The American Spectator : Spielberg's Horse Opera -- A Warning

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Spielberg’s Horse Opera — A Warning

By Larry Thornberry on 12.30.11 @ 6:05AM

Steve, what were you thinking?

I guess Steven Spielberg is such in institution now, such a trusted brand (in the boring expression the business majors have foisted on us), that he assumes, with some reason, that he can put just anything on the screen, sure in the knowledge that it will be praised. That the movie promotion industry and its camp followers will go along with the gag.

Sad, but all too true. So far War Horse, a mawkish and manipulative boy-meets-horse opera, has gotten good reviews. It shouldn’t. The movie has some good acting, some beautiful scenes, and lush music from John Williams, Spielberg’s long-time musical accomplice. But for me, scenes of gratuitous coarseness ruin what would otherwise have been a mediocre to pretty good movie.

In addition to being overly sentimental, the movie has some Private Ryanesque scenes of World War I combat that are not for the faint-hearted. But worst of all is a hideous and inexcusable sequence where a terrified horse, in fact the central character in the movie, runs at flank speed through no-man’s land only to be badly cut and painfully brought down and encased by barbed wire. The sequence is so gut-wrenching that it reduced my wife — a softie when it comes to animals but hardly a creampuff — to sobs. It ended about the time I had decided I needed to escort her to the lobby to gather herself. She wasn’t the only one in the theater the scenes disturbed.

The movie is rated PG-13, which I’m told means parental guidance for children 13 and under. Hard to imagine how an adult could benefit from seeing this episode of what can only be described as animal torture, let alone a 13 year old. In younger children the scenes described above could cause nightmares.

In the contemporary entertainment world, where edginess is king and gore is to be lingered over, Spielberg and his movie-making colleagues seem to have forgotten about the imagination, a glorious human organ, but one so long ignored by Hollywood that it’s in a serious state of national atrophy. We don’t have to be beaten within an inch of our lives to get our attention or our empathy. Surely movie audiences aren’t so jaded that they require this level of violence and coarseness to respond.

My guidance to parents is to take the 13 year-old animal lovers in your family to We Bought a Zoo or to the dog park. Skip War Horse, which could have been a good movie for youngsters in the absence of the unnecessary, over-the-top brutality, though a doubtful one for adults because of its clichéd heart-tugging and utter predictability.

C’mon Steve, what the hell were you thinking?

About the Author

Larry Thornberry is a writer in Tampa.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (106) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Doctor_X| 12.30.11 @ 7:29AM

I guess I'll just re-read the book and skip the movie.

thanks for saving my $10 plus $20 in snacks and drinks!

PaulyD| 12.30.11 @ 9:17AM

All the positive reviews intitially came from Time, Rolling Stone, the N.Y. Times, etc. This automatically makes the movie suspect to us conservatives.

Mr. Thornberry has confirmed my suspicions.

george nugent | 12.30.11 @ 7:52AM

Thornberrys wife was upset at the bruised horse that recovered and no mention of the two boys executed? The movie was great at$7.50matinee and the Thornberrys have their values backwards:Human life is more im[portant than animal life.

Franco| 12.30.11 @ 9:25AM

Not all human life...

Seek| 12.30.11 @ 11:28AM

People long have had a powerful attachment to horses -- ask anyone who's grown up around them from a young age. Like Robert Redford's "The Horse Whisperer" and a few other films, "War Horse" tugs at the heart because people have one. The equine, it is true, does not command the moral sense another human does, but there are reasons why the novel, and the movie, resonate with audiences. A master craftsman like Steven Spielberg is exactly the director who can bring these emotions to life.

martin j smith| 12.30.11 @ 8:18AM

Do not spend money on Hollywood--Spielberg included of course.

Fred C. Dobbs| 12.30.11 @ 12:15PM

Damn Right!

Tina B| 12.30.11 @ 8:42AM

Thank you for the timely review, my 14 and 12 yr old grandchildren will not be seeing that movie in the theater, as I had planned. We won't be renting it as a DVD down the line either. You are correct, I read one great review and I had planned to treat them to a family night. Not now, not ever, whether it's executing children or torturing a horse, no child needs to see that.

What was Spielberg thinking, or does he even think anymore? About anything other than making huge profits, that is.

darcy| 12.30.11 @ 1:04PM

I decided after seeing Spielberg's remake of War of the Worlds that he is an evil man who deliberately sets about to bring hell on earth to people via the silver screen, all in the quaint name, of course, of telling a "story."

I do not own any Spielberg films much less will I ever deign to view one again. He has nothing to say that isn't primarily soaked in the most wretched images imaginable -- and this is by design. He is a hideous and cruel man. That he, along with Hanks, has given the maximum political contribution allowable to the Obama campaign speaks volumes about his "dreams" for our country -- and for the human beings that inhabit it.

He is a man to be shunned and all his works to be avoided lest by osmosis his victims imbibe toxic doses of the dystopian world he exults in.

Tina B| 12.31.11 @ 3:05PM

Thanks, Darcy, you spoke in words I understand, and agree with. I will take that stand too. I haven't thought much about Spielberg, and don't want to feather his nest any longer.

Joan| 12.30.11 @ 8:46AM

Thornberry!! What the hell were you thinking? I agree that not for 13 or under, but a hellava flic nonetheless. No F words, no gratuitous sex, good story. REAL story beautifully told. Even for Hollywood.

Matthew Quigley| 12.30.11 @ 9:01AM

The last Spielberg picture I went to was Jurassic Park, and I've not regretted not seeing one since. Spielberg is this era's DeMille: A showman, not a story teller. His movies are style over substance, wherein the story gets lost among the special effects.

I've seen bits and pieces of Saving Private Ryan and a couple of other Spielberg movies since 1993, and none have impressed me...although all have been consistent in being big budget spectacles. One thing I hope is that Spielberg doesn't turn his sights on the western...as horrible and overblown as his past movies have been, I dread to think what he would to to ruin the history of the frontier (worse than Hollywood has already distorted it).

gearjammer| 12.30.11 @ 10:19AM

You might try Armistad and The Lovely Bones. They showed kindness and respect to Christianity among other virtues.

Seek| 12.30.11 @ 11:29AM

"A.I.," "Catch Me If You Can," "Minority Report," "War of the Worlds," "The Terminal" -- not worth seeing? Nonsense.

pzkpfw| 12.30.11 @ 12:06PM

"War of the Worlds"?? Are you mad? Dakota Fanning screaming i your ear for two hours? I wanted the aliens to eat her after five minutes.

Skippy| 12.30.11 @ 12:49PM

Agreed.
Spielberg sucks for the last 20 years.
War of the Worlds?
A better title would have been "I hate GWB".
Minority Report?
OK, but mainly due to the remarkable Philip K. Dick. The film dragged and dragged....
Private Ryan?
Crap, with a cynical anti-war backstory, complete with morons, jerks and cowards. Very respectful of the men who saved the world for little Stevie.
He made some of the best movies ever...a long, long time ago.
His re-editing of ET to turn the guns into flashlights says it all.
I am way done with him.

Seek| 12.30.11 @ 1:51PM

By any chance, are you cynical? I suppose I'd be better off seeing "It's a Wonderful Life" for the 637th time.

Skippy| 12.30.11 @ 3:08PM

Hardly.
An optimist by nature, I have grown weary of being insulted in order to prove how hip and tolerant I am.
He could have continued making timeless great films, but chose otherwise.
I own and enjoy several of his earlier films, and prefer to recall the time he made movies for the paying audience, rather than the preening , self-important Hollywood/D.C. elite schmucks.
BTW, I just watched "Wonderful Life" for the 638th time.
It's still great.

Seek| 12.30.11 @ 4:35PM

Congratulations. I've just seen "The Truman Show" for the fourth time.

Skippy| 12.30.11 @ 6:06PM

Once is usually more than enough for any Jim Carrey movie.
"Truman" was well directed though.
I liked his touch.

Seek| 12.30.11 @ 2:13PM

Typically, girls scream at the sign of terror. Golly gee, what should Miss Fanning's character have done? Smile and sing "We Are the World" while giant hideous aliens rise from the pavement to devour her body? Tom Cruise's character kept a cool head because, well...because that's what a dad does.

Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" was at once an expensive monster B-movie and a complex look at how the human species reacts during social and infrastructure breakdown. It's no coincidence that the script was written by David Koepp, who'd directed "The Trigger Effect" in 1996, about social breakdown in a major city during a three-day power outage.

The line separating civilization from savagery is much thinner than we'd like to imagine. THAT was the point of Spielberg's movie. Coincidentally, it was released in the summer of 2005, only a couple months before the post-Hurricane Katrina disaster, a true-life case study in human ecology breakdown.

"Pzkpfw," you may be many things, but a film critic you are not.

pzkpfw| 12.30.11 @ 5:46PM

No I'm not a critic. I watch movies, not anal-yze them to find their inner meaning and not find the "complex look at how the human species reacts during social and infrastructure breakdown". The real world goes to a movie to be entertained not write a sociology white paper afterward.

Get a grip. The kids character screams her head off through most of the movie, to the point you can't stand her. If I were her dad, I would have reminded her that if she keeps screaming, we're all going to die...so shut up.

So no, I'm not a critic, just a person who watches movies and reacts to crap decisions wrapped in art.

I've been a scifi fan for my entire life (56 yrs) and I think the HG Wells would cringe at this remake.

bill carson| 12.30.11 @ 9:47AM

I won't defend anyone in Hollywood, but I gotta say that if your wife can't take a movie scene of brutality, I really don't want to read about in an editorial piece. Anyone with a brain knows the standard line that Hollywood loves to put at the end of virtually every movie: "no animals were injured during filming, blah, blah, blah."

So if you're whining about a horse running through a battlefield scene, you're crying for nothing and should know better.

Louis Hatchett| 12.30.11 @ 9:55AM

I wish I would see more movie reviews like Mr. Thornberry's. I have never understood the fascination that filmmakers have with gore. I just don't have that gene. Someone really needs to compile a book of interviews of filmmakers, asking them what they hoped to accomplish by putting such films on the screen that attack middle class American values.

Good movies stopped being made about 1970. Since from roughly about that time, it seems that filmmakers (and most of popular culture) have been at war with American middle class values. Films such as the one reviewed here take a middle class entertainment value and then twist it into something that will upset the viewing audience. They are not interested in entertaining so much as they are interested in upsetting their audience. I have asked for 40 years: why? What is the objective for doing so? I'm still waiting for a response.

I have been not watched a modern film or television show since 1990 and I don't intend to--not until I am sure that a) I will like the theme of the film; b) it has no excessive violence; c) it doesn't have any profanity.

There are so many pre-1970 films to enjoy that I could live 40 more years and have plenty to watch without to resorting to watching a modern film that attacks my values and sensibilities.

Seek| 12.30.11 @ 11:31AM

I have seen literally hundreds of pre-1970 movies. Some are good, but as a whole they don't measure up to the films since. Not even close. You've been reading too many bad books by Michael Medved.

darcy| 12.30.11 @ 1:12PM

I agree with Louis Hatchett. And I've never read a book by Medved. I trust my own sentiments regarding art -- and much of what has been produced by "artists" in the past 40 years is pure garbage.

Seek| 12.30.11 @ 1:52PM

Give me a half-dozen examples. And I could give a hundred or more of mine.

darcy| 12.30.11 @ 2:12PM

Your standard of judgment is obviously different than mine. What you request, therefore, is an exercise in futility. I'm sure we both have better things to do with our time.

Paul| 1.4.12 @ 3:35AM

In light of some other comments along these lines, I would like to take a moment to clarify a few points that Mr. Thornberry's review might not make clear.

Namely, War Horse is not a gory movie. If anyone is imagining that this film is anywhere near the Saving Private Ryan level in its portrayal of battle scenes, then these reviewers have painted a drastically erroneous picture. Furthermore, any claims that you are watching animal torture is also patently false. The aforementioned scene where the horse runs through barbed wire is sad (as it was intended to be), but it is not an example of Hollywood's recent obsession with torture pornography, as some seem to claim here. In fact, the movie is highly fantastical in this scene in the sense that the horse goes through such obstacles with almost no noticeable wounds at all.

Yes, two teenage boys are shot and killed, but the scene artfully and tastefully avoids showing the actual act. The other battle scenes, while they could perhaps be classified as intense and do depict death, have no gore or gratuitous violence. This is, after all, a movie that has war as major subject matter, and so some violence and warfare should not be a surprise to anyone in attendance. If you do not want your children going to see a movie about war, then, obviously, you should not take them to see this film. I find it absurd that some people think War Horse is equivalent to, say, 300 or the Saw movies. I found the PG-13 rating to be accurate, in light of the absence of any sexual themes, nudity, curse words, or gratuitous violence, and hope that people will be able to make an informed decision about what age is appropriate and not fall victim to some of the false characterizations bandied about in these comments.

For the record, I thought the movie was well done, but would not see it again or be likely to purchase it, simply as a matter of personal preference. Overall, I found it to be an enjoyable moviegoing experience, but, as the experience of the Thornberry's demonstrate, people are apt to disagree on taste. In my opinion, not "Movie Of The Year" quality as many critics have intimated, but a solid effort, nonetheless. Happy viewing, everyone.

Ground Control| 12.30.11 @ 9:58AM

This line caught my eye: "Surely movie audiences aren't so jaded that they require this level of violence and coarseness to respond."

Uh, I'm afraid they ARE that jaded. Which is why I seldom attend the movies anymore. This has been going on for decades with supposedly "mainstream" entertainments rife with graphic violence. The "old school" type of implied violence, or the quick cut-away, is long gone, replaced by the graphic (albeit CGI). Graphic violence is the stuff of so-called "graphic-novels" or trashy comic books aimed at 12 year old boys and has become the standard movie making technique. Absent the graphic violence, no doubt this movie would not have received the glowing praises of the critics that are currently being lavished on it. With some exceptions, movies by and large are being made for overgrown "12 year old boys", not adults and not families.

Ken Currie| 12.30.11 @ 9:58AM

Larry, sorry, you missed this one by a mile. War Horse is an extraordinary film. And tell me, how can one make a movie by that title without showing the horrors of war? Those gut wrenching scenes constituted one of the best portrayals of WWI ever put on the screen (I lost an uncle in that war, and my other uncle came away robbed of his manhood by a shell exploding between his legs; I'm sorry you thought it was "Ryaneseque"; I thought it was extremely realistic in its portrayal on the madness of trench warfare). I'm sorry your wife became ill over what was arguably the most powerful and emotional scene in the movie (you have to bear in mind, the horse wasn't really hurt), because it led to a point of sanity in the insanity of The Great War: two soldiers who shared a mutual bond in their love of a magnificent creature. Apparently, you missed that amazing and rewarding scene. Mawkish? I was amazed by the number of men in the theater who were trying to cover up their teary eyes by coughing. Ignore Thornberry and see this film. As far as the PG-13 rating: it's the parents' responsibility to make sure their children are not exposed to things the parents believe they shouldn't be seeing.

cowgirl| 12.30.11 @ 9:58AM

The title of the book/movie is The WAR Horse. In case anyone, including you Mr. Thornberry, has forgotten, WAR is ugly. The book was based on true events that took place during WWI. Millions of horses were slaughtered during WWI. It is a cold hard fact. I invite Mr. Thornberry and anyone else on this board to do some research on the writer and how the book came about. I love horses and I have lived with them all my life. The horse has had a long struggle in their relationship with mankind. We today, in the United States, see horses as Mr. Ed, Fury, Champion, Trigger, Secretariat, Seabuscuit, Misty, Black Beauty, Keen, and Scamper. They are our heroes, friends and companions. That was certainly not true during WWI and even WWII. Back in the 1960's Disney made a great movie called "The Flight of the White Horses". This was the true story of how General Patton, an old clavary man himself, worked with Alois Podhajsky the Directory of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna to save the awesome Lipizanner Stallions from the Germans who would use them as pack horses until they died and the Russians who would eat them. The Germans would have eaten them also. The world would have lost some of the greatest horses (and their bloodlines) of all time if it hadn't been for General Patton.
The scene in the movie of the horse running away and getting tangled in the bob-wire was as close to reality during WWI as one could possibly get. As cruel as it may seem, I am sure that during WWI many horses met the cruel fate of getting tangled in the bob wire or worse yet died from exposure to mustard gas.
This is a story of a young man who loved and cherished a horse that everyone thought was useless that was purchased at an auction by his father who was the town drunk and fool. The young man made the horse a town hero and then his father sells it off to the British military as a mount for a British officer. The young man vows to find the horse and be reunited. It is a movie of courage, hope, and character.
The bobwire can't hold a candle to those attributes.

PaulyD| 12.30.11 @ 11:38AM

I've heard of barbwire. What is bob wire? Is it the male version of Barb wire?

Paul McGrath| 12.30.11 @ 11:57AM

It's actually "barbed wire."

Oldmanriver| 12.30.11 @ 3:42PM

Anyone who has every had to put up quarter mile stretches of the stuff calls it bobed wire. You are right the actual term is barbed wire but it just shows that you wouldnt know how to use a fence puller.

Jacob R| 12.30.11 @ 5:06PM

Thank God. I'd hate to waste my time on nonsense just to feel superior to other people.

cowgirl| 12.30.11 @ 2:32PM

It it Texas speak for barb-wire.

Barbara Streisand| 12.30.11 @ 2:41PM

Here in Hollywood we refer to it as Babs wire...

Nick| 12.30.11 @ 3:06PM

It isn't working!

Barbed-wire is supposed to constrain cows.
Babs hasn't been constrained in her life.

Perhaps you should call it Brolin-wire, as he seems to have had his manhood confined ever since he married Babs! Ha-ha!

Petronius| 12.30.11 @ 12:14PM

The Disney film was Miracle of the White Stallions starring Robert Taylor. The year before Disney made a film titled The Trapp Family which since has been refuted and disavowed by the studio under an restrictive covenant with the producers of Sound of Music. I queried Leonard Malton on this and he denies the movie was ever made. There is no physical record of it and the negative and all prints have been destroyed. But somewhere in newspaper archives there must be reviews of it. As to Spielberg, his work is tour de force, farce, and flummery. I'm waiting for the opening of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Ken Currie| 12.30.11 @ 10:03AM

By the way: Michael Medved gave this movie four stars, and Michael Medved can't be accused of being a liberal.

Mazzuchelli| 12.30.11 @ 10:13AM

It's clear some here don't understand the anguish that brutality of this nature brings to many people. We know it's a movie but the projected cruelty cuts us to our very being and worse, stays with us for years. I still cringe over the Bonnie & Clyde death scene from years and years ago. Animal cruelty strikes harder. So, don't lecture. We know it's not real, at least in Western cultures.
Why is it necessary to project? The truth is, it is not. Hollywood is morally, ethically and creatively bankrupt. They work to impress each other and the Europeans. They don't give a damn about Americans or America.
P.S. Barbed wire or barb wire. Good grief.

cowgirl| 12.30.11 @ 10:18AM

I lived in Texas for two years and got into the habit of calling it bob wire - that is how they pronounce it in the Great State of Texas.

Oldmanriver| 12.30.11 @ 3:45PM

Im from Illinois and put up miles of the stuff...we call it bob wire too.

Seek| 12.30.11 @ 11:33AM

Maybe you are bankrupt -- or at least insulated. Most American filmmakers, by the way, don't "imitate" the Europeans -- though I wish they would a little more.

Fearless Bear| 12.30.11 @ 10:14AM

I thought it was a nice, meaningful, but sappy, movie. There is human as well as man/horse tragedy portrayed in a patchwork that hangs together, where many producer/directors would have failed. Since horses and other animal "stars" are not allowed to be seriously hurt by the movie industry or the watchdogs at SPCA, I did not feel an urge to lose total composure at the barbed wire scene. This is not a great movie, for sure, but it was good entertainment for a cold holiday afternooon with family. War is hell; WWI was particularly nasty. If anything, the film only gives a big enough glimpse of some of the reality of Hell for older viewers to understand, and younger viewers to be concerned and frightened, but not psychologically wounded. In its niche, its a good movie.

Paul Kotik| 12.30.11 @ 10:31AM

Uh, it didn't really happen, it was fake, this is not a documentary?

This is what we've become? How in God's name are we going to endure confrontations with actual, real violence?

We Are Doomed.

Kingofthenet| 12.30.11 @ 10:56AM

God forbid, we ACTUALLY show why ALL armies moved away from 'Real' Calvary to the mechanized kind, guess what it doesn't get any better today, the Black Stallion VS an Abrams MBT, isn't going to be pretty.

Kingofthenet| 12.30.11 @ 11:05AM

On a side note:If you ever saw the Polish Pre-WWII army, you would understand why Hitler and the Third Reich rolled over them so quickly, they had 'Real Calvary', Hitler Panzer divisions.

Harry | 12.31.11 @ 8:04PM

@Kingofthenet: The word is "cavalry" not Calvary. We are not talking about the crucifixion of Christ.

John Rich | 12.30.11 @ 11:11AM

I've not yet seen the movie, so must withhold opinion on its merits as a film.

On war, however, I stand with fellow Virginian Robert E. Lee: “It is well that war is so terrible -- lest we should grow too fond of it.”

World War I was a heinous waste of blood and treasure, fought between royal families on both sides who were (at least distant) cousins. If we can't be moved against useless war by scenes of human carnage, perhaps seemingly gratuitous animal cruelty might do the trick.

RCV| 12.30.11 @ 11:25AM

Gee, imagine that. Going to a movie about World War One and complaining that it has brutality in it. Do you and your wife have half a brain between you?

ohio annie| 12.30.11 @ 11:46AM

The word is "cavalry."

mikhail silo| 12.30.11 @ 12:00PM

In view of your wife's delicate sensibilities I'm going to give you a heads up about an upcoming movie: The Princess And The Pea. It's gutwrenching stuff.

Be kind, don't take her to see it - unless you like seeing her reduced to tears. Go by yourself and, if and when you decide to recount the story's unspeakable pain and hardships you can leave out the scary part about the princess having to.... Well, it's best that I don't describe the story's graphic imagry too much. After all, this is a family friendly publication.

rongordo | 12.30.11 @ 12:17PM

...instead, take your animal loving kids to "we bought a zoo," except don't. It's a Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansen payoff. Take them to the new Muppets movie...errr, no wait... evil oil tycoon plot. Take them to the new Batman... wait... only if you want them to continue being force fed the whole white militant terrorism is the real threat propaganda. Come to think of it, Hollywood continues to largely suck, and their box office sales reflect that. I'm opting out of propaganda and propagandizers, researching everything I'm about to support with my hard earned cash. Everyone should.

Seek| 12.30.11 @ 1:55PM

Fact: Hollywood combined TV and film revenues are up $14 billion since 2005. So much for your theory. In any event, content and box office are two separate things. Go rent the latest "Fast and Furious." Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, as always, are tres cool.

gearjammer| 12.30.11 @ 5:17PM

Are people in Hollywood overpaid seek ?

Renaissance Nerd | 1.2.12 @ 9:00AM

That doesn't mean ticket sales for movies are up; TV is booming, but movies are still 90% losers, and ticket sales are still declining. There are occasional jumps like 'Avatar' but the decline has been going on for literally decades. Inflated ticket prices both hide the decline and cause it; $10 each is a large enough sum that many aren't willing to take a risk, especially for a family with several children. It costs me about $120 to go to the movies now, so it's a quite a risk to take--safe bets are the order of the day, forever more. Which is why I haven't seen a movie in almost 6 months. Used to see at least 3 movies a month. There's a reason even R-Rated movies are made with 12-year-old boys as the target audience.

Seek| 1.3.12 @ 3:27PM

Spin isn't going to make facts disappear. And on top of that, you miss the larger point: Movies today are made for decades, not months, of revenues. The opening theatrical run is a dog-and- pony show, revenue-wise. The real money is made through TV, pay per view, DVD sales and rentals, and most of all, Internet downloads. A poor initial run for a given movie doesn't mean people are "staying away," as if to boycott it. Far from it -- they often prefer to watch it via DVD or some other medium ("Gettysburg," for example, lost quite a bit of money in 1993 when first released, but has made a fortune since.)

In any event, people see movies today because they want to. They are intrigued and usually wind up satisfied customers. Sorry to break the good news.

Ron| 12.30.11 @ 12:25PM

So, one of the most brutal, costly wars fought in Europe was actually bloody and violent? Oh, dear Lord, tell me it isn't so...I thought it was sunshine, lollipops, skittles, and unicorns...But seriously, what did you think of Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, The Eagle, Centurion, or Lord of the Rings?

pzkpfw| 12.30.11 @ 12:32PM

Oh please..just another vehicle for Spielberg (Playmountain - BTW) and the jewish-american media machine to punish their favorite bogey-man, the Germans.

I've seen the trailer and see the brave and gallant British cavalry attack the Germans in their sleeping tents..what heros! A couple of Maxims would have turned the charge into horseburgers., but that would have been a stand up fight instead of killing soldiers in their beds.

Sorry horse lovers, any movie base on a horse automatically carries the same review...avoid at all cost.

Kingofthenet| 12.30.11 @ 1:08PM

So are you saying the Germans were the REAL heroes? I also got news for you buddy ALL military forces 'hope and pray' to find their enemies in bed, on the crapper, taking a shower, than killing them.No one in their right mind want's to willingly do a Pickett's Charge.

Kingofthenet| 12.30.11 @ 1:21PM

This is about as accurate as anything on the shear stupidity of 'trench warfare':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related

pzkpfw| 12.31.11 @ 10:39PM

Never said they were heroes, but great point.

Thom| 12.30.11 @ 1:38PM

"A couple of Maxims would have turned the charge into horseburgers.,"

A whole row of them did just that in the movie demonstrating the folly of a cavalry charge in WWI…and different mindsets at work between… the Germans and the British at that moment in time.

Seek| 12.30.11 @ 4:41PM

"The Jewish-American media machine." Pretty much says all I need to know about you.

pzkpfw| 12.30.11 @ 6:25PM

Beyond your simplistic view about me, prove I'm wrong.

I'm a postwar German immigrant arriving here in 1959. During my entire life I've seen the US media roll out a tidal wave of German-monster films and TV shows. Yet all that time Germany and the US are great friends and allies.

So I won't apologize for my opinion that Speilberg seems to have a passion for producing movies about the bad bad Germans.

Ever wonder why he never creates a movie about Pol Pot, Stalin, the Chinese, the Japanese, North Korea, the Romans, and sorry to say, the Americans (ask a Native American, if you don't get the point)? Every one of these regimes killed millions of people. In particular, the Russians and Chinese make the others, including the Germans, look like amateurs. Many tens of millions dead, but then they weren't jewish, so they don't count.

So yes, I rant when the hollywood media and it's jewish majority (deny that), yet again produces a film that perpetuates the Germans as the consant enemy.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-semitic, but I'm sure you don't believe me. I was, after the way I was treated living in NY, but after years of self reflection, I changed. What has not changed is my recognition of the obvious jewish bias in the US media.

It's funny how no one remembers that Italy was the enemy as well..

RCV| 12.31.11 @ 12:52PM

Gee, maybe if your family had been put in ovens during WWII, you might have a particular focus on those who did the baking, too.

pzkpfw| 12.31.11 @ 10:43PM

Oh boo hoo, to paraphrase,

Gee, maybe if your family had been massacred in their teepees, you might have a particular focus on those who did the shooting, too.

But then, there aren't any Native American directors to make that movie.

RCV| 1.3.12 @ 2:44PM

Kingofthenet| 12.31.11 @ 12:53PM

Well that at least is a reasonable reply, there IS a bias towards ISRAEL, that should be your focus not Jews. There are plenty of fine upstanding Jews, just as we should blame Hitler and the Third Reich for the some of the atrocities of WWII not the German people.

Ken Currie| 12.30.11 @ 8:18PM

Too bad you didn't see the movie, because then you would know that Spielberg didn't portray the Germans as pure evil. And you would also know that Maxims did in fact turn the charge into a massacre, and the Germans rightly screamed at the Brits for their arrogance and stupidity. It's too bad folks don't actually see a movie before they trash it. In fact, one of the "heroes" of the film is a German soldier who tries his best to keep the horse alive and another German soldier who rescues Joey (the horse) from the barbed wire (and, yes, we called it bob wire in Iowa, too). So, yes, I would have to conclude that your reference to the Jewish-American media DOES raise questions about your attitude.

pzkpfw| 12.31.11 @ 10:37PM

Excellent point. I did not see the movie, only the trailer, so I shouldn't act as a critic. As to my attitude, Sorry, just I'm tired of the constant rehash of WWI, WWII German bad guy script. I have to wonder how many Americans know that the largest European immigrant population is German. Regarding my Jewish comment, show me how the entertainment industry does not have higher proportion of Jewish executives, directors, producers, writers, etc.

grayjohn| 12.30.11 @ 3:33PM

The only way to effect jerks like Spielberg is to stop going to movies. Every movie that comes out of hollywood has the same formula. Cheap violence, insult values, disgust, and then try to justify the whole thing with a sappy stupid ending. I haven't watched a movie in about 10 years. I haven't missed anything. Think about it. If all the movies just went away would you really miss anything made before 1966? It's the definition of insanity to keep going to new movies expecting a different out come. I won't pay to have my face spit in .

Seek| 12.30.11 @ 4:43PM

Oh, and there wasn't far more formula in the "classic" era? As if your typical Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire movie didn't recycle the same idea far more brazenly. And those Shirley Temple flicks, of course, had such enormous variety.

gearjammer| 12.30.11 @ 5:21PM

You ever see a movie Bill Holden made ? Ever see Bridges at Toko Ri ? Has it all over Pvt Ryan. And Holden vs Damon or the great " Hanks". Please, Tom H did look good dressed like a chick way back when. The little guy with glasses carried that show.

Seek| 1.3.12 @ 3:36PM

I've seen "Bridges at Toko-Ri" -- a good war film. But today's, as a whole, are better.

Seek| 12.30.11 @ 4:44PM

Speak for yourself, graybeard. I'll take Ridley Scott or anyone else.

florin| 1.1.12 @ 1:39PM

What do you mean 'jerks' like Spielberg? If you don't want to watch his movies, don't watch them but he is an excellent producer and life isn't made up of soft marshmallows...

grayjohn| 12.30.11 @ 3:35PM

I meant to say,"made after 1966" sorry.

Argo Ship| 12.30.11 @ 4:58PM

So nothing like that could have ever happened to a real horse in WWI? Seems like Tampa must be a little light in the reality loafers.

POST American| 12.30.11 @ 9:32PM

"---PC moral alibis as Hollywood continues
to BALK and RUN from the 20th, 30th, 40th,
50th and NOW 60th Anniversary of the
staggeringly relevant---KOREAN WAR---."

What more can one say about the franchise
slum Hollywood mafia?

----Well, this: they've also snuffed ALLLLL
revelations of the Globalist RED Chinese
Halocaust while predictive programming us
for EUGENICS, tech worship and Globalist
'values'.

rhoetus| 12.30.11 @ 10:55PM

"Liberals" glorify all wars except those against communism.

Seek| 1.3.12 @ 3:32PM

Go rent Peter Weir's movie from a year ago, "The Way Home," about a POW escape from a Soviet gulag. Based on a true story. And I didn't see anything pro-Communist about it. Get your facts right before rendering sweeping judgments.

e track from saq| 12.31.11 @ 11:03AM

Amen,to all my brothers and sisters who are so "right" in there revelations about the hacks that run Hollywood.

Havoc| 12.31.11 @ 11:20AM

Movie was terrible ... boring ... how long do you want to stare into a horse's face ? (really)

Drifter| 1.1.12 @ 3:18AM

Much longer than some others...

Radioman777| 12.31.11 @ 12:54PM

It's about time people got over the sickening habit of elevating animals to human status. But, that seems to be a byproduct of urban culture, where animals are revered and people are to be subjected to the utmost cruelty.

Cpm| 12.31.11 @ 5:10PM

After seeing the commercials for the film I suspected as much and had already made up my mind to wait for the Redbox.
As to the anthropomorphising of animals, it's as old as the first folkstory, where animals have always been used to illustrate human traits like evil, innocence, nobility, etc. Maybe they are revered because they are motivated by instinct rather than human foibles and failures.

Leah| 12.31.11 @ 7:40PM

Thanks so much for the warning, Mr. Thornberry. It is greatly appreciated as I was considering taking grandchildren, particularly a lover of horses, to see it. I also have no interest in gratuitous violence myself which is why I never saw Private Ryan and rarely go to any movies. Would certainly have exited this one. So many thanks for saving me from the loss of time and money.

Drifter| 1.1.12 @ 3:12AM

War is hell for horses and the rest of us but I doubt that any horses were actually injured in this production. It's just a movie...

Michelle Hanson| 1.1.12 @ 9:45AM

Come on, Mr Thornberry what the hell were you thinking, that WWI was a walk in the park? Did you even read the book? Yesh, the more appropriate question is What the hell is American Spectator doing with your articles, seriously, it reads like an article my 16 yo son would write.

florin| 1.1.12 @ 1:35PM

I don't understand your review...the movie is about a 'war' horse...and from what I hear from those who have already seen it, it is a courageous and inspirational movie. When horses are used in wars, terrible things happen...what about "Call of the Wild"? and other 'wilderness' books? You did not give an intelligent review...your wife is a softie and cried when the horse was hurt...oh well! What does that even mean...you should not be reviewing movies...

florin| 1.1.12 @ 1:37PM

However, parents should not bring young children to movies...and - worse, much worse things happen to humans all the time...this movie was about the precious bond between a young man and his horse, about valor and fidelity...even Walt Disney did not have perfectly serene cartoons...think of Bambi - life is hard but this movie was not about gore and destruction - it was about the bond between a boy and his horse...about courage and honor.

Dick Simmons| 1.1.12 @ 5:25PM

Did I even see the same movie as you folks? My problem with Spielburg is that every shot in his films has to be meticulous, color-splashed, and painting-like. His main problem here is that he tried to do a mash-up of a gritty WWI "war-is-hell" story with a Disney-like "cute-animal-meets-boy" pic. The British cavalry charge is precise and authentic... spooky, as a wave of horsemen appear out of the standing grain to mow down unsuspecting soldiers in camp. Very 1914. The latter scenes at the Somme in 1918 show a gray wasteland, this time the waves of Tommies are cut down like grain as they advance. At this point in the picture, Spielberg seems to try to copy Kubrick in "Paths of Glory". But in the end, his sentimentalism gets the best of him. Joey the Horse, while tangled in barbed wire made me wince, but something like that rings true. What's not true is even after being rescued by two opposing soldiers, the horse is shown with only a few scratches--- any animal in that situation would have been cut to pieces. Likewise, his boy-owner is gassed and is temporarily blinded. We see him shortly afterward batting his baby-blues as though he only got some dust in his eyes. If anything Spielburg pulled his punches, but understandable given the dual personality of his story. Neither fish nor fowl... he went for the box-office and it shows.

Louis Jenkins| 1.2.12 @ 8:09AM

Dear Mr. Thornberry:

I wasn't going to see the movie, but after reading your editorial I decided to take the chance. Overall it was an okay movie. Yes, two young men (boys) were executed, but realize dear readers this was a war and deserters were shot. Shell going into a trench and blowing men upward and away. It is the facts of war. While a stretch of the imagination, a horse, running for its life, was tangled in barbed wire, and its fate was sealed by the toss of a coin between two opposites. By and large I came away with a respect for horses in that they are truly loyal and smart, at least this horse was. Don't be too hard on Spielburg for this one. Take the movie for what it is worth, nothing more.

Louis Hatchett| 1.2.12 @ 9:14AM

To add to my above comments, I still see no reason for filmmakers' penchant for spilling blood on the screen. Leave a suggestion of it, if you wish, but for goodness sake let our imaginations work!

Mark MacInnis| 1.2.12 @ 10:53AM

I saw the movie on Christmas day. While not the greatest work Mr. Spielberg has done, I find Mr. Thornberry's review misguided. The cinematography was done well, the scenes were handled (mostly) sensitively....the one excruciating scene with the horse in barbed wire was difficult to watch, but much less difficult to watch than, for example, the flogging scene in Mel Gibson's movie about the crucifiction of Christ. As to imagination, I thought cinematically beautiful the scene where the Germans counter-attacked brutally the foolishly-attacking British cavalry....Speilberg shows the guns firing, then shows empty horses streaming into the gun positions....he leaves to the imagination the impact of the machine gun bullets on the sadly unprepared British cavaliers.... His point, I presume, the impact of military technology on warfare.... brutally destroying the sympathetic gentleman soldiers of the British cavalry. As to the theme of the movie...that the dignity, courage and strength of one of God's most magnificent creatures...the horse....can inspire the same in men and women on both sides of an ideological spectrum.... combatants on both sides of the war can be moved by the courage of the war horse...or they can be brutes.

I can't imagine what you were thinking about, Mr. Thornberry, as you watched this film. What I thought about was that this was, though not a perfect movie, head and shoulders above the rest of the tripe that came out of Hollywood this year....and only Spielberg could have gotten this film made. No one else has the cojones to propose getting a film like this financed, nor the clout to see it through to the screen. Spielberg may be too liberal, but he knows his business and he does entertain.

Calvin | 1.2.12 @ 11:49AM

I have raised, trained, and own and care for horses every day.
I have to ask, what the hell is the entertainment value of being made to feel sad or sentimental or angry at a film made for the express purpose of manipulating one's emotions?
I suggest to those looking for a real joy that they take the family out to a stable to just brush a horse. That feeling you shall get we shall agree is REAL.

Shoey| 1.2.12 @ 3:34PM

it's a horse! it's not a person, if you weep more for a horse than a person, you are mentally unbalanced... and most likely a progressive, whether you think you are or not.

Spectre| 1.2.12 @ 4:55PM

I saw the movie and it was so so. As for the barbed wire the horse was tangled in, it had rubber barbs. A little fact checking and you can find this point...ouch! The horse was not hurt in the film.

All American American| 1.3.12 @ 10:15AM

The commercials were enough for me to not want to see it. That and the fact that I'm not a fan of limey accents. Why would I pay to listen to them for 2+ God-forsaken hours?

Gimme zombies takin' .308s to the head any day over stupid boy loves horse movies. Dude prolly just needed to get l---.

arizona cowboy| 1.3.12 @ 10:35AM

It is a MOVIE. It is MAKE BELIEVE. Why all the hand wringing ?
With the current laws, Spielberg must jump through enormous hoops to make sure the horse is not harmed.
If the scenes evoke strong emotions...guess what? That is what the movie maker is working for.

Flee| 1.3.12 @ 4:02PM

Hitchcock had to terrify without the modern gore and did it brilliantly. Strange how the more moviemakers are allowed to show the less entertaining and rewarding their films become. I look at it as the pornification of traditional films. Writing for tv and screen seems to have fallen so far that reality is their only card left to play. It's a pity.

Franz| 1.3.12 @ 4:32PM

Exactly right about Hitchcock. He famously said:

"There is no terror in the BANG. Only in the anticipation of it."

Should be lesson one, day one in film school.

POST American| 1.3.12 @ 11:13PM

---------------------FINAL WORD-----------------------

EVEN putting aside the FACT that Hollywood's
been key in programming the collective unconscious a
way from ANY revelations of Globalism, TREASON,
or the RED Chinese Halocaust, even while predictive programming
tech worship and EUGENICS------

'overlooked' though they may be,
nevertheless ---THIS IS

------------------the 60th Anniversary-----------------
----------------------------of the---------------------------
----------------------KOREAN WAR---------------------

AND!

-----------------the 200th Anniversary----------------

-----------of Globalist NAPOLEON'S defeat----------

-------------------------in RUSSIA------------------------

---so take note.

Now, back to Spielberg's self-basting,
second hand, over-produced horse show.