Danny

While spending her summer vacation working at an upscale horse stable, 12-year-old Janie Neely (Rebecca Page) takes a fancy to Danny, the trim-looking pony of the owner's spoiled daughter. After being injured, Danny is ignored by the brat, and Janie not only steps in to nurse him back to health, she's also aided by a mysterious benefactor who arranges for Danny's ownership to be transferred to the girl. You can probably guess where this is going: girls and horses have been filmmaker fodder for decades, and with only a finite number of plot variations to work with, films of this type usually end up being mawkish and predictable. Gene Feldman's 1977 Danny is no different, but young Page makes a charming, plucky ingénue, and her faith in Danny provides a suitably uplifting and sentimental finale for this fine family movie, winner of a Bronze Chris Award at the Columbus International Film Festival. Recommended. (E. Hulse)