Pretty Horses news

All the Pretty Horses

A Columbia-Miramax picture

More pictures
Miramax's ATPH site
E!online preview - has a link for the trailer.
Entertainment Weekly's ATPH preview Click here to see more pictures and to read the best of the reviews.
If you haven't yet, visit Miramax's ATPH site now to see some wonderful wide-screen photos and clips from the film, among other goodies (such as excerpts from the soundtrack).
Daniel Holmes' ATPH site has the Oscar Ads and a photo gallery.
the yahoo.com site for Pretty Horses
All the Pretty Horses computer wallpaper, the Charlotte Observer.

... we have a perfectly coherent, handsomely rendered couple of hours, animated in particular by Damon's good performance � shrewd, innocent, angry, wistful and, above all, likable. Maybe this movie might have been more. But it could easily have been a lot less.
- Time Magazine critics on "All the Pretty Horses".

"It�s the kind of thing where there probably won�t be a middle-ground reaction. I just have a really visceral experience with it, and I imagine that other people will, too � and that other people won�t. You either get it or you won�t, and it�s fine either way, but thanks for giving it a shot."
- Matt Damon, on ATPH.

Although this much anticipated film has gotten some early poor reviews. Many well-known critics had kind words for it, some even glowing words.
Apparently the film is not an easy one to appreciate. Following are links to the more appreciative reviews:

Roger Ebert's review
audio of the Ebert-Roper review.
A four-star review for ATPH by Jack Garner of the Gannett News Service, as appeared in the Seattle Times today:
"...In his most subtle and complex performance to date, Damon plays John Grady Cole,..."
Micheal Wilmington's review
...The acting is exemplary. Damon and Thomas are too old for their parts, but it would be hard to find any teenagers who could break these roles, emotionally and physically. They bring their characters alive and Damon gives the movie a calm, shining center. Lucas Black, the little boy of Thornton's Sling Blade, puts a shiver of terror, hilarity and sadness into Jimmy Blevins' scenes. Cruz is a lovely, wounding inamorata, Blades and Colon knowing elders, Julio Oscar Mechosos (as the Captain who imprisons the buddies) an expert low-key villain. In the small parts of Cole's father and the Judge who finally hears him, Sam Shepard and Bruce Dern pierce our memories.
Director Thornton is as caring and respectful as Tally. He doesn't drown the film in landscapes or over-exploit the sex and action. He plays things down, keeping the tale lean. But his carefulness may be a slight miscue. Westerns, like samurai films, are occasions for style: the lyricism of John Ford, the suave humor of Howard Hawks, the fire and poetry of Sam Peckinpah. Thornton is perhaps too respectful, And though both Thornton and Damon have finally endorsed the cuts in the film (which Thornton originally fought against), I suspect it was better at three hours than two - with more craziness, more spontaneity and more room to spread out.
But the movie only comes short against a high standard. Like most of the good recent westerns - Ride with the Devil last year and Hi-Lo Country in 1998, All the Pretty Horses sees the American past and landscape with a more existential edge. But it also mourns for a world passing, a world of freedom and peril that now exists only in memory. The movie stays true to McCarthy's voice and vision; it mourns that world well. Thornton and his excellent company summon up for us the long rides, dangerous companions, rites of passage, the mad love and, most of all, the special relationship between the man/boys that rode over the border and the horses that carried them there. They deserve a cool drink and a quiet salute.

Rex Reed's review
Time Magazine's holiday movies preview: All the Pretty Horses
Starring: Matt Damon, Henry Thomas, Pen�lope Cruz, Lucas Black
D irector: Billy Bob Thornton
Opens: Dec. 25
In 1940s Texas, a young man named John Grady Cole (Damon) loses the ranch he loves in an inheritance battle, rounds up a buddy (Thomas) and heads for Mexico, looking for work, looking for adventure; looking, without quite admitting it, for the sort of experience that will make men in full of them. That, stripped of the fancy writing that rendered Cormac McCarthy's novel unreadable to some of us, is the narrative essence of "All the Pretty Horses," and it's not a bad one. The lads almost immediately encounter a funny, violent, nutsy kid (Black), and you know right away that his heedlessness is going to cause them a lot of bother. Among other things, his wild (indeed, murderous) ways will eventually mess up Grady's soulful romance with Alejandra (the lovely Cruz), daughter of the rich rancher the boys sign on with. All in all, it is, to borrow the old bunkhouse clich�, a rattling good yarn, even if it is all surface, no subtext. Whether there was some larger meaning in director Thornton's original cut � said to have been close to four hours long � is impossible to say, at least until the dvd comes out. For the moment, we have a perfectly coherent, handsomely rendered couple of hours, animated in particular by Damon's good performance � shrewd, innocent, angry, wistful and, above all, likable. Maybe this movie might have been more. But it could easily have been a lot less.
AP's review by CHRISTY LEMIRE, in which she wrote:
Damon has so much presence, and such tremendous timing and insight, that he shines no matter what movie he's in. And he and Thomas have an easy camaraderie.
review by Jack Garner of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle : a 9/10 rating:
"One of the great novels of recent vintage has inspired one of the most engrossing films of the year. All the Pretty Horses, the 1992 National Book Award-winner by Cormac McCarthy, is a powerful and poignant Western adventure, with Matt Damon as a young man who comes of age at the end of an age.
In his most subtle and complex performance to date, Damon plays John Grady Cole ...

The best review yet is this one by Susan Stark of the Detroit News, which has the byline in the headline: "Matt Damon, Penelope Cruz do stunning work in coming-of-age tale" and has this paragraph that endears me, although I don't agree with the "something of a disappointment" part:
" All the Pretty Horses goes on to dramatize Damon's hard-won coming of age in an alien but seductive place. The story tests his character's skills, his wits, his integrity and his heart. Since Good Will Hunting, the gifted, conventionally handsome Damon has been something of a disappointment. Here, he makes up for lost time. His performance has urgency, integrity and economy."

This one by Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle isn't bad either:
Damon is an excellent actor and he plays John Grady with an earnestness, simplicity and boyish modesty that match his character perfectly. From the easy way he has with a horse, to his interplay with his buddy Rawlins, to the cadences and timbre of his West Texas accent, he's never less than true.
Best of all are Damon's scenes with Cruz -- at a community dance, embracing in a moonlit pond -- which are some of the became involved during the making of the film, which is evident ...
"All the Pretty Horses" is slow and languid, sometimes to the point of passivity, and is disappointing in the muddiness of certain plot points. It's a visual feast, though, and a chance to see Damon, an actor whose talents are frequently obscured by his looks and his celebrity, deliver his best work.

A very nice review from the Utah Daily Tribune from someone (Eric D. Sneider) who definitely got it. Just look at its headline. Following are excerpts:
Matt Damon's "All the Pretty Horses" is evocative and well-made. A-
At some point along the way, "All the Pretty Horses" gels, the viewer settles into it, and it becomes a transfixing movie experience on a par with some of the best.
The setting is Texas in 1949. America has not yet completely entered the modern age, and in the ranchlands of Texas, especially, things are still very much the Old West. Horses are the primary means of transportation. The time seems so far distant from 2001 that when things like cars and telephones are mentioned, they seem anachronistic. We have to remind ourselves that yes, those things DID exist at the same time as these cowboys and roughriders.
It was an unusual moment in our history: We were on the brink of complete modernization, but still clinging tentatively to our old-fashioned roots.
...
Matt Damon is at times too pretty to be believed in a role this rugged, but we'll forgive him that because his good-guy persona is perfectly suited to the quiet meritoriousness of John Grady Cole. He seems as capable of carrying the film as John is of making mistakes, finding himself, and returning home sadder but wiser -- and with his horse still under him, to boot. I haven't walked out of a theater feeling this good in a long time.

Horses' has quiet beauty
By Mary F. Pols
Contra Costa Times
Published: Friday, December 22, 2000
THREE YOUNG MEN on horseback stand high on a cliff, looking at the brown Rio Grande snaking its way through the valley below. Exchanging glances, they register the significance of the moment. On the other side of the water is Mexico and a free-ranging way of life these three long for: a way of life rapidly vanishing in Texas in the late 1940s. They gather up their reins and race down the hillside and splash through the river, whooping elatedly the whole way.
Such are the gifts of "All the Pretty Horses," Billy Bob Thornton's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's much-loved book. Most of us will never know the elemental joy of riding a horse across the Rio Grande, just as most of us have no idea what it's really like to be a Western cowboy. But in "All the Pretty Horses," which gives a vivid, beautiful glimpse of both a way of life and an emotional place, we genuinely get close. As much as anything, it's a movie about the love of landscapes and the desire to be part of them. John Grady Cole (Matt Damon) is a young Texan whose way of life is drawing to a close. The grandfather he adored has died and left the family ranch to his mother, who has no compunction about selling it off, leaving John Grady without a home and without land to work. He and his best friend, Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas) decide to ride off to Mexico on horseback, where, they're told, there are ranches so big you can ride for a week before you get to the end of them.
On the road they meet a younger boy, a teen-ager named Jimmy Blevins (Lucas Black, the kid from Thornton's "Sling Blade") who is clearly running away from something. He's got a magnificent horse � which Lacey and John Grady assume must be stolen � and a knack for mischief. Blevins is friendly and feisty. John Grady develops a soft spot for him, although Lacey frets (sensibly) that he'll cause them problems. The trio join forces and go across the border.
Trouble comes quickly on the Mexican side of the border, in the form of an altercation over Blevins' horse that separates the three. Going on together, Lacey and John Grady come upon a vast ranch owned by Senor Rocha (Ruben Blades) and sign on as ranch hands.
Besides having many pretty horses, Rocha has a very pretty daughter, Alejandra (Penelope Cruz), who immediately catches John Grady's eye. Their class differences interfere with any prospective romance, but of course they fall in love anyway. The situation gets even more complex when the issue of Blevins' horse comes back to haunt John Grady and Lacey with tragic results. The story twists on from there like a bad nightmare.
Adaptations of literary novels are perhaps the hardest films to pull off. When they're bad, they make you angry, because they spoil the vision in your head. When they're good, they take you even farther emotionally into a story than the book did (as "The English Patient" did). Translating "All the Pretty Horses" presents a particular challenge because it's less a book you visualize than a book you hear in your head.
Thornton meets that challenge by having Damon narrate at the beginning, and his perfectly accented voice is so soft and inviting, we're roped in immediately. It's as if he's whispering in our ear. Thornton chooses to keep the movie quiet; in the scene where the boys are stealing a horse from a darkened corral, all we get is ambient sound. The visuals are a match; we spend much of the movie in darkness, looking out of shadows and being lulled into the story. This constant, beyond beauty, is a somber subtlety. It's interesting that Thornton's "All the Pretty Horses" arrives in theaters on the same day Gus Van Sant's "Finding Forrester" does, because stylistically, "All the Pretty Horses" seems more like a Gus Van Sant movie than the latter film does. It's got some of the funky, dreamy quality of "My Own Private Idaho" or "Drugstore Cowboy." Thornton fades in and out of scenes, turning the screen sepia on occasion, bleaching it out on another. He even throws in an imaginary dancing Mexican that's straight out of David Lynch.
All of these factors contribute to perhaps the movie's greatest strength � its sense of time and place. Watching it feels more like time travel than anything else. There's no sense of "Hey, look at this cool period piece stuff the set dresser dug up!" It's just all quietly there.
The movie's weak link is the romance between John Grady and Alejandra. The first time John Grady sees her, the camera spins around him, mimicking how floored he is by her beauty. With Cruz playing the part, that's believable. And anyway how much does it really take for a young man to fall in love for the first time? But as their romance develops, it carries a weight beyond puppy love, and unfortunately, there's not quite enough here to illustrate why or how that happens. All we really get from Cruz are sultry looks tossed over an exquisite shoulder � she's not really a developed character (what we see most clearly is that she's spoiled and petulant). Indeed, we suspect that John Grady might ultimately be better off without Alejandra. There are small appearances here by Sam Shepard (he's gone in an instant) and Bruce Dern (as the sympathetic judge who hears John Grady's story at the end of the movie and grants him a sort of absolution), but they're really negligible in the grander scheme of the movie. Their presence in these roles is probably an indicator of the power of McCarthy's book � so hip among the Hollywood mens' club that Brad Pitt did the books-on-tape version � or perhaps of Thornton's networking abilities.
The true heart of the movie belongs to the trio of young men. Thomas, who looks like a young Timothy Hutton, does a splendid job with the role of Lacey Rawlins. Lacey is a traditional sidekick, meant to keep John Grady in check, but Thomas makes us care about the character. Black is outstanding as the troublemaking Blevins. He's a headstrong irritant, but when we see him shivering at the bottom of a gully in his underwear, because he's afraid a lightning bolt will strike the metal buttons on his clothes, we see him for the child he still is.
Then there's Damon. At 30, he looks young enough to pull off a part meant for a kid of 20, but he also manages to project the strength of the man John Grady is becoming. Has Damon ever been bad in a movie? In "The Legend of Bagger Vance" there's an early scene where he's playing a drunk, and it promised a much better movie to come. In "All the Pretty Horses," Damon shows that same energy and smooth, intelligent talent. The difference is, this movie lets him sustain it for 112 minutes instead of five.

Review excerpts - filethirteen.com:
Thomas and Damon meet Lucas Black early in their trip south and the next 45 minutes are some of the most wonderful and delightful screen moments of male bonding to be seen in quite a while. There's all kind of dynamics going on here. Damon as protector of the younger Black, Black as an interloper disturbing Thomas' relationship with Damon, Thomas' subtextural "love" of Damon that may or may not border on the homosexual, Black's history, Black's problems, Black's wonderful character exposition. If the whole fucking movie was about these three guys, it would be a masterpiece. Where this part of the storyline goes is nothing short of wondrous and the changes marked in Damon's character because of his meeting Black are phenomenal, the stuff of novels and classic Westerns. This is an awesome story.
(later on�)
The best part of the film, of course, is the acting of the three major male stars. Damon is a badass. No question. He rocks here.
-- Rob Blackwelder, SPLICED ONLINE :
... The film takes place in 1949 and follows a handsome young rancher, played with surprising 10-gallon hat credibility by Matt Damon (he says "I reckon" like he means it), who clings to the cowboy way as he tries to find a new life in Mexico after losing his family's long-time homestead. ...
Excerpt from a review in the Boston Herald , one of the papers in Matt's hometown, by James Verniere:
Another positive review:
A four-star review by Robert W. Butler, movie editor for The Kansas Star:
The LA Times ATPH review is not bad, and has this insight that I like: the movie errs in being too faithful to the tone of the book, hence the lack of intensity which allows the audience to become engrossed (I do agree about the tone of the book). Ken Turan said: "Damon is well-cast and does solid work as the straight-arrow John Grady.", and "there is even measurable on-screen chemistry between (Matt and Penelope)."
The Boston Globe review by Jay Carr was mixed overall, but: Too bad, because Thornton obviously took the project seriously; is sensitive to the cadences and music of McCarthy's spare, laconic language; and gets a performance from Matt Damon that has nice things going for it. One is his expression of constant watchfulness. Damon's character, John Grady Cole, is older here than in the book. But there's an American combination of venturesomeness, opportunism, and romanticism on his face as he responds to the fact that his late father's Texas ranch has been sold out from under him by lighting out for Mexico with a buddy, Henry Thomas's Lacey Rawlings.
Horses connect Cole to the earth and its forces, and Damon is persuasive in his scenes with them.
Paul Tatara CNN review:
Matt Damon's earthy movie star performance is well worth seeing, but don't go in expecting a sustained sense of drama.

It's all a little too James Cagney, but Damon pulls it off with gusto. He's a good actor who's getting better with each starring role. This is his strongest performance to date. He's adept at portraying straight-shooting honesty, an agreeably old-fashioned persona.
Columbus Dispatch
Through the bizarre and tragic events that follow, Damon's Cole is an appealing, earthbound character who sticks to his increasingly arcane values. Damon's sensitivity finely suits the contemporary image of a hero who might have been portrayed more with brash strength than quiet reserve.
Salt Lake Tribune
"All the Pretty Horses" is the first movie I have seen that, even though I wasn't impressed with it, I want to see on DVD. Thornton shows a sure hand with his actors, Damon and Thomas are engaging, and Barry Markowitz's cinematography of the Texas and Mexican landscapes is haunting.
On a lighter note, and sorry if you are offended by the sexual overtone:
A strange review on Salon:
Thomas gets past the limitations of McCarthy's macho fantasy world to create a living, breathing human being.
Damon doesn't, though there's nothing technically wrong with his performance. He's more than suited to playing an upright kid dedicated to decency, honesty and hard work. The trouble is that those kinds of roles are usually unbearably dull. They're the very sort of parts that, in just a few years, turned Gary Cooper from a sexy young star to a dependable, "aw shucks," stick-in-the-mud leading man. The same thing could happen to Damon if he's not careful.
The sincerity of his acting is never in doubt here -- the all-American straitjacket that sincerity is binding him in is all too clear. A comedy might allow him to relax and fool around. He has become so willing to lend himself out as the clean, upstanding American in movies like this one and Saving Private Ryan that he barely seems to exist in the present anymore. His performance in The Talented Mr Ripley was unconvincing because while he has sharpness and even cruelty in him, he doesn't suggest the hidden recesses of psychosis that the role requires.
The immediacy Damon had in "Good Will Hunting," "Courage Under Fire" and "Geronimo" (an upright-young-man role that played as a person, not a conceit) and in his scenes in Dogma feels as if it's receding before our eyes. The horrible thing about that is that recessiveness is exactly right for this inflated western pulp. From what remains and the seriousness accorded every pause and scowl, I can only guess that Thornton's four-hour version was an attempt to be worthy of the vision of McCarthy. The worst thing you can say about "All the Pretty Horses" is that, even at two hours, Thornton succeeds.
the Ottawa Citizen:
SPOILER WARNING Until now, All The Pretty Horses is as slow as a character study, but beautifully made and acted with an open allusiveness, especially by Damon, much more solid as a straightforward cowhand than he showed as the fake playboy in The Talented Mr. Ripley.
In the end, All The Pretty Horses is undone by a storyline that pulls us into places where the movie's emotions haven't travelled. Handsomely made, beautifully scored, carefully accessorized, the film is hollow, like one of those modern, open-ended short stories where you're never sure just what the heck happened: just what a Western should not be. The last scene is great, however: two characters are reunited after a long and difficult journey, and one of them looks up in amazement, walks over, and kisses the horse. Now that's a cowboy moment.

Check out this short and sweet review which appeared on ifilm.com.

Coolest Scene: Damon and Thomas break in a bunch of wild horses by themselves over the course of one day. It's all trained horses, editing, and for all I know, CGI, too, but it looks awful real.

Nastiest Scene: Beaten until scabby and crusty in a grimy Mexican prison, Damon stabs this mean hombre who's been bumming him out.

Cineast Factor: Director Billy Bob Thornton is definitely going for that decline-of-the-West tone from the films of Budd Boetticher and Sam Peckinpah.

When to Go Get a Drink/Hit the Restroom/Answer That Page: The Damon/Cruz heavy-breathing scenes. The talented Cruz is given a lotta not much to do in this movie except look beautiful, and she comes off kind of stiff and English as a Second Language-y.

Date Movie? Yep. It's got pretty people in love and pretty landscapes for them to love on.

You Should Pay Nine Bucks to See This If: You like seeing former child stars firmly establish themselves as interesting and talented adult performers, which E.T.'s Thomas absolutely pulls off.

Can't Wait for the DVD/Director's Cut: Tons of plot happens in the last half hour, upsetting a stately, leisurely pace, and making it apparent that Thornton had to slash his running time to appease the dark Miramax overlords.

A review that's not entirely complimentary on ATPH has this to say:
"It�s a testament to Matt Damon�s skill that within a couple of years he can bring out so many shades in the gnawed-at chameleon Tom Ripley and make the superhumanly stoic John Grady Cole seem like someone that might actually walk this earth. His angular cheekbones and tight jawline help him express Cole�s inner hardness, and he�s at his most convincing when he needs to be, in the scenes where Cole shows off his authority on the subject he knows best: horses."
It does go on to give the acting honor to Lucas Black. Sigh.
This review gave Matt a lot of credit - love the "de-glammed" line.
By Chris Hewitt
Saint Paul Pioneer Press
Published: Monday, December 25, 2000 :
... Thornton (and Damon, who has been de-glammed in an acknowledgment of the paucity of hair-care products in the desert) are onto something. They find the humor in the characters' matter-of-fact speech, and their movie conveys a deep, simple faith that doing the right thing is its own reward. ...
The Internet Movie Database has finally posted user Comments for ATPH - this is the lead one:
This review is from the book secton of the Kansas City Star, where another writer (Robert W. Butler) also gave it a four star review:
`Horses' adaptation stays true to McCarthy's majestic novel By JOHN MARK EBERHART - The Kansas City Star Date: 12/28/00 22:15. (An excerpt here:

ATPH has made it into two notable top ten lists (that I've found so far). One was a critic from the Hollywood Reporter (not 'the' critic, but still not bad), and the other was David Elliott, special to MSNBC:

       6. �All the Pretty Horses�
       Billy Bob Thornton (director) and Ted Tally (writer) have adapted
Cormac McCarthy�s 1994 novel into a classic Mex-Tex Western, and Matt Damon
comes of age.

An online response to MSNBC's negative review:

Buzzz ... wrong. Wonderful movie, and not just for scenery or Damon�s
acting. The theme is honor in all its facets. The most significant criticism
you make is that there is no sizzle between Damon and Cruz. First, the
relationship is not at the heart of the movie � that would be a distortion
of the story, at least as appearing in the book. Too much sizzle and the
whole project gets sidetracked. Second, passion and true love are not the
purposes of the relationship, but rather the process of discovery, growth,
first relationship. The whole thing rang true for me. Yes, some emotional
distance, but that was purposeful. You�ve fallen prey to current movie
clich�.
� Grant Barber

This reviewer is off the Greenlight boards (they're quite addictive, and have a huge range of topics). It's one person's (Chinle) response to seeing PH:
(Commented Felicity:
Isn't that sweet? I had to reply in support of her message of course (and pass on the details of your site)...
And another quote off a movie review site (www.moovees.com) On the upside, Matt Damon gives yet another excellent performance. His Texan accent is absolutely flawless, and the way he carries himself is perfect for the character of John Grady Cole. I can only imagine what kind of acclaim Damon would've received if this film had turned out the way it was intended.
This review posted on IMDB really hit it right on:
This Internet Movie Data Base review page brightened my day. Although obviously the writer knows little about GWH, it makes the review even more credible:
This excerpt taken from a very interesting article in THE ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL
"Can the new Presidency save the Cowboy Myth?"
Feature writers and cultural commentators have speculated the Bush presidency will make cowboy chic fashionable again for the first time since the early 1990's when Garth Brooks ushered in a brief hat craze rivaling that unfortunate "urban cowboy" thing. "LOOK" everybody says, even Madonna is wearing Western duds these days! Victoria's Secret catalog features their models in Tony Lama boots ....so imagine our surprise when the Trends Research Institute shouts in a recent publication, "Don't Buy into the Old West," The article says that images of the West are as dead as Roy Rogers. "Too much time has passed and too much has changed for society to readily draw on emotions for this seemingly ancient era."
"The Old West rings particularly phony among younger generations," says Bob Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. "The Western movie genre is the absolute kiss of death for younger, hipper demographics," he says.
Which, along with mixed reviews, may explain why the beautiful Cormac McCarthy story, ALL THE PRETTY HORSES bombed at the box office. The film has made just $14 million, a pittance compared with $165 million earned by this year's cinematic juggernaut CASTAWAY, a movie w/ little dialogue and which requires nothing from its audience. The audience for ATPH probably averaged 40 and over while CASTAWAY brought in the MTV generation and twenty somethings who have grown up on cops and robbers, not cowboys and Indians.
The Madonna ghetto cowgal look which EW declared "five minutes ago" and Kid Rock singing that he wants to be a cowboy, BAA-bee, are just postmodern irony, partner, not a real homage to Western lore. Those references to the west are revisionist and reimagined, says Jenniphr Goodman, Santa Fe resident and director of the indie hit, TAO OF STEVE.
"Twenty somethings are not into the cowboy thing. Why you ask? In the 1950's seven of the top 10 shows on TV were Westerns. In the 60's the anti-war and civil rights movements questioned the might-is-right philosophy behind the cowboy myth. The rise of the sensitive man in the 70's made the macho cowboy seem dated and lowbrow. The image of a working class white guy on horseback has lost relevance as the nation's popuation has gotten more diverse and the Marlboro Man? Forget about him--anti smoking campaigns have managed to condemn not just his cigarette (a good thing) but the whole cowboy way of life in the process (a bad thing).
This historical explanation account seems to be reasonable. However, Don't take your Tony Lama's to the Buffalo exchange just yet! As Thompson says, the cowboy myth will never completely go away. Because even though the meat case at Furr's is the closest the typical mini van driving suburbanite has ever been to a cow, the cowboy remains our central cultural myth.
The Greeks have the Iliad and the Odyssey; the Romans had the Aeneid; we have the West.

An article on the cowboy life entitled,"All the Pretty Cowboys: Matt Damon might make a damn attractive cowboy, but the real thing weren't never that purty." Also included is an ATPH photo gallery.
Click here to see the article.

Early reviews

Another early review, this one from the Ain't-It-Cool site. Matt's performance is praised.
An early test screening review posted on the dark horizons site.

12/23/00 Check out article in the New York Times: nothing really new - but any article which appears in the NY Times can't be all bad. 12/16/99
ATPH apparently had a test screening somewhere, and a mixed review by someone in the audience was posted on tbe darkhorizons.com site. 5/29/99
Matt fan Val visited the filming of "Pretty Horses" on location in Mexico and brought back photos of some of the sets/sites. Click here to see.
4/17/99
Yet another article from the San Antonio Express News via Felicity:
Billy Bob's thoughts
'Pretty Horses' director talks about sex, violence, S.A.
By Jeanne Jakle
Express-News Staff Writer
Friday, Apr 16,1999
Before leaving San Antonio after four weeks of filming "All the Pretty Horses" here movie actor and director Billy Bob Thornton made his feelings known about sex.
Movie sex, that is.
Asked about one of the most talked-about scenes that was shot at a private Hill Country ranch - a romantic skinny-dipping segment involving Matt Damon and his female co-star, Penelope Cruz - Thornton said it'll probably "turn up being a kissing scene."
"I'm not big on graphic sexual scenes in movies. It doesn't do anyone any good. That's when I'd get up and get popcorn," he said Thursday evening after wrapping up his last day of shooting in a warehouse in downtown San Antonio.
The "Sling Blade" director/writer added he just never got into watching "other people having sex."
It makes him uncomfortable, he explained, "and people it doesn't make feel uncomfortable, well, I don't want them going to see my movie."
As for violence in the film, he did say there were one or two scenes in "Pretty Horses" that could be called violent, but he doesn't believe in gratuitous violence.
>hat is hardest to take in the movie, which was adapted from the 1992 National Book Award-winning novel by El Paso author Cormac McCarthy, is its "emotionally intense, heart-rending story." He said the main character, played by Damon, a young Texas rancher named John Grady Cole, learns "a lot of difficult things. He has to learn to live in the present; he realizes you can't hang on to the past. The movie's about leaving home; it's about life, about death, the things we all fear."
The movie was adapted from the novel by Oscar-winning screenwriter Ted Tally of "Silence of the Lambs" fame.
It's set in 1949. John Grady's mother sells the ranch where he grew up and he's forced to leave the only life he has ever known. The young hero and his pal, Lacey Rawlins, played by Henry Thomas ("E.T."), set off for the still-untamed lands of Mexico and eventually arrive at a hacienda where they're hired as cowboys, breaking wild horses.
There, he falls into an ill-fated romance with the beautiful daughter of a wealthy ranch owner, which leads to jail, a killing in self-defense and John Grady's greatest test of maturity.
After producer Mike Nichols bought the rights to the book, he approached Thornton to direct when the two were working on the political film, "Primary Colors," according to Thornton.
As for the movie's cast, Thornton said he was glad to get Damon and added that he also fought hard to get the relatively little-known international actress Cruz for the female lead. Cruz's credits include Pedro Almodovar's "Live Flesh."
"I met with her and saw her do two of the scenes, and that was all I needed," he said.
Musician and actor Ruben Blades plays her father, he said, and Bruce Dern, who plays the judge, will shoot his scenes at the next locale, Santa Fe, N.M.
"I like Santa Fe, but I'm sorry to leave here," he said of San Antonio and the surrounding Hill Country, which stands in for Mexico in "Pretty Horses."
"I wish we were going to be here longer," he added, explaining San Antonio had "a lot of good people who were really helpful."
"The land looked great, the locations fit like a puzzle" and the weather cooperated, he added.
As for the audience he's shooting for with "Pretty Horses," Thornton couldn't resist having fun with his first answer: "We're aiming it at people who are between 74 and 79."
Seriously, he believes the film's appeal should be wide: "It's not like a teen movie. The subject is an adult one, but it's about younger people. Actually, I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't relate to this movie." 4/14/99
There is a major story by Harry Knowles (that's him to the right of Matty in the photo above) of The Ain't It Cool News. He talks about his on-location-visit to the filming of "All the Pretty Horses" in San Antonio. Apparently the scene he witnessed is one after the main characters have been released from prison. You may notice that there is a big gash on Matt's face in the photo. If you have read the book, you know where that gash comes from.
You may not like that look of Matt, but, believe me, it could have been worse. I am actually relieved.

1/25/99 ATPG Seeking Cast and Crew!
From the Texas Film Commission page:

ALL THE PRETTY HORSES
Feature; Pretty Horses Inc.
Productions begins in March in the San Antonio area.
Crew positions will be paid.
Casting: Headshots and resumes should be mailed to the production 
office
marked, "ATTN.: CASTING."
Production office address:
Pretty Horses, Inc.
100 North Main, #803
San Antonio, TX 78205

1/22/99 This from Felicity:

Here's a quote from Billy Bob Thornton in the Houston Chronicle (first real thing of 'substance' he's said on All The Pretty Horses so far):

(My note: Ouch! But if you read the novel you know that it's the way it has to be. Let's just say that I expect many scenes where I will have to look away in the later half of the film.

1/22/99: According to today's issue of Entertainment Weekly, "All the Pretty Horses" is in the lineup for a November release. November is the most desirable month for the opening of a prestigious film - summer is for commercial blockbusters. However, this all depends on whether the film gets made in time.

1/21/99: In an article on Billy Bob Thornton, the following is said:

"Leo was never set to do the movie. I did meet with him, but before I did, I told the studio and Leo's people that we weren't about to pay any actor $20-million for a movie I was directing."

1/21/99 According to the Texas Film Commission page:

ALL THE PRETTY HORSES
Feature; Pretty Horses Inc.
Productions begins in March in the San Antonio area.
Crew positions will be paid.
Casting: There is no call for casting at this time.
Production office address:
Temporarily off the hotline.
More information at a later date.

Val wrote on planetdamon

...Hutchison, dirctor of the New Mexico Film Office, says that work days on movies filmed in NM has increased over last year's figures. This is due to the fact that NM crews are becoming better known and better respected by the industry, projects are staying longer and projects select NM because of specific needs. The film commission is currently working with 15 films that may shoot here, but two high profile Hollywood movies that are likely candidates currently appear to be headed toward sharing film locations in NM and Texas . . . Cormac McCarthy's acclaimed ATPH--for which director Billy Bob Thornton just signed Henry Thomas as Matt Damon's sidekick--will film in West Texas and Southern NM. Damon and Thomas plan to research their roles prior to a March 1999 production start. A Columbia TriStar spokeswoman did say that locations have not been finalized. Hutchison says, "location crews were here this summer looking at various sites. The story of ATPH requires landscape identical to that of the border between Texas and NMand NM and Mexico which leaves the exact site wide open."

Who will play Matt's side kick?

If you have any news on "All the Pretty Horses", please do write me. Thanks.

Readers' emails are welcome. Write to me at [email protected].