This is both a great book and a great movie. As usual, the book is better, in this case because history is more complicated and more interesting than fiction.
The movie surprisingly takes the same structure as the book; surprising because the book seems to meander a bit as it collects the principal characters: Charles Howard, Tom Smith and Red Pollard (the horse's owner, trainer and rider, respectively). David McCullough's narration in the film gives it a literary (or at least PBS) feel, but in truth director Gary Marshall lays out many of the ironies visually and asks the viewer to fill in. For example, the fact that Howard started out making and selling bicycles but made his fortune in automobiles -- and then goes back to the horses that pre-dated mechanical transport, is shown through the use of the stables on his property as they house cars, and then horses.
Some of the complicated relationships are also told somewhat quickly, including Pollard's friendship with George Wolfe.
The movie is fairly accurate historically, although there is a large discrepancy in the age of Howard's son, who dies in an accident. I assume the choice was made to make sure Howard didn't seem too old, which would in turn make his relationship with his much younger second wife seem a bit more scandalous.
The book treats locations and professions almost as characters -- Tijuana, jockeys, for example -- and the film couldn't do these themes justice. There is a lot more information on these topics, and on the life and pranks of Tom Smith, for one, that were just not explored in the film.
That said, while the narrative describing some of the races are suspenseful and gripping, the visual recreations of a horse race are much more visceral and can be presented in "real time" (i.e. about 2 minutes).
For a documentary film on Seabiscuit, the PBS series The American Experience created a compelling story.
The movie surprisingly takes the same structure as the book; surprising because the book seems to meander a bit as it collects the principal characters: Charles Howard, Tom Smith and Red Pollard (the horse's owner, trainer and rider, respectively). David McCullough's narration in the film gives it a literary (or at least PBS) feel, but in truth director Gary Marshall lays out many of the ironies visually and asks the viewer to fill in. For example, the fact that Howard started out making and selling bicycles but made his fortune in automobiles -- and then goes back to the horses that pre-dated mechanical transport, is shown through the use of the stables on his property as they house cars, and then horses.
Some of the complicated relationships are also told somewhat quickly, including Pollard's friendship with George Wolfe.
The movie is fairly accurate historically, although there is a large discrepancy in the age of Howard's son, who dies in an accident. I assume the choice was made to make sure Howard didn't seem too old, which would in turn make his relationship with his much younger second wife seem a bit more scandalous.
The book treats locations and professions almost as characters -- Tijuana, jockeys, for example -- and the film couldn't do these themes justice. There is a lot more information on these topics, and on the life and pranks of Tom Smith, for one, that were just not explored in the film.
That said, while the narrative describing some of the races are suspenseful and gripping, the visual recreations of a horse race are much more visceral and can be presented in "real time" (i.e. about 2 minutes).
For a documentary film on Seabiscuit, the PBS series The American Experience created a compelling story.
