BY JOHN M. WHALEN
In 2009 a gelding trained and owned by a couple of
cowboys from New Mexico won the Kentucky Derby running at 50-1 odds. Mine That
Bird hadn’t won a single race in the United States before that and only
qualified to run the Derby because of the stakes he’d won in Canada. Not only
that, Mine That Bird was small and slightly “crooked up front,†as his trainer,
Chip Wooley (Skeet Ulrich) says when he first sees him. He’s skeptical at first
when he flies up to Canada to see him and advises his boss/friend Mark Allen
(Christian Kane) to pass on him. But when he sees Mine That Bird whizz around
the track he decides they need to buy him. Asking price, half a million. The
Canadians who owned him had paid only $9,500 for him.
Sony Pictures’
“50-1,†(2014) directed and co-written by Jim Wilson, producer of 1990’s Oscar
Winner “Dances With Wolvesâ€, tells the story of Mine That Bird and the two
cowboys who beat the odds and brought him to the winner’s circle. It’s your
typical underdog-overcoming-all-obstacles kind of story, except that the focus is
more on the four main human characters involved, rather than the horse. In
addition to Wooley and Allen, William Devane is present adding some gravitas to
the film, playing Doc Blach, owner of Buena Suite Equine, who puts up some of
the purchase money. Madelyn Deutch rounds out the principal cast playing
another horse trainer brought in later in the story. It’s the interrelationships
between the four characters that dominate the script with the colorful New
Mexican and dazzling Kentucky Derby settings as background.
Mine
That Bird loses the first three races that he runs in the U.S., and Wooley, a
rough and tumble former rodeo star, in frustration rides his motorcycle out
into the desert to let off some steam and has a serious accident. His injuries
limit his activities out on the track, and that’s when Allen brings in a new
trainer (Deutch) to help out. Wooley is none too pleased to discover his
assistant is “a girl!†This part of the story portrays the conflict between the
two, with Wooley acting more or less as a jerk, resenting her presence, constantly
barking criticisms at her. Frankly, the scenes between Ulrich and Deutch seem
tedious, with the “conflict†somewhat forced and contrived. The fault was more
in the dialog and situations concocted by Wilson and co-writer Faith Conroy
than with the actors who did the best they could with what they had.
The
rest of the movie relates how Mine That Bird qualified for the Derby and
preparations for the race, including the hiring of veteran jockey Calvin Borel,
who plays himself. There are some more complications
involving the forgetting of registration papers and some inane comedy bits
involving Borel that seem more appropriate for an old “I love Lucy†episode.
Most
movies about horse racing usually give equal time to the horse and its owners.
The human drama is presented along with the story of the horse’s struggle to
win first place. Sea Biscuit and Secretariat live in our memories as great
heroes of the track, as will American Pharoah. In “50-1â€, unfortunately, the
human angle overshadows the horse’s story. It’s almost as though screen writers
Wilson and Conroy forgot that Mine That Bird was the story’s main character.
The script is so focused on the two cowboys, the female assistant and their partner,
that Mine That Bird seems to disappear
until the big race at the end. There are very few scenes showing what a Derby
contender goes through to get ready for the big race. Because of his short
stature and “crooked†body, much could have been made of how horse and trainers
compensated for these shortcomings. But Wilson seemed more fixated on the
squabbling quartet of characters.
The
deficiencies of the script not withstanding, Wilson makes good use of the
actual locales where the real life story
took place. I’ve got a soft spot for movies set in New Mexico where Sam
Peckinpah did some of his best work. The state is nothing if not photogenic.
The trip through Roswell for example is fun, with the camera picking out the
UFO Museum and all the fast food restaurants serving Alien Burgers. Wilson also
does a good job of capturing the atmosphere of Louisville and Churchill Downs
on Derby Day and the excitement of the race.
All in all, considering
the film’s limited budget and a so-so script that sticks too much to what is
probably the literal truth of what happened rather than a larger- than -life story about a racing
legend, “50-1â€is, in this age of overblown special effects, impossible car
chases, and adolescent toilet humor, a movie about real people in a real place,
where the only aliens and spaceships in sight adorn the tourist attractions in
Roswell. It’s a refreshing change of pace.
The Sony DVD contains a
“Making of†documentary, and a blooper reel. Sound and picture are good, but the
film would be even more impressive if it had been released on Blu-ray.
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