The Horse Whisperer (1998) on Netflix
PG-1319982h 50mDramaRomanceWestern
Grace MacLean and her horse Pilgrim are badly hurt in a riding accident. Her mother Annie takes them from New York to Montana to find Tom Booker, a trainer who understands horses.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb6.7/1047,028 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes73%
Trailer
Plot summary
In Lake Luzerne, New York, teenagers Grace MacLean and Judith ride their horses, Pilgrim and Gulliver, up an icy slope on a winter morning. Gulliver slips, both animals fall and drag the girls onto a road, where a truck hits them. Judith dies, and Grace loses part of her right leg. Pilgrim survives violent and unmanageable, and he is nearly put down. Grace's mother Annie, a magazine editor, refuses to give up on the horse, convinced that her daughter's recovery depends on his. She tracks down Tom Booker, a trainer in the Montana mountains known for his way with horses, and he agrees to help only if Grace takes part.
Cast
- Ty Hillmanas Joe Booker
- Austin Schwarzas Twin #1
- Dustin Schwarzas Twin #2
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Horse Whisperer (1998)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Writer Nicholas Evans said the main character was modeled on horse whisperers Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt and in particular their younger disciple Buck Brannaman, who also doubled for Robert Redford in the film and served as its consultant.
- The movie's popularity led to “whisperer” becoming slang for anyone with a strong affinity for a particular animal or being: in the 2015 film Steve Jobs, Apple CEO John Sculley is perceived to be a “Steve whisperer” because Jobs is difficult to communicate with.
SPOILER
John Lyons, a practitioner of natural horsemanship, worried audiences would take an inaccurate message about horse training from the film: Pilgrim was played by multiple well-trained animals, and the rehabilitation was made to look like a one-session event when in reality such a change takes considerable time.- Although Robert Redford had already directed several films, this was the first time he directed one that he also starred in.
- Brannaman was the on-site technical consultant but had no creative control, and lapses in safety reached the screen, including Redford kneeling in front of a horse known to charge humans and wearing a large ring while holding a rope on a dangerous horse.
- Evans said others have claimed to be the inspiration for Tom Booker, but that the one who truly inspired him was Buck Brannaman, whom he called “the Zen master of the horse world”.
