AGW Entertainment reporter Lynn B. saw ...

HIDALGO

You’ve gotta love a cowboy who calls his horse “Little Brother”. Mega-star Viggo Mortensen felt such a kinship with movie horse T.J. who plays the desert race champion Hidalgo, that he bought him. The little mustang now lives on Viggo’s friend’s ranch in California outside of L.A. T.J. just hit the red carpet at the movie’s premiere with proud Viggo in the saddle.

Hidalgo is based on the 1890 true-life tale of "legendary" long-distance endurance rider Frank T. Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen) and his little Spanish mustang, Hidalgo. After watching innocent Indians slaughtered at Wounded Knee, Hopkins goes sour on riding the range as a dispatch courier and joins Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show in which the U.S. Cavalry is glorified and Indians are displayed as savages. Frank is miserable. Even Hidalgo hates doing the show!

When an Arabian sheik (Omar Sharif) hears that Hopkins is supposed to be the World’s greatest long distance rider, he invites man and horse to travel across the ocean to enter a 3000-mile race across the Arabian Desert from Aden to Syria. Hidalgo's competition is all gorgeous Arabian stallions who make little Paint Hidalgo look like a tiny loser. Along the way, Hopkins and Hidalgo must weather sandstorms and confront Bedouin raiders, all while just trying to survive and find food and water. In the mix are two beautiful women: the sheik’s daughter Jazira (Zuleikha Robinson), who is trying to prove herself to her powerful father, and the flirtatious, evil and greedy Lady Anne Davenport (Louise Lombard), who will do anything to make sure her horse wins.

Okay, Viggo makes a great cowboy. He’s the perfect, soft-spoken, “aw shucks, ma’am” man of the West. He’s much like Classic actor Gary Cooper in High Noon. He just does what needs to be done with great flair and total humility. This film is kind of old-fashioned in that it takes a while to set up characters and build to the big race but I like that. I want to know who I’m watching before the characters go through a lot of horrible trials and tests that change them.

The movie isn’t just about the big race but about man’s inhumanity to man. About people who claim to live by a code of honor but they really don’t have any honor and humans and horses finding and proving themselves against all odds. You can throw in impressive vistas and a few unbelievable but impressive special effect threats (HUGE sandstorms and locust attacks). The horses are beautiful to watch in action and little Hidalgo has real personality without being too silly “Mr. Ed-ish”.

If you enjoy watching hot Viggo (count me in) and don’t mind learning a few things about your characters and the worlds that created them before getting to the action then you’ll like this adventure film.

Rating: PG-13

Official Web site: http://hidalgo.movies.go.com/index.html