All the Pretty Horses (DVD, 2001)

The movie is set in the early 1950s. It begins in San Angelo, West Texas (about halfway between Dallas and El Paso, and 150 miles north of the Mexican border), and it travels on horseback down into a ranch, roughly the size of the King Ranch, in the state of Coahuila, Mexico. As a young man raised in Georgia, I lived in that part of Texas in the early 1950s; and that was the most magical period of my life. It was at the tag ends of both the Old South and the Old West, and some of the Texans whom I knew back then still had the bark on, and were among the most-admirable people I have ever known. They fitted perfectly into that huge, then-still-wild country.

Recently (belatedly) I read Cormac McCarthy's tragic novel, "All the Pretty Horses," set in that same time-frame and location. I wanted to see if he had captured the mythic quality of some of those people. He had indeed. He wrote about a 16-year-old and his 17-year-old buddy who had grown up on ranches and who love the Old West and see it vanishing before their very eyes, and decide to ride to Mexico, to seek work on a big ranch where stock and horses are still the key facts of life, and motor vehicles are the useful auxiliaries. Along the way they get entangled with a charismatic 14-year-old boy who is a psychopath.

The hero (John Grady Cole) was raised by a Mexican nanny, so he speaks the language; but he does not realize that although the Mexicans value honor as highly as do the old-school Texicans, they often do so in very different ways; and so he and his friend ride into a gigantic culture-clash. The result is disaster, as the hero discovers when he falls in love with the hacendado's daughter. I'm not fond of tragedies, but McCarthy writes with such a sure hand and such spot-on beautifully-simplistic dialog and such a sympathetic view of the Texans of that day that I loved his book.

When the movie came out, I didn't go see it, because I didn't think that Billy Bob Thornton and Matt Damon would make the cut. But finally I decided to buy the DVD at a good price on eBay, and I'm glad I did. Billy Bob (who pretty much followed the storyline of the novel) and Matt Damon came through with flying colors in my eyes, and so did Lucas Black (who played the 14-year-old psychopath), and so did Penelope Cruz, who played the love interest.

Amazingly, Matt Damon convinced me that he really was an incredibly-mature 16-year-old. I've known a few 16-year-olds who were sort of like his character, albeit not quite that saintly; so he clicked for me. Unfortunately, I've also known a couple of 14-year-old psychopaths who were exactly like Lucas Black's character; so he scared the hell out of me.

The only miscast person was Henry Thomas, who played Matt Damon's sidekick. The script made him one-dimensional, so the producer should have cast a boyish-looking and -acting character to play that role; but instead he cast the typical Hollywood-32-year-old-playing-​a-17-year-old in that part; so he grated.

For me, because of my background and the quality of the movie, this DVD is definitely a keeper; and I intend to watch it many times over in the years to come. It reminds me powerfully of the Old West, which is now gone forever.

- Frank Conner

I bought this movie based on the previews but, was sadly disappointed in the presentation of it. I am a fan of Matt Damon via the Jason Bourne movies & Good Will Hunting with Ben Affleck but, this movie is nothing like those ones. True, there are killings but, alot is left unexplained like the part about the young man that hooks up with Matt Damon & his friend. Where exactly did he get the horse from is not explained. I like mysteries but, this would take you into areas & then leave you there while it jumped around to someplace else.
I can say that the scenery & horses were really nice to view. I would still just give this an average rating & not recommend it for one or even 2 times around viewing.

Great movie with a realistic story about the hard times of life and love and how to overcome them. My husband and I love western based movies with a good plot and storyline. This movie definetly has all of that.

All the Pretty Horses is a new western that has the look and feel of an good western. They looked like real cowboys and acted like them. No broke (bare back) mountain!

If you want a perfect date movie with action and love and hope for the human spirit, this is it. YOU WILL GET LUCKY! It was a surprise when I first saw it. Billy Bob Thornton directed this movie.