Hidalgo

Hidalgo is fashioned like an old-time Hollywood adventure story, so it’s fitting that our first sight of Frank T. Hopkins (Mortensen), a legendary Pony Express rider, reminds us of a saddle-savvy Indiana Jones with his dark, rugged features and long leather duster. The script, by John Fusco, is based on Hopkins’ real life, although the story relies more heavily on fabricated derring-do and action sequences than history and biographical verisimilitude. The movie is entertaining, although it suffers from uneven pacing, one tangential and overlong plot development near the climax, and several mediocre process shots (which is too bad, since Shelly Johnson’s desert and action cinematography is generally marvelous). Hidalgo has a bit of a bumpy start as it introduces us to Hopkins, the Pony Express rider who delivers the message to launch the Battle of Wounded Knee, and then, after witnessing the devastation, turns to booze for solace and Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show for livelihood, where he re-enacts his glory days with his horse – a wild mustang named Hidalgo. Known as the fastest long-distance rider in the world, Hopkins is challenged to enter the Ocean of Fire, a grueling 3,000 mile race across the Arabian Desert. The race, of course, becomes his personal redemption. But, more than anything, this is a movie about a man and his animal – and you can bet that the movie gives more than its fair share of reaction shots to its titular namesake. Once the story arrives in the Arabian Desert, things become more straightforward. We meet Sheik Riyadh (Sharif) and his feisty daughter Jazira (Robinson), the duplicitous Lady Davenport (Lombard), a Gaby Hayes-like comic-relief sidekick, and several of the Bedouin racers. Hopkins and Hidalgo are both horses of different colors in this unfamiliar landscape, but when Jazira extends some advice and kindness to Hopkins, her father reacts traditionally and insists on cutting off Hopkins’ testicles. But, as luck would have it, Jazira is kidnapped at just the right moment and Hopkins goes off on a rescue mission (the aforementioned overlong plot development). Mortensen, in his first post-Aragorn role, still smolders, and it’s nice to see Sharif on the screen again (one suspects the whole rescue-mission subplot was developed in order to give the aging icon more screen time). Director Johnston has made something of a career of these family adventure films, having previously helmed Jumanji, October Sky, and The Rocketeer. Ultimately, Hidalgo won’t win any movie races, but I’d definitely bet on the movie to show.