[BritishEventer]

Impromptu - I'm just jesting http://chronicleforums.com/groupee_c.../icon_wink.gif Although there was a funny incident a few years ago, when we were in Beaufort country looking at some big coloured cobs for a riding school, and the Tuckwells said as we were talking about a mare "Oh, she's a bit common for the hunting here, but they'll love her in the Berkeley!"

[Ibex]

You people are truly EVIL. Reading this I realized how long it had been since I watched IV and was forced to get the DVD on eBay. http://chronicleforums.com/images/cu...milies/lol.gif
(Let's hope it's not TOO horrible a bootleg copy!)

Soon as it comes I think I'm going to make my non-horsie roommates watch it 6 times in a row. And then I'm going to get my copy of the book out of storage and make them read it. http://chronicleforums.com/images/cu...milies/yes.gif http://chronicleforums.com/groupee_c...on_biggrin.gif http://chronicleforums.com/images/cu...milies/yes.gif http://chronicleforums.com/groupee_c...on_biggrin.gif

[Charisma]

Oh, one of my fav movies as well!! One of my fav lines

"you aren't going to cry are you?"

I love that scene. I saw that for the first time when I was very little and had been known to cry once or twice in lessons ( I was jumping my pony WAY WAY to big and it scared me!) and after that scene I don't think I ever cried again in a lesson. http://chronicleforums.com/images/cu...s/winkgrin.gif

The only part of the movie I really didn't like were the kids in the car chasing the the Pie...

[Sannois]

The rest of that! "Two things I cant stand, bad losers and cryers" http://chronicleforums.com/groupee_c...on_biggrin.gif

[fooler]

Oh My the memories come flooding back. A group of us, we 'adults' and kids, drove 1.5 hours to watch IV when it came out. What a blast! Have watched it several times on tv since & yes to have 'emotional' moments. . .
I really like parts of Sylvester, tho did not appreciate all of the cussing - thought that was wayyyy overdone. However I thought this movie really 'taught' folks about eventing - such as the salute session. Also the issues she had with the water, showed it isn't just hopping up and going. Also 'at the time' going prelim at KHP was a more realistic goal and while she placed, she did not win.
some Other favs - National Velvet, Man from Snowy River (both - cry like a baby when Dan is killed), Smokey, Black Stallion movies (2nd was better, My Friend Flicka and loads of old B&W movies with Walter Brennan - yup really old stuff. Not a 'horse' movie, but one of the main characters is a horse. The Rounders - Henry Fonda and Glen Ford play a couple of aging cowboys who break horses & rodeo when possible. They travel around with a dun colored horse named - Fooler. If you watch the movie, remember the time it was made - some lines very un-pc for today's ears. However the horse is a hoot & steals the movie.

[AngelEventer]

There was a viewing of IV when I got home today... I was very upset, because my sister didn't wait for me to come home & they were already at the awards ceremony! So sad http://chronicleforums.com/groupee_c...icon_frown.gif... Maybe I'll watch it tomorrow morning, since I don't have to be at school untile 9:30...

[BAC]

Ginny Leng is not riding Priceless in IV, it is a mare named Abbie, at least according to her autobiography IIRC. At the time Ginny (she was Holgate then) was contemplating leaving the sport but decided, since she had 2 five year old geldings coming along, to keep at it for a while longer. Those five year olds were Priceless and Nightcap and the rest is history.

[Blugal]

Interesting, BAC.

One more from Captain Johnson:
"It reminds me of when I left my first wife. She told me it was either her or the horses. The horses cost less to feed."

[persefne]

Originally posted by AngelEventer:
There was a viewing of IV when I got home today... I was very upset, because my sister didn't wait for me to come home & they were already at the awards ceremony!

I feel for you, AngelEventer. That sounds exactly like something my sister would do/has done to me!!! http://chronicleforums.com/groupee_c...on_biggrin.gif

[His Greyness]

It must be a gender thing. International Velvet made nowhere near the impression on me that it has has on other posters. I was present in the pouring rain at Ledyard 77 when the MGM crews were filming parts of the movie. That's why I tend to refer to it as "Underwater Velvet" and think of it as a drippy movie. If I remember correctly it was one of the last movies made before Anthony Hopkins swore off the bottle.

[AngelEventer]

I "googled" IV... and was reading some of the reviews that people gave it, and lets just say it doesn't seem to have been a well-liked movie! These reviews kind of made me mad... they were so harsh! I love this movie!...

Here's one:



Pan, London, 1978
(price: 60p; 160 pages)


dedication: This novel and the screenplay from which it derives would not have been possible without the inspiration of Enid Bagnold's classic story National Velvet. The author would like to acknowledge his debt and, in homage, dedicate this sequel to Miss Bagnold, with love and admiration.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The blurb on the back:

International Velvet is the splendid sequel to National Velvet - the classic story that became the memorable film.
Sarah is the niece of Velvet Brown, the heroine of National Velvet. Orphaned by a road crash, Sarah comes unhappily to England to live with her aunt.
Only when she discovers her talent for riding does her sadness fade... and Sarah finds her horse and her ambition - to ride for Britain and win Olympic gold...



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

opening lines:
The woman with the unexpected name walked along the edge of the sea at ebb tide under a sky the texture of grease-proof paper, her red trenchcoat the only stab of colour for miles.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just in case you found Elizabeth Taylor's 1944 film National Velvet not quite sickly enough, Bryan Forbes unleashed this sequel upon us in 1978. It was much sneered at back when it was released and - if anybody could be bothered to remember it - no doubt it would be now as well, but I have to say it's got some things going for it:

Firstly, the child star is Tatum O'Neal rather than Elizabeth Taylor, and for my money, that's a marginal trade upwards. Secondly, the role played by Taylor as a child is here rendered by Nanette Newman (continuing a long-running association with Forbes that included marriage and had most recently produced The Stepford Wives). Thirdly, the cast list doesn't include Mickey Rooney, which has got to be a plus point for any movie. And finally, the plot is more credible.

Just in case you forgot the original, it involved a 12-year-old girl entering the Grand National, which is both absurd and pointless. (Coincidentally or otherwise, the year before the sequel, Charlotte Brew became the first woman to ride in the race, but she was at least of adult age.) In International Velvet the challenge for our young heroine is to enter the Olympics, which again is stretching credulity - those equestrian events tend to attract mean, no-nonsense competitors like Princess Anne - but at least ties in with the 1970s trend of getting pre-pubescent girls to liven up the Games.

So the film's not as bad as it's made out to be and quite possibly you'd enjoy it if you were a 10-year-old girl. But then you'd hardly be visiting this site, would you?

The book, of course, is completely hopeless, despite being written by Forbes himself and despite the occasional moment:

'I've given myself a choice,' Mike said. 'If Johnson doesn't pick me, I'll either go to Japan and get massaged to death, or else I'll become a Liberal MP. Two foolproof methods of suicide.' (p100)

I wouldn't bother if I were you - read Black Beauty instead.

[alabama3870]

How about this one; "Saddles don't win medals." Or, "I have REAL money, AMERICAN money."

Good stuff.

[lizathenag]

IV is on HBO (or one of those channels) now and then. I just watched it a few months ago.
set your tivos!

[4cornersfarm]

Wasn't Mike Plumb in International Velevet? The part that was filmed at Ledyard? Myabe riding Laurenson? There's certainly somebody who looks an awful lot like Mike wearing his black and yellow colors. I just heard a rumor that Tony Provencher was in it as well, he used to event throughout area 1 but doesn't ride anymore. Anybody know any other local riders who were in it?

[mellsmom]

Tad Coffin did some of the riding in IV

[persefne]

Since the Ledyard section was actually filmed at the event, many of the riders competing at that time are featured (most prominently Bruce in his red/yellow), but also Torrance Watkins, Mike Plumb, a few of the Canadians (Jamie Smart, maybe?) and, yes, Tad Coffin and Bally Cor in the stadium scene.

I think the only "real" riders who were "in" the film (meaning they portrayed actual characters, not just riders used in the footage) were Mary Gordon Watson (she did most of Tatum's stunt/double riding) and Ginny Leng who did the riding for the American girl at the Olympics. I think Richard Meade was also "someone," but I don't know if he did the riding for Scott Saunders or for the British rider Roger. I think it might have been Roger.

[Perfect Pony]

I'm sure you are all going to be so jealous that I just won a mint Sara Brown Barbie Doll on Ebay.

Can someone please tell me wtf I am going to do with a Sara brown Barbie for pete's sake!!?? http://chronicleforums.com/groupee_c...s/icon_eek.gif http://chronicleforums.com/groupee_c...n_rolleyes.gif http://chronicleforums.com/images/cu...ilies/sigh.gif

[JER]

I think the only "real" riders who were "in" the film (meaning they portrayed actual characters, not just riders used in the footage) were Mary Gordon Watson (she did most of Tatum's stunt/double riding) and Ginny Leng who did the riding for the American girl at the Olympics.

Real-life rider Sarah Bullen played Beth, the UK team rider who gets sent home from the Olympics (she's Sarah Brown's roommate at the Olympics). Sarah Bullen is the younger sister of real-life British Olympians Jane Holderness-Roddam, Jennie Loriston-Clarke and Michael Bullen, and still competes in the UK. She was the owner/rider of the incredible stallion Rock King who suffered a fatal injury a few years ago.

Sarah Bullen was a fairly successful actor in the 70s and 80s in the UK, then she went back to the eventing world.

[LoriO]

Well, I decided to go look for my copy of the book among my collection and low and behold, I have THREE copies of IV!!! Not sure how I managed that.

Perfect Pony, I almost bid on that on Ebay and decided to behave myself. It was tough but I was able to resist hitting that bid button

[Sannois]

Sooo Can one still get a copy of the Movie in DVD or in VHS?? I feel a need to have it in my horsie collection!! Sylvester?? NO WAY! I was at Rolex during the filming. That movie was just so not real! A stock horse on some ranch out west! ~Sheesh~ http://chronicleforums.com/groupee_c...n_rolleyes.gif