All the Pretty Horses (2000)

All the Pretty Horses is a 2000 American romance western film produced and directed by Billy Bob Thornton, and based on Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name. Starring Matt Damon and Penélope Cruz, the film was released on Christmas Day 2000 to mostly negative reviews. It gros

Directed by Billy Bob Thornton. With Matt Damon, Penélope Cruz, Henry Thomas, Angelina Torres. Two Texas cowboys head to Mexico in search of work, but soon find themselves in trouble with the law after one of them falls in love with a wealthy rancher's daughter.

Billy Bob Thornton's "All the Pretty Horses" is an elegiac Western about two young cowboys, and then a third, who ride from Texas into Mexico in search of what may be left of the Old West. The movie is really as simple as that. It touches on adventure and romance, but isn't really about them. It's about the mythical idea of heading south on a good horse, with a change of clothes, some camp gear and a gun, and seeing what happens. It takes place in 1949. A few years later, its heroes would have headed down Route 66 in a Chevy convertible.

Texas teenager John Grady Cole finds himself alone in the world after his mother sells the ranch where he grew up, forcing him to leave the only life he has ever known. Joined by his pal Lacey Rawlins, John Grady sets off on horseback for Mexico where the cowboy life still exists. On their way south, the two precocious horsemen encounter a variety of adventures, pick up a sidekick-a 13-year-old misfit named Blevins-and eventually arrive at a hacienda where they are hired to break horses. There, John Grady falls into an ill-fated romance with Alejandra, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy ranch owner. It is a disaster that leads to arrest, Mexican jail and a murder in self-defense-and ultimately proves to be John Grady's greatest test of maturity and manhood.

Trailer for the movie All The Pretty Horses

Summary: A sweeping odyssey about a young man's (Damon) encounters with responsibility, love, revenge and survival. (Miramax Films)

Adequate but disappointing book adaptation.

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"All the Pretty Horses" is a half-broken adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's great modern Western novel. Neither dull nor exciting, this long-in-the-works tale of two Texas boys who get all the trouble they can handle down Mexico way boasts a faithful script by Ted Tally that is under-served by director Billy Bob Thornton's lack of a coherent visual style and inability to catch a proper rhythm. Nor will it help the commercial prospects for this domestic Miramax release that there was more chemistry between Matt Damon and his golf balls in "The Legend of Bagger Vance" than there is here between the star and leading lady Penelope Cruz. A modest B.O. ride is the best that can be expected.