THE BLACK STALLION!

From the moment he first saw the stallion, he knew it would either destroy him, or carry him where no one had ever been before...

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On July 30th, 2000 I lost my Cousin, just seven months after losing my Dad during Christmas week. Her passion in life was raising Arabian horses. This "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" feature is dedicated to my Cousin's memory with Love. I miss her dearly. In my apartment on a corner table sits three Breyer horse figurines next to a large framed photo of my Cousin. When Martin Landau was asked about fellow actor and personal friend Steve McQueen (the two were selected from 2,000 into Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio), his comment would have fit my late Cousin well. Martin said. "He was complicated. But that complication makes for a very interesting person". My Cousin was this way in my eyes. I choose to honor her for the love that was in her heart for my family. But her God-given gift was caring for animals throughout her entire life.

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At the age of 3, my Cousin was sitting with her Mom on a park bench. It was a Spring day when a sparrow landed on her shoulder. This simple event set the stage for a life-long love and kinship she shared with animals. As a young tot, I can remember her dog, a beautiful Collie/Chow mix with red fur whom she named "Dancer" because my cousin had always dreamed of becoming a ballerina. Instead, she raised three Arabian horses and nursed wounded animals back to life and placed them with good homes. She was a beautiful woman and highly educated with a Masters Degree in Russian. A high school English teacher, she could be a tough cookie. Once (and I laugh about this) she was grading papers at home after dinner, and she wrote atop the page of a student's paper in red ink: "Maybe if you stopped picking your nose in class so much and picked your brain instead, you might do better!" She was truly a saddle bred gal who would pick me up at my parents' house in her bright Red Triumph two-seater convertible sports car and drive us to her stables where I rode her horse. Yes, she was a free spirit. She drove her cars hard and fast. Her last sports car was a light orange 1980 MGB--the last year of the car's production. I can remember being 9 years old and we sped down a very long hill with the convertible top down and she yelled: "Feel the wind in your hair!" An extremely well read person who adored the Classics in literature, she took only The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times newspapers. She disliked injustice in society and tried always to do her part to correct it. Above all, she loved me, and although terminally ill, she was determined to be in the audience attending my June 11, 1999 college Cap and Gown Ceremony from the same University she once attended. Afterwards, she hugged me and told me that she was heading home early because she was in a lot of pain. I embrace the good memories of my dear Cousin. Now a short bit on the movie...

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This movie is about a boy and a horse shipwrecked on an island and how they learn to survive by helping each other. The boy saves the horse and with the help of Mickey Rooney, gives it a new purpose in life. Both the photography and story are family friendly and very beautiful. So to you, dear Cousin, I post this with a strong heart, just as you taught me to have.

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THE CAST: Kelly Reno, Mickey Rooney, Teri Garr, Clarence Muse, Hoyt Axton DIRECTED BY: Carroll Ballard; WRITTEN BY: William D. Wittliff, Melissa Mathison, and Jeanne Rosenberg CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Caleb Deschanel MUSIC BY: Carmine Coppola, son of PRODUCER: Francis Ford Coppola. This 1979 film received two nominations for the Academy Awards in 1980. Mickey Rooney was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Robert Dalva was nominated for Best Film Editing; Alan Splet was awarded with a Special Achievement Award for sound editing. Based on the classic children's novel by Walter Farley, in 2002, The Black Stallion was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Our "Summer Series" of films continues proudly, and I hope you will love this touching film!

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