. I think probably Seabiscuit is somewhere in there. I remember liking that very much when I saw it. That was a long time ago. But I can't and I can't think of too many right now. Secretariat I never saw. I don't know what's your favorite horse movie? Fathom Alone.

Well, I actually do have a soft spot for The Black Stallion because it is so melancholy, and you know, me, hb if a movie's out to press a young child, then it was specifically made for me.

They're bless the beasts than children.

Oh my god, there you go. That's a good, good horse movie. Thoroughbreds. That's a really good horse movie. Okay, horses are tangential almost to the plot of that movie, but nevertheless, that's probably my favorite movie involving horses. Let me think. I do not like any version of Oh never mind, I'll tell you what, man. Yeah, you're about to say, war Horse, Oh boy, war Horse. Where was the war.

Spielberg? I don't know. I never saw that one either.

Oh I saw that in the theater. Man, I was wildly disappointed. It really is the story of that horse.

Yeah, siading detail, I'm sure, but yeah, this is I would look put it this way. This is probably top three in my favorite horse movies that I can think of right now on the top of my head.

What's the name of that Bob kat Goldthwaite horse movie.

Oh? Is that not Let It Ride?

No, that's the Richard Dreyfuss horse movie. Is it, by any chance called Hot to Trot?

I think you might be right.

Oh, you know what, you know what you know? It was a pretty goddamn good movie involving horses recently. No, what's that the Oh?

Yeah, the the Jordan Peele movie. Yeah, that's a that great call for them alone.

Yeah, great Collins. It shouldn't have taken us this long movie's like five years old.

Well it didn't, It didn't. I mean, that's a UFO movie or you know, the First and foremost horses. It figures into the plot, but it's not. It didn't come top of mind. But you're right, that is a good horse movie. Hot to Trot was the name of that movie, by.

The way, ridiculous.

Yeah, he was a voice of the horse.

Right, he's in the movie with the horse. The horse is voiced by John Candy.

That's right. I thought it was the reverse.

That actually mean, you know what you're saying makes sense given how weird bobcats vocal range was at that moment.

Yeah, oh that was a that's a that was a bad run for John Candy.

Rest in Peace, deliriously bad.

Yeah that's but you know what though, if someone like Eugene Levy can have like a second act and you remember Armed and Dangerous that was a movie he did with John Candy. Yeah, terrible, but he can you know, he can be such a respected actor. Now this room for everybody.

Oh, John Candy was well on his way. I point everyone to JFK. His sequences so fucking good man. He was poised to be a really good dramatic actor. Yeah, that's a damn shame dance all over your head, Jimbo cock that doodle, dude.

But you could say there's a lot of great performances in JFK that begs its own episode.

I think, oh my, do we dare?

I would love I would love to talk.

JFK for Do you know that I saw that movie in Las Vegas while I was still living in Los Angeles?

Did you really? It was along? It was ninety two, right two? Good movie? I am an anyway, go ahead.

Thank you once again, Midnight viewers for joining us here at fuse Go Fest. We've got more fuse Go on the way. We've got several options. We've got kung Fu, We've got martial arts flicks coming, We've got Highwaymen on the Way and others. Until then, HP, where can people find you? If they're looking for you? And they are you all right? They keep telling.

Me that remains to be seen. I co host the Night Mister Walters Taxi podcast with my esteemed co host right here across from me, father alone. I'm also an occasional guest on the Culture Cast with Chris Dashu, and I also host the Noise Donkeys music podcast. Finally, I have a band campsite hpmusicplace dot bandcamp dot com.

As for me, you're listening to it midnight viewing. Although I've got a couple of irons in the fire HP. Later this year, Paul Waller from his podcast to A Year in Horror and I are teaming up to do a show called A Little Old Lady Got Mutilated Late last night. We're looking at Werewolf movies that'll start later this year, so look out for that. Also look out for our first live show October fourth and fifth at the Silverton Casino at the Nightmare in Vegas Convention and

Why do I feel that you truly see me.

When others do not? Horse glaves. Even a plan man can see that you're beautiful, Sis London,