All the Pretty Horses (film)

All the Pretty Horses
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Billy Bob Thornton
Produced by	Robert Salerno Billy Bob Thornton
Screenplay by	Ted Tally
Based on	All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Starring	Matt Damon Penélope Cruz Henry Thomas Lucas Black
Music by	Marty Stuart Kristin Wilkinson Larry Paxton
Cinematography	Barry Markowitz
Edited by	Sally Menke
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures (US) Miramax Films (Non-US)
Release dates	December 25, 2000 (2000-12-25)
Running time	116 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$57 million
Box office	$18,133,495

All the Pretty Horses is a 2000 American romance western film, directed by Billy Bob Thornton and based on the novel of the same name by author Cormac McCarthy. It stars Matt Damon as John Grady Cole, the main male character, and Penélope Cruz as Alejandra Villarreal, the main female character. The film received mostly negative reviews and grossed only $18 million worldwide, against a $57 million budget.

Plot

In 1949, young cowboy John Grady Cole's maternal grandfather dies. John had grown up on his grandfather's ranch, but it was put up for sale when the old man died. His mother has no ties to it anymore, and would rather have the money. With no home, John asks his best friend Lacey Rawlins to leave his family ranch in San Angelo, Texas and join him to travel on horseback to cross the border 150 miles south, to seek work in Mexico. They encounter a peculiar 13-year-old boy named Jimmy Blevins on the trail to Mexico, whom they befriend but from whom they then separate. Later on they meet a young aristocrat's daughter, Alejandra Villarreal, with whom Cole falls in love.

Cole and Rawlins become hired hands for Alejandra's father, who likes their work, but Cole's romantic interest in Alejandra is not welcomed by her wealthy aunt. After Alejandra's father takes her away, Cole and Rawlins are arrested by Mexican police and taken to jail, where they again encounter Blevins, who has been accused of stealing a horse and of murder, and is killed by a corrupt police captain. Cole and Rawlins are sent to a Mexican prison for abetting Blevins' crimes, where they must defend themselves against dangerous inmates. The pair are both nearly killed.

Alejandra's aunt frees Cole and Rawlins, on the condition that she never sees them again. While Rawlins returns to his parents' ranch in Texas, Cole attempts to reunite with Alejandra over her family's objections. Her aunt is confident that Alejandra will keep her word and not get back together with Cole - so much so that she even gives Cole her niece's phone number. Cole urges Alejandra to come to Texas with him. She, however, decides she must keep her word and though she loves him, she will not go with him.

Cole then sets out to get revenge on the captain who took the Blevins boy's life, as well as to get back his, Lacey's and Blevins' horses. After making the captain his prisoner, he turns him over to Mexican men, including one with whom Cole had previously shared a cell when they were imprisoned by the captain. Cole is spared the decision to kill the captain, but it is implied the men whom the captain was turned over to will do that.

Reentering the USA and riding through a small town in Texas, towing two horses behind the one he is riding, he stops to inquire what day it is (it is Thanksgiving Day). He asks a couple of men if they would be interested in buying a rifle, as he needs the money. One is a sheriff's deputy and arrests him because all three horses have different brands, and they suspect Cole is a horse thief.

In court, Cole tells the judge his story from the beginning. The judge believes him and orders Cole freed and the horses returned to him. Later that evening, Cole shows up at the judge's home, troubled. The judge had said good things about him in court, but Cole feels guilty that Blevins was killed - and while there was nothing he could have done to prevent the killing, he never even spoke up at the time and is upset with himself for that. The judge tells him he is being too hard on himself and it could not have been helped; he must go on and live his life.

Coming towards the end of the film, Cole rides up to Lacey Rawlins on Rawlins' family's ranch and asks if he wants his horse back.

Cast

• Matt Damon as John Grady Cole
• Penélope Cruz as Alejandra Villarreal
• Henry Thomas as Lacey Rawlins
• Lucas Black as Jimmy Blevins
• Ruben Blades as Don Hector de la Rocha
• Robert Patrick as Cole
• Julio Oscar Mechoso as Captain
• Míriam Colón as Doña Alfonsa
• Bruce Dern as The Judge
• Sam Shepard as J.C. Franklin
• Jesse Plemons as young John Grady Cole

Production

All the Pretty Horses was filmed on location in New Mexico and Texas.

After Billy Bob Thornton completed his cut (said to be somewhere between three and four hours), producer/distributor Harvey Weinstein forced him to cut more than another hour from it. Peter Biskind suggests in his book Down and Dirty Pictures (2004) that this was at least partially done as payback for Thornton's refusal to cut Sling Blade (1996).

Thornton's cut had an effect on the storytelling. Matt Damon publicly criticized Weinstein's decision, saying to Entertainment Weekly, "You can't cut 35% of the movie and expect it to be the same movie."

Some attempts have been made to release a director's cut DVD, but arrangements cannot be reached with the composer of the film's music, Daniel Lanois. As part of the re-cut, Weinstein scrapped the original score and hired Marty Stuart. Lanois felt insulted, and has steadfastly refused to license his score (which, unusually, he owns) to any release of the film.

Critical response

Reviews of the film were generally negative, criticizing it as a poor adaptation of the novel and a dramatically un-involving film. It currently holds a 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 99 reviews.

Entertainment Weekly critic Lisa Schwarzbaum said: "Faced with a choice of blunt instruments with which to beat a good book into a bad movie, director Billy Bob Thornton chooses heavy, random, arty imagery and a leaden pace." The New York Times reviewer A. O. Scott thought the film "as slick and superficial as a Marlboro advertisement".

Roger Ebert disagreed, awarding the film three-and-a-half out of a possible four.

Awards

• Nominee - Best Original Score - Golden Globes (Marty Stuart, Kristin Wilkinson, Larry Paxton)
• Winner - Best Screenplay - National Board of Review (Ted Tally)
• Nominee - Grand Prix - Paris Film Festival (Billy Bob Thornton)
• Nominee - Best Picture - Las Vegas Film Critics Society (Robert Solerno, Billy Bob Thornton)
• Nominee - Best Actor - Las Vegas Film Critics Society (Matt Damon)
• Nominee - Best Screenplay - Las Vegas Film Critics Society (Ted Tally)
• Nominee - Best Cinematography - Las Vegas Film Critics Society (Barry Markowitz)
• Nominee - Best Score - Las Vegas Film Critics Society (Marty Stuart, Daniel Lanois)
• Nominee - Best Youth in Film - Las Vegas Film Critics Society (Lucas Black)
• Nominee - Best Supporting Actor - Young Artist Awards (Lucas Black)

External links

• All the Pretty Horses at IMDb
• All the Pretty Horses at AllMovie
• All the Pretty Horses at Rotten Tomatoes
• All the Pretty Horses at Box Office Mojo