Hidalgo is about an American cowboy and his horse. It’s also from Disney.
The cross between “Bonanza”-era Michael Landon and Ariel in The Little Mermaid that immediately comes to mind sure ain’t pretty. But appearances do deceive, and Hidalgo is a pleasant surprise.
Based on the true story of Frank T. Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen), the film follows the U.S. dispatch officer in the late 18th century famous for his impressive abilities as an endurance rider.
As the story opens, Hopkins is at a low: He has resorted to performing for the Wild Bill Show and seriously needs some Alcoholics Anonymous sessions.
An offer by Sheikh Riyadh (Omar Sharif), who knows him through his prior fame, the chance to prove he’s worth something.
The sheikh invites Hopkins to compete in the Ocean of Fire, a 3,000-mile race across the Arabian desert. His Arab competitors mark the rookie as dead even before the race begins.
Mortensen plays Hopkins with confidence and shoots out words like “howdy,” “reckon” and “yee haw” as smoothly as the trigger pulls on his Colt. He masters not only gun-slinging jargon but also Sioux, speaking the language in a masculine whisper reminiscent of when Aragorn speaks Elvish in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
But Mortensen does not outshine the performance of five horses used to play his horse Hildago. TJ, the horse used for close-ups, gave Hidalgo a visible personality, and his talent may even exceed silent-film actor Rudolph Valentino’s on-screen charm because he can woo the audience with a mere snort and flip of his head.
Hopkins and Hidalgo journey through the desert battling intense heat and escaping sandstorms and hailing locusts, only to be ambushed by Arab raiders.
These aren’t the typical adventures of an all-American cowboy, but they’re a lot more fun to watch than the usual scenes of rough riders picking off helpless Native Americans.
As in most cowboy movies, there’s a love interest: Jazira (Zuleikha Robinson) is a wide-eyed Arab beauty who must cover her face around strangers because of tradition. The most intimate moment they share is when Jazira asks Hopkins to lift her veil and look at her face for the first time.
Hidalgo isn’t your average Western and will rein you in tightly from the beginning. Hopkins’ blunt, smart comebacks will elicit laughs, heads getting chopped off will spur cringes and the audience will lean into the screen as the end of the race nears.