#765: BALLARD, Carroll: The Black Stallion (1979)

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BALLARD, Carroll (United States)
The Black Stallion [1979]
Spine #765
Blu-ray


A wild horse saves a young boy's life after a terrifying shipwreck and the two become unlikely friends in Carroll Ballard's cinematic tour de force, adapted from Walter Farley's classic children's novel. From the crystalline shores of a deserted island to the green grass and dusty roads of 1940s suburban America, Ballard and director of photography Caleb Deschanel create a film of consistent visual invention and purity, one that also features a winning supporting performance by Mickey Rooney as a retired jockey and a gorgeous score by Carmine Coppola.

117 minutes
Color
2.0 Surround
1:85:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2015
Director/Writers


Based on the novel by Walter Farley.
Screenplay by Melissa Mathison, Jeanne Rosenberg, and William D. Wittliff.
Carroll Ballard was 42 when he directed The Black Stallion.

The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Eight-page foldout poster featuring an essay by film critic Michael Sragow.

Commentary

None.

Five short films

By director Ballard, with new introductions by the filmmaker: Pigs! (1965), The Perils of Priscilla (1969), Rodeo (1969), Seems Like Only Yesterday (1971), and Crystallization (1974).

Conversation

Between Ballard and film critic Scott Foundas.

Interview

With Deschanel.

Piece

Featuring Mary Ellen Mark discussing her photographs from the film’s set.

Trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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