Seabiscuit

[vakkotaur]

Went and saw Seabiscuit last night. Overall was quite good. There were omissions, of course, to make it fit in a couple hours, and a bit of liberty taken with how people and animals react but nothing really jarring. IMDB lists several goofs but they don't detract from the film. I spotted a couple last night. And one that wasn't in the IMDB list. The only real problem I had was that the film seemed to spend quite a long time on the setting up before getting to Seabiscuit. There were also a couple fight scenes that were needed, but not what I care to watch. The mix of movie and documentary-like segments worked rather well.

What was amiss?

There were a few things I noticed right off. One was a loan of $20 which used a modern $20 bill. Oops. Another was during the end credits where a newspaper press plate was shown - but the lettering wasn't backward like it should have been. A more subtle one is a claim of Seabiscuit being the best thing on four legs "since Hope and Crosby" except they didn't work together until a few years later. Another pair of actors/comedians would have been more fitting and as well known.

There were other things, but I didn't notice those. Statues that shouldn't be there yet, an upside-down state flag, a wrong year on a license plate.

And one thing not on the goofs list. It can be explained away, but probably shouldn't be. At one point someone switches on a car radio. That isn't the problem. The problem is that sound comes on immediately with no warm-up time for the tubes. Whoops. While there was a feature of "instant-on" for tube radios (it kept the filaments warm if not completely hot) that probably wasn't something common (or present) in car radios. Such a feature could run a battery down.

One other thing, not a flub, that surprised me is that a certain line wasn't used. Not that the film was lacking in good lines. But when both jockey and horse were coming back from leg/foot injuries, it's a bit surprising that they didn't have the jockey use the line, when asked about his and the horse's conditions, "We have four good legs between us."

Overall, I'm glad I saw this movie. The TV documentary (yes, Phar, I taped it) isn't as dramatic but is likely more informative. And after seeing other people's reviews of things, I put off reading the book until after seeing the film. I might get to that after finishing off the Witches series of the Discworld books. As for the film... I expect I'll be getting a DVD of it eventually.