Hidalgo [WS]

Director: Joe Johnston Joe Johnston

Overview

"Joe Johnston's adventure film Hidalgo arrives on DVD with a sharp widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The English soundtracks are rendered in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. French and Spanish soundtracks have been recorded as well. This THX-certified disc does a superb job of capturing the original theatrical experience of the film. Supplemental materials include a nine-minute behind-the-scenes featurette that touches on aspects of production as well as the history of the real people and events depicted in the film. A more extensive featurette on the stallions is available for those with PCs that have DVD-ROM drives. Trailers for a handful of other releases round out this first-rate title from Touchstone."

Product Details

Release Date:	08/03/2004
UPC:	0786936228120
Original Release:	2004
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Touchstone / Disney
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, THX-Supervised Mastering, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	2:16:00
Sales rank:	8,675

Special Features

Sand & Celluloid" making-of featurette: A behind-the-scenes look at the special effects and the adventure of making Hidalgo; "America's First Horse" enhanced computer feature: Venture beyond the movie to the incredible story of Hidalgo's ancestors, the Spanish Mustangs

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Viggo Mortensen	Frank Hopkins
Zuleikha Robinson	Jazira
Omar Sharif	Sheikh Riyadh
Louise Lombard	Lady Anne Davenport
Adam Alexi-Malle	Aziz
Silas Carson	Katib
Harsh Nayyar	Yusef
J.K. Simmons	Buffalo Bill Cody
Adoni Maropis	Sakr
Victor Talmadge	Rau Rasmussen
Peter Mensah	Jaffa
Joshua Wolf Coleman	The Kurd
Franky Mwangi	Slave Boy
Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman	Chief Eagle Horn
Elizabeth Berridge	Annie Oakley
C. Thomas Howell	Preston Webb
Stevan Rimkus	Military Cistern Lieutenant
Jerry Hardin	Nate Salisbury
Frank Collison	Texas Jack
Sven-Ole Thorsen	Actor
Chris Owen	First Soldier
Marshall Manesh	Camel Skinner
Philip Sounding Sides	Chief Big Foot
George Gerdes	Major Whitside
Todd Kimsey	Corporal at Wounded Knee
Ed Nah New Rider Weber	Old Lakota Woman
Adam Ozturk	Bedouin Rider
John Prosky	Officer at Horse Corral
Michael Canavan	Cattleman
David Midthunder	Black Coyote
Lee Trotter	Soldier at Wounded Knee
Dave Florek	Sentry at Wounded Knee
Jeff Kober	Sergeant at Wounded Knee
Sam Sako	Call to Prayer Singer
Te'Amir Sweeney	Tower Boy
Jake Miller	Ghost Dance Singer
Mary Ellis	Mary
Clement Richards	Lakota Wagon Driver
Kimberly Norris Guerrero	Frank's Mother
Zachary Badasci	Young Frank Hopkins
Malcolm McDowell	Lord Davenport (uncredited)
Saïd Taghmaoui	Prince Bin Al Reeh
James Newton Howard	Composer

Technical Credits

John Fusco

Joe Johnston	Director
Tim Alexander	Special Effects
Nancy Foy	Casting
Pat Romano	Stunts
Casey Silver	Producer,Producer
Bruno Van Zeebroeck	Special Effects
Don Zepfel	Executive Producer
John Fusco	Screenwriter
Patricia Carr	Producer
Alia Agha	Special Effects
Yassine Afroukh	Stunts
James Ashwill	Sound Effects
Joseph Bonn	Sound Effects
John T. Cucci	Sound Effects
Joe Dorn	Sound Effects
Mary H. Ellis	Sound Effects
Barry Angus	Special Effects
Rachid Abbad	Stunts

Editorial Reviews

Its producers would love nothing more than for their film to be compared to Lawrence of Arabia (1962), but while it's got plenty of sand and Omar Sharif in a shora, this action-adventure is no Lawrence. It has neither the trademark scope nor bracingly flinty characterizations of David Lean, nor does it even have the cinematography of another similar film, The Black Stallion (1979). Despite this, Hidalgo (2004) is a surprisingly fun, brisk adventure. Sometimes even a blind squirrel finds a nut, and sometimes even the Hollywood system gets one right. In this case, the lucky parties are the homogenized corporate culture of Disney, mixed with the former effects-guy milieu of Joe Johnston, blended with the faux-stirring histrionics of screenwriter John Fusco. (For an Italian guy from Connecticut, Fusco must be really into horses -- his last film was 2002's wretchedly titled Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron). Somehow, it all works out, probably in no small part to rapid-fire editing and a commendably go-for-broke performance from Viggo Mortensen, who must be a little saddle sore after this and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but persuasively plays a fairly dumb cowboy who nevertheless trumps a variety of goofy, central-casting baddies by employing his all-American horse sense. It's made to be rented, seen on cable, or caught on an in-flight feature, but Hidalgo fulfills its humble ambitions, and that's more than you can say for a lot of other movies that spill from the maw of the Hollywood machine.