The Black Stallion
September 8th 2006 04:45
Cass Ole on set in Sardinia 1978
It was 1978 when Francis Ford Copola brought children to their knees with The Black Stallion. At some time everyone had imagined it – an island, a beach, a big black horse, unity between a boy and a beast. In 1941 author Walter Farley had created it, then written it. After 30 years of enchanting children around the world, Coppola made the movie of it, and ever since there has been no other.
When Copola’s film emerged it appeared it would canter into history with as much appraisal as the novel. The Black Stallion has reached platinum levels as an all-time best selling videocassette, and two more movies of the story followed in later decades.
But the figures are just that – figures. Among horse lovers who catalogue horse movies not by their monetary successes but by the horses in them, The Black Stallion is a homage to the Arabian, and a horse called Cass Ole.
Cass Ole was born in 1969 and owned by San Antonio Arabians in Texas. Before film work he was a show horse and it was his temperament and pride - characteristics in every Arabian – that earned him his role of ‘The Black’. Such was the fame of the horse after filming – and fame indeed, The Black Stallion earned itself not only an army of horse lovers around the globe but two Oscar nominations – that Cass Ole performed in Italy, Sardinia and Algeria. He visited the White House and was present at the inauguration of President Reagan! At the age of 27 he was put down after a severe bout of colic. Take a look around the internet and the number of tribute sites will surprise you.
The Black Stallion set the bar for horse movies, and was almost the first great horse story on film. It was quiet, majestic, and allowed the alliance between a horse and a man to be an image all of its own, to carry the entire film from start to finish. In the US alone horse riding is the number one participant sport for girls aged 10 to 14, and maybe with this in mind Farley was on the money when he mused that many children would rather ride on the back of a horse than pilot a spaceship to the moon…
When Copola’s film emerged it appeared it would canter into history with as much appraisal as the novel. The Black Stallion has reached platinum levels as an all-time best selling videocassette, and two more movies of the story followed in later decades.
But the figures are just that – figures. Among horse lovers who catalogue horse movies not by their monetary successes but by the horses in them, The Black Stallion is a homage to the Arabian, and a horse called Cass Ole.
Cass Ole was born in 1969 and owned by San Antonio Arabians in Texas. Before film work he was a show horse and it was his temperament and pride - characteristics in every Arabian – that earned him his role of ‘The Black’. Such was the fame of the horse after filming – and fame indeed, The Black Stallion earned itself not only an army of horse lovers around the globe but two Oscar nominations – that Cass Ole performed in Italy, Sardinia and Algeria. He visited the White House and was present at the inauguration of President Reagan! At the age of 27 he was put down after a severe bout of colic. Take a look around the internet and the number of tribute sites will surprise you.
The Black Stallion set the bar for horse movies, and was almost the first great horse story on film. It was quiet, majestic, and allowed the alliance between a horse and a man to be an image all of its own, to carry the entire film from start to finish. In the US alone horse riding is the number one participant sport for girls aged 10 to 14, and maybe with this in mind Farley was on the money when he mused that many children would rather ride on the back of a horse than pilot a spaceship to the moon…
With thanks to the official site of The Black Stallion.
www.theblackstallion.com
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