![]() But Charles Howard took his message to the masses in 1938, and convinced people who were themselves yearning for a second chance at life to see a match race through the lens of the underdog. He had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Samuel Riddle, the owner of War Admiral, had no interest in committing his champion to a head-to-head contest with Seabiscuit. So, of course, Charles Howard wanted to match his upstart steed against the best. In 1937, War Admiral won the Triple Crown, only the fourth horse do so, and was also named “Horse of the Year.” A majestic animal, War Admiral inspired awe in any who witnessed his races. And it was there that the magnificent stallion War Admiral reined supreme. But the real horse-racing establishment was housed in the eastern United States. Seabiscuit began to win races, and soon the horse was heralded as the best racehorse on the west coast. As Howard explains to a crowd in a memorable scene: “The horse is too small, the jockey too big, the trainer too old, and I’m too dumb to know the difference.” This was a team of misfits, all looking in different ways for a second chance at life. Then he went even further afield when he hired Pollard as the jockey. Deciding against the well-known, successful trainers, Howard hired Tom Smith, and Smith, in turn, opted for the unlikely Seabiscuit as the horse to train. The four characters lived in parallel universes until Howard considered getting into the horse-racing business. Besides, he was small for a thoroughbred. He was considered lazy and untrainable by those who tried to turn him into a winner. Seabiscuit (10 different horses played the role of Seabiscuit in the film) was a grandson of the great Man o’ War, but hadn’t amounted to much as a race horse. Bitter and angry, Pollard’s love of horses pushed him into becoming a jockey even though he was considered too big for the sport. Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire) was a young man from an educated family whose parents were ruined by the depression. He uttered a crucial line in the film, “You know, you don’t throw a whole life away just ’cause he’s banged up a little.” Although Smith was referring to a horse, the quote clearly referred to all the main characters. Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) was an over-the-hill trainer known for his unusual methods and devotion to rehabilitating injured animals. On a trip to Mexico with several friends, Howard became interested in horse-racing, though he knew little about the sport. The plot follows four independent characters who had suffered in different ways, but whose paths converge to result in a surprising accomplishment.Ĭharles Howard (Jeff Bridges) was a wealthy and powerful automobile magnate, but the loss of his only child in an automobile accident destroyed his marriage. ![]() The movie is set in 1930’s depression-era America, a time when many people lost everything except their longing for a second chance at life. I had seen the movie several years before I picked up a keyboard with the intention of writing my own novels, but seeing the story for the second time gave me a chance to analyze it from a writer’s perspective. I recently re-watched the movie Seabiscuit, a film adaptation of Seabiscuit: An American Legend (1999) by Laura Hillenbrand. ![]()
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