"All the Pretty Horses"

United States, 2000
U.S. Release Date: 12/25/00 (wide)
Running Length: 1:55
MPAA Classification: PG-13

Cast: Matt Damon, Henry Thomas, Lucas Black, Ruben Blades, Penélope Cruz, Robert Patrick, Bruce Dern, Sam Shepard
Director: Billy Bob Thornton
Producers: Robert Salerno, Billy Bob Thornton
Screenplay: Ted Tally, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy
Cinematography: Barry Markowitz

All the Pretty Horses is a visually beautiful movie capturing the feel that an old Western film exudes. However, this film is not the standard American Western movie, for the sole fact that it takes place in the late 1940’s, and has a plot that is heavily located in Mexico.

Matt Damon plays the naïve John Grady Cole, who lives for ranching and a love for the outdoors. He is run off his property in San Angelo, Texas when his mother sells the land to an oil company. John decides to travel to Mexico with his close friend Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas).

Close to the U.S.-Mexico border the two cowboys run into Jimmy Blevins (Lucas Black) another rider who asks to tag-along. John and Lacey let Jimmy join them, and along with Jimmy comes the trouble. Jimmy – who happens to have a few oddities making his character more interesting – involves his newfound friends in some horse stealing.

The Texan cowboys escape the mess and eventually land on a ranch owned by Don Hector de la Rocha y Villareal (Rubén Blades) who offers John and Lacey jobs on his ranch. Of course, this could not be a Western without the love story. John falls-head-over-heels-in-love with Don Hector’s prized daughter, Alejandra (Penélope Cruz), and she is just as crazy about the American cowboy. And, of course, this romance creates a big problem as cultures clash and their relationship fizzles just as quickly as it began.

All the Pretty Horses had one major flaw: Little character development. Thornton seemed to be taken over by the technical aspects of the story and leaves out the importance of building the characters. When there is a lack of character development, the audience is not really able to become invested in the film, because there is no real relationship or understanding of the characters. However, I think that the actors did their characters justice with the amount of detail they were allowed – which wasn’t a lot.

Other than a need for character depth, I though that the film had a lot going for it. The plot was entertaining and kept my interest. Also, the cinematography in a film is a crucial ingredient to me, and the cinematography of the scenery was stunning, and really makes you want to be there. This is one film I regret not seeing on the big screen for detail of the scenery.

Personal Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Further information can be found at iMDB.com