Product Description

Melissa Gilbert made her movie debut in this "National Velvet"-style story of a girl and her horse. With the help of Richard Farnsworth and Michael Schoeffling, Gilbert trains a wild horse, Sylvester, and goes on to win a show competition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12473 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2004-04-06
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 103 minutes

Amazon.com
Cinderella is a cowgirl in Sylvester, a hard-luck story with a happy ending if there ever was one. Melissa Gilbert is the tough-talking teenage orphan cowpoke whose natural talent and determination transform her into a prize-winning equestrian. Soapy subplots abound: She has a drunken reluctant mentor (Richard Farnsworth, in a fine turn), fights the court to raise her two younger brothers in a rundown trailer, and protests too much against a would-be sweetheart (Michael Schoeffling, the resident hunk of Sixteen Candles). Yet there is poetry in the scenes of Gilbert riding Sylvester through the hills and magical footage of Farnsworth secretly training the horse by moonlight. Even the trite dialogue ("Did you kill their dreams like you're killing mine?") fails to do in the modern fairy tale. It's a pretty darn imperfect world Gilbert and friends inhabit, which in its own plodding way makes it seem like real life, despite the unlikely journey from jeans to jodhpurs. --Valerie J. Nelson

Customer Reviews

The one that started it all
I've always called this movite that...I went to see it in the theater when I was 5, and I fell in love with it. I'm a horse lover since birth, and I knew I wanted to do something with horses, but it was not until I saw this move that I found out what. I started taking classes and became an equestrian, I have my own "sylvester", and like for Charlie, he's my dream come true and one of the loves of my life. I'm 22 now and even 17 years after watching the movie for the first time, the footage of the cross country and the moolight training still make me want to cry. A great movie, specially for "all those little girls in love with horses" like myself. A good family movie too, I still find myself joking with my dad that he never thought that by taking me to the movies that afternoon that he was going to be spending so much on me and my horse some years after.

My fave equestrain movie
I saw this move about 5 years ago for the first time. I bought it as soon as I saw it on DVD. IT is such a great story and it's content as far as the eventing world goes is almost entirely accurate. It really should be rated more of a pg13 b/c of the language and some sexual content. It still is so worth buying.

If you love horses this is a great film!
The first time I saw it I fell in love with it. I love horses and the sport so this was great. One of the best horse films ever done and believe me I've seen them all! I also like Melissa Gilbert. I basically grew up watching "Little House On The Prairie." I was first introduced to the film by a friend who is a fellow horse lover. This is not only a movie for horse people. It has the ability to attract all sorts of viewers because it has other elements besides the equines. Cheers to the makers of this fabulous film!