Phar Lap (1983) on Netflix
PG19831h 47mDramaFamilyHistory
Bought sight unseen in New Zealand, a chestnut colt arrives in Australia, and his owner orders him sold. Trainer Harry Telford argues to keep him. Strapper Tommy Woodcock bonds with him.
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- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb7.2/102,149 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes88%
Trailer
Plot summary
Harry Telford's American friend David Davis buys a chestnut colt in New Zealand for £168 without ever seeing him, then has him shipped to Australia. When the horse is lowered onto the wharf, underweight and covered in warts, Davis is unimpressed and tells Telford to sell him at once. Telford pleads the colt's bloodlines, Carbine on both sides, and wins a three-year lease instead: he pays the keep, Davis keeps a third of the winnings. At the stables a young strapper, Tommy Woodcock, becomes the colt's constant companion. Telford gallops him hard over sand dunes until Tommy finds him exhausted and confronts him. Phar Lap loses his first starts, and Tommy holds him back in training, sensing a horse that likes to come from behind.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Phar Lap (1983)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Towering Inferno, the Thoroughbred gelding who played Phar Lap in the 1983 film, was killed by lightning on 15 April 1999. The horse had been bred at Walcha, New South Wales and later owned by Heath Harris.
SPOILER
20th Century Fox, which bought the rights to release the film in the US, re-edited it so that instead of opening with Phar Lap's death it opens with the horse getting off the boat in Australia, and ends with his death, to make the ending more dramatic for American audiences unfamiliar with the story.
