The Black Stallion

A ship goes down. The boy and the Arabian horse kept chained aboard wash up on the same island. What follows is almost wordless: the boy tries to feed the horse, the horse will not come near, and eventually they get used to each other. Rescue does not make the return easy; in the city the horse is only a racing animal. The subject is not racing but a bond formed without language failing to survive the move into the city. The film's second half is deliberately more ordinary than its first; the silence of the island does not come back, and that loss is the real subject. The form on the island is nearly speechless. For around half an hour the narration runs entirely on image. Caleb Deschanel's photography there is not merely beautiful, it is the narration: the underwater shot and the horse circling on the sand are the two images the film is remembered for. It is Carroll Ballard's first feature, with Francis Ford Coppola as executive producer. Mickey Rooney was nominated for an Oscar as the old trainer. Kelly Reno plays the boy and Teri Garr his mother. Who it is for: viewers looking for the best of the child-and-animal film and anyone who likes visual storytelling. Who it is not for: viewers who will tire of the familiar racing template in the second half; it does not hold the level of the island.