John Steinbeck combined three of his short stories to create the screenplay for this old-fashioned boy-and-his-horse tale, a rather simple coming-of-age piece in which young Tom (Peter Miles) learns responsibility while navigating between his stern rancher father, Fred (Shepperd Strudwick), and charismatic hired hand, Billy Buck (Robert Mitchum), while Tom's mother, Alice (Myrna Loy), looks on with concern. Directing this 1949 film, veteran Lewis Milestone turned Steinbeck's tale into a solemn bit of Americana, investing the script with an incongruous degree of visual grandiosity that is only amplified by Aaron Copland's rousing score. Shot in luminous color by famed cinematographer Tony Gaudio, The Red Pony is full of exquisitely composed images that take on an almost painterly quality. In addition to a striking performance by Mitchum, the film boasts amusing supporting turns by Louis Calhern as Tom's garrulous granddad, and Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch of the West herself) as a straitlaced schoolmistress. By contrast, Miles and the other children in the cast—including a very young Beau Bridges—are amateurish. Still, this sort of equine variant of Old Yeller is a solid family film, making a welcome debut on Blu-ray. Recommended. (F. Swietek)
The Red Pony
Olive, 89 min., not rated, Blu-ray: $29.95 Volume 28, Issue 4
The Red Pony
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