Seabiscuit [Region 2]

If you love horses you will love itit's an underdog story and will bring out the best in you

Awesome movie

There's THE STORY OF SEABISCUIT and then there's SEABISCUIT, and sorry to Shirley Temple but her version turns out the lesser film. If you've read Laura Hillenbrand's best-seller book but haven't seen the movie, go see the movie - and, vice versy, if you've seen the movie but haven't read the book, read the book. Either way, the Biscuit's story is ridiculously entertaining. That it's also a true-to-life account makes it that much more compelling. Who would've thunk it that one of my favorite athletes of all time would turn out to be a horse?There was a time when Seabiscuit was America's most celebrated personality, getting even more pub than F.D.R. Seabiscuit lived and raced during the Great Depression, the course of his storied life running parallel with the ups and downs of that era. He was the son of Hard Tack, grandson of Man-O-War, and growing up he was abused and so became bitter and incorrigible. Standing barely 15 hands, the Biscuit was certainly never tapped to be a champion racehorse. His mean upbringing is mentioned, except that the film's first 44 minutes devote themselves to a leisurely introduction of the three damaged men who would shape the Biscuit's career, shape him into a legend. One after another, we meet the visionary entrepreneur (who is a bit of a huckster), the peculiar horse whisperer quietly mourning a vanishing way of life, and the half-blind, overeducated jockey who boxed and quoted Shakespeare.The casting choices are spot-on. There's no bad egg in this bunch, from the principal actors - and how many crazy pounds did Tobey Maguire lose for the part? - down to ancillary characters like George "the Iceman" Woolf as played by real life jockey Gary Stevens (in his debut role) and the fun, fast-talking radio announcer Tick Tock McGlaughlin, marvelously brought to life by William H. Macy.The races are rousing, pulse-pounding stuff, yeah. The story builds up to the historic match race with War Admiral and later the Santa Anita Hundred Grander, and I couldn't believe how intense my sense of anticipation was leading into these races. And when you bring up that list of best sports cinema, SEABISCUIT is up there with ROCKY and HOOSIERS, because how do you not root for this gutsy ugly little horse? Narrated with quiet assurance by David McCullough, this is something lyrical, a period film that looks authentic and packs an emotional punch. It's also a dynamite history lesson concerning a time when the country was tested severely, and phrases like "pick themselves up by their bootstraps" and "never say die attitude" circulated like a mother, became rallying cries. Beaten down but never bowed was the Biscuit, and he never quit. You can see why he became the common guy's hero. See this movie. Read the book.The DVD's special features include: audio commentary by director Gary Ross and filmmaker Steven Soderbergh (in which the two pause the movie several times to go even more in depth about certain scenes); "Bringing the Legend to Life": the Making of SEABISCUIT (00:15:04 minutes); "Anatomy of a Movie Moment" - Gary Ross shares his step-by-step filmmaking process of one sequence from script to screen; "Seabiscuit: Racing thru History" explores more of Seabiscuit's stunning rise to celebrity status thru historic newsreel footage of actual races (including clips of his match race with War Admiral) and numerous interviews, including interviews with Gary Ross and author Laura Hillenbrand (00:14:53); "Photo Finish" - Jeff Bridges' On the Set photographs; "The Longshot" - a special message from Buick, set in a faux newsreel format and which goes into the origins of the Buick auto and also of Charles Howard's involvement (00:03:19); promotional material; cast & filmmakers bios and film highlights; production notes; and DVD-ROM features.

I really enjoyed this movie a lot. It was a tear jerker and had a great ending.

Wonderful story of three men from disparate backgrounds meet and form a bond greater than the sum of the three. A wealthy man who has lost his son and wife, a “horse whisperer” who feels that modern horse training has passed him by, and a young red headed boy scratching out an existence in the depression from bare knuckled boxing to being a jockey in the wild races below the border in Mexico where Americans go to drink liquor and watch horse racing. (Prohibition)Oh yeah and the magic that brings them together is a small horse (only 14 1/2 hands high-58” at the shoulders) who inherited great speed and had a soul that REFUSED to be beaten by the thoroughbreds from the East Coast that were up to 18 hands high!-72”-6 feet tall at the shoulder!)The horse was Seabiscuit son of Hardtack. Both names refer to hard crackers taken on long sea voyages. His sire Hardtack was a rambunctious horse who even refused to leave the starting gate in one race. But his son Seabiscuit had his daddy’s speed and these three men loved this horse and worked together to make this horse a sign of the Depression. 25% of able bodied Americans had lost employment with the crash of the Stock Market in 1929. There was no welfare, or workman’s comp. No food stamps. Families lost EVERYTHING and took to the road in the one thing they did own--a Model T Ford built by Henry Ford. These down and out workers looked to Seabiscuit as their savior. If this little horse could beat the big guys well maybe things weren’t so bad and there WAS a future! (FDR!)The racing sequences are magnificent. You feel that you are in the irons (stirrups) on the backs of these 1500# thoroughbreds. It’s amazing how they were able to show a horse “shifting gears” to top speed.Look for Gary Stevens a real jockey who played the “Iceman” George Woolf. Gary had retired as a full time jockey and became a trainer and a TV analyst. He agreed to play Iceman and what a superb job he did! This film was made in 2003 and Gary returned to racing winning his NINTH Triple Crown race in 2013 in the Preakness at the age of 50. Pound for pound, jockeys are the most fit athletes in the world.Before Tobey became Spiderman, he was “Red” Pollard the famed jockey of Seabiscuit. Jeff Daniels, Chris Cooper--wow what a movie!(BTW--the book this movie was based on is by Lauren Hillenbrand. Her writing is magnificent! You ARE on that horse as it rounds the final turn and heads for the finish line!--Both book and movie are superb.)My two dreams since I was a little girl was to be an astronaut and ride a thoroughbred. Became a scientist and have ridden anything with four legs from Shetlands to Tennessee Walkers, Arabians, quarter horses, and even “breezed” some polo ponies helping to exercise them after injury. Just never strong enough to ride in the irons, clutching the mane and reins of a Grade 1 thoroughbred!

I received the dvd in a good amount of time and there was absolutely no issues with the quality of dvd received from the seller.The dvd story itself was very disappointing. In my opinion it was just a poor horse racing movie. Any kind of story was lost by the flicking back and forth in the storylines. In the attempt to make this film stand out, the producers added so much swearing, using God's name in vain, inappropriate brothel scene, kicking a goat...etc Seriously unhappy as I tried to watch this movie with the family and some of which were young. If your looking for a good family horse movie try Secretariat instead with fantastic.

This is a wonderful film, based on the true story of the race horse Seabiscuit. I am not ashamed to say that I have watched this film at least 3 times and every time it has brought tears to my eyes - tears of joy for the determination of people, and horses, to overcome adversity and to recover from terrible sedbacks, and to go on to achieve the remarkable.Set around the period of the depression in the 1920's the movie relates the story of how 3 people- Seabiscuit's owner, trainer and jockey, overcame their personal losses and tragedies in pursuit of their dreams.Superbly recreated scenes which almost exactly match the original newsreel footage, and totally convincing acting from all the main players make this an entirely convincing and satisfying movie - one of my favourite films ever. You don't need to know anything much about horse racing to enjoy this film - try it - you'll love it!

A brilliant movie about a homeless boy, millionaire and a cowboy brought together by a horse that became famous, very moving and great to watch with their combination they succeed in the race circuit. The actors are fabulous so I rated this an A grade plus for the full on entertainment that goes with the story, the problems of training and the up and downs in their journey to glory. Highly recommended as this is a great movie and worth having and watching. Now time to relax with feet up and munchies by your side. Enjoy!

dts 5.1 is great,the encode needs no enhancing..just play it through your home theatre kit on 'standard' to benefit from it.,just wonderful.Is over 2 hours,,not that it drags a bit,because it doesn't,but make sure you have a butty with you coz the movies sentiment will be too exhausting otherwise.Pause if the kettle beckons because this too will be a requirement-very exhausting,,BUT it is worth it.The transfer is remarkable on this '03 release-was on mine anyway.,looked & sounded like a bluray.(modern equipment is great)Strongly recommend watching through a 5.1 home theatre kit,dvd's are fantastic-and I think people forget that with the onset of high def.I recommend this dvd,the quality of the audio and video transfers are so that its not worth the extra for the bluray...unless you HAVE to own it.Wazza.

This is the most well told and fascinating film in my 1000 film collection. It is the classic story about the unlikely hero and a piece of american history.Gary Roos is a moviemaking god. Too bad that he does not do this very often, (witch led my to see all his movies), but I guess when you do them this well, it takes a huge effort.People outside the US - SEE THIS FILM! There have not been much distribution/marketing outside USA, and that is really a pity, because this movie is among the absolute best I have seen, and the style of storytelling is simply through the roof.Thumps up to Gary Roos and the fantastic actors that took this movie though the roof. Thank you.