Seabiscuit
**This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn’t exist.
One of the most beautiful things Gary Ross does is give us four, distinct character arcs that culminate in four disparate personalities feeling fulfilled by the end. It’s not easy to accomplish that in a 140-minute film, but how Ross distills the essence of Laura Hillenbrand’s book about Seabiscuit- an underdog race horse- into not just a look at how the horse filled a need in Americans suffering in the Great Depression, but how he helped heal the hearts of Charles Howard- his owner, Tom Smith- his trainer, and Red Pollard- his jockey. For this very reason, “Seabiscuit” is one of my favorite underdog sports movies of all-time.
I have no interest in horse racing as a whole, but Ross’s screenplay doesn’t ask us to- it simply asks us to take interest in these lives, and how all of them were changed for the better. All four main characters are some degree of stubborn- Howard (played by Jeff Bridges) is too filled with a salesman’s bravado to feel like they can’t succeed together; Smith (played by Chris Cooper) is too sure that broken animals can have value to give up on one that seems as irreparably broken as Seabiscuit; and Pollard (played by Tobey Maguire) is too filled with a need to prove himself to give up even when he suffers a catastrophic injury. As for Seabiscuit, this horse needs all of that stubbornness thrown its way if its going to change its fortunes, and win some races. It’s a thrilling journey.
Ross’s film makes a smart decision at the start by using David McCullough, whose voice had been synonymous with American history, as the narrator, to give us an understanding of the time in history these four find themselves in. Charles Howard works on bikes before someone brings their car to him, and he sees the future in front of him, until his family’s future is snuffed out by tragedy. Tom is always an outcast, an old cowboy who respects nature too much to see it discarded when it doesn’t meet up with what humanity expects of it. Red has a gift riding horses, which is why his father- as the Depression rages- offers him up to someone who can use those talents, but when things don’t go the way people expect, that initial disappointment transforms his mindset. As for Seabiscuit, he’s a colt of strong breeding who never turned into what trainers thought he could. With these three men, though, he would become extraordinary.
There are also two supporting characters one cannot go without mentioning. The first is Elizabeth Banks as Charles’s second wife, Marcela, who gets him on a horse, which leads him to getting into racing. Banks is the one who keeps Charles on course when things start to derail, and is the mother Red misses. The second one is the great William H. Macy as Tick Tock McGlaughlin, the radio broadcaster whose skepticism turns to pure delight on Seabiscuit. You’ll recognize a lot of other different actors in this film, but if they don’t lead to the track, and some of the key moments of Biscuit’s career, they are almost not worth considering.
Each moment along the way here resonates with what it says about the story, and these characters. The lows that lead these characters together. The almost cosmic chance that brought Seabiscuit and Red together with Tom and Charles. The early struggles. The building success. The duel tragedies to Red and Seabiscuit, and how they seem to heal one another. And of course, the triumphant conclusion. But no doubt the sequence everyone remembers is Seabiscuit’s legendary race against War Admiral. That is the high point of Ross’s storytelling instincts in this film- how he builds up to it, and finally, the race itself, which has all the feel of fiction, which makes the fact that it’s based on reality all the more impressive.
John Schwartzman’s cinematography is fantastic at putting us in the period, as well as making us feel like we’re racing along with Seabiscuit on the track. And Randy Newman was a wonderful choice for composer; he understands what is necessary in this story, and isn’t afraid to make it fun, either. This is a winner in every way.
