Movie Review: Danny

Danny (1979)
(available for purchase on Amazon.com, or instant through Netflix or Amazon Prime)

This could have gone wrong in so many ways, and yet, ultimately it turned out right. It has the cliches in abundance: the poor girl who really cares about horses versus the rich girl who only cares how she looks, the talented yet broken pony, the Big Show, the mid-movie horse health crisis, you name it.

In the end, it's a really sweet movie, and it really gets the horse stuff on a good level. It refrains from over-explaining, which means that it avoids the pitfalls of getting the nitty gritty details wrong, and in its generalities it rings true.

In short: Janie is a young girl who loves horses, and lives next to Longue Vue (yes, really) Stables, owned by her rich neighbor, apparently as his private farm. Neighbor's daughter Andrea rides because daddy expects it, and doesn't really "get" horses. Danny is the horse that was supposed to be Andrea's next champion hunter, but is sensitive and ends up injuring a tendon, and so becomes Janie's.

You already know the plotline of this movie from a thousand other horse stories, but it's the way the movie treats everyone involved and especially takes its horses seriously, that really make it sing. That, plus the long, loving shots of 1970s fashion and horse equipment. Trust me, it's great.

This was also reviewed by Horse Nation and by Lauren at She Moved to Texas, if you'd like other opinions.