Dir. Joe Johnston
Hildalgo is a movie about two friends who have known each other for a long, long time. They are so close they have become brothers. There is no one they trust more, no one they should trust more. This is a story about the love between these two people.
Alright, now we have that straight.
So in the last days of the wild west there was a long distance rider, Frank Hopkins, who had never been beaten. He also rode for the military, delivering messages which could not wait on slower riders. One time he delivered a message which prompted the military to kill a hundred captive Sioux. Since Frank was half Sioux himself (a fact he hid from the world) this prompted a guilt that he could not shake. He winded up a drunk, performing in the Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West show. At one point a representative of the sheik of sheiks reaches the show, demanding that the title best long distance racer in the world be removed. Since he had never raced in the race across the ocean of fire he couldnt very well call himself the best in the world. Franks friends decide they cannot let this insult go unchallenged, and scrape up the money to enter Frank into the race, with his brother Hildalgo. Away they go to Arabia, to race across the Sahara. They meet betrayal, jealousy, and murder from the other contestants. Not only do they two have to deal with them, but they also must face the desert that kills people when its bored. Frank and Hildalgo are helped in the race by the sheiks daughter. She gives them information that the desert people have, that a half Indian/half white American cowboy would have no way of knowing. This information saves their lives more than once. Frank has adventures outside of the race as well. Theres the time he had to rescue the princess, and the time when people were going to do nasty things to his body.
Its a Western, its an adventure, its a race. It is, in fact, a wonderful, feel good movie, where the characters are rich in depth. My favorite character is actually Hildalgo, which is odd since hes got Viggo (Aragorn) Mortensen to compete against. Ah well, I love them in different ways, and Ive enough to go around.
I rate it: Full Price
Viggo Mortensen as Frank Hopkins
Zuleikha Robinson as Jazira
Omar Sharif as Sheik Riyadh
Louise Lombard as Lady Anne
Okay, Hildalgo is actually a horse, but that does not change one word Ive said. Theyre brothers one just is a different species than the other.