Rotten
Ballard's sumptuous images exist only to distract from his rather conventional failings of craftsmanship.
Frank Rich, TIME Magazine
The Black Stallion
From the moment he first saw the stallion, he knew it would either destroy him, or carry him where no one had ever been before…
1979 · 1h 58m · G
Adventure, Family
Directed by
Carroll Ballard
Overview
While traveling with his father, young Alec becomes fascinated by a mysterious Arabian stallion that is brought on board and stabled in the ship he is sailing on. When it tragically sinks both he and the horse survive only to be stranded on a deserted island. He befriends it, so when finally rescued both return to his home where they soon meet Henry Dailey, a once successful trainer. Together they begin training the horse to race against the fastest ones in the world.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
90%
Tomatometer
Fresh
Carroll Ballard's feature debut is rich in adventure, suspense and mythical elements and marks the prize-winning short-subjects director as a major talent.
Variety Staff, Variety
Fresh
Deepens into a far more powerful entertainment through matchless cinematography and talented supporting players.
Michael Booth, Denver Post
Rotten
The director, Carroll Ballard, and the cinematographer, Caleb Deschanel, have captured so many lavishly beautiful images that the cumulative effect is one of repetition.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
Fresh
The film represents a studied, sophisticated approach to instinctual emotions: it's carefully, calculatingly naive, and amazingly it works.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
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