©-DR- DE SI JOLIS CHEVAUX de Billy Bob Thornton (2000) p8
01/11/2013 02:41 par tellurikwaves
La critique de James Berardinelli (2)
The movie opens in San Angelo, Texas during the late 1940s. John Grady Cole (Matt Damon), a rancher who has been turned off his property when his mother sells the land to an oil company, is headed south to Mexico. Accompanying him is his good friend, Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas), who shares his passion for horses and the outdoors life. Near the Rio Grande, which marks the border, they are joined by young Jimmy Blevins (Lucas Black, from Thornton's Sling Blade), who is riding a horse too good for his obviously impoverished background and evidences uncanny skill with a pistol.
Eventually, John and Lacey part ways with Jimmy, but not before he implicates them in a horse stealing raid. The two escape pursuit and find work on the ranch of Don Hector Rocha y Villareal (Ruben Blades), where their knowledge and easy-going manner make them well liked. But John mistakenly falls for Don Hector's daughter, Alejandra (Penélope Cruz), and, when word gets out, both Americans find themselves at the mercy of Mexican justice.
La critique de James Berardinelli (1)
If the task of resurrecting the Western is up to All the Pretty Horses, that most uniquely American of genres will remain buried on Boot Hill.
This epic tale of love, betrayal, and horse stealing in the not-so-old West (it's actually set mostly in Mexico around the middle of the 20th century) has plenty to offer in the area of plot, but is disappointingly lean on characterization. Director Billy Bob Thornton (working from a script by Ted Tally which, in turn, is based upon Cormac McCarthy's novel) is so intent upon getting his characters from Point A to Point B (with three or four detours in between) that he loses sight of the need to develop them into more than convenient mannequins to be pushed around by the ebb and flow of the storyline.
Part of the problem with All the Pretty Horses relates to its length and the degree to which material had to be trimmed to reach Miramax's goal of a running time not exceeding two hours. According to Thornton, his original cut was about four hours long, meaning that more than half of the footage had to be excised. This would explain why parts of All the Pretty Horses feel like they were put together by the same team responsible for the truncated version of The Magnificent Ambersons. In fact, considering the magnitude of the editing, it's somewhat amazing that the theatrical release of All the Pretty Horses is coherent.
Sam Sheppard
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Résumé Wiki
Le film raconte l'histoire de John Grady Cole, un cowboy âgé de 16 ans, et de son meilleur ami Lacey Rawlins, qui franchissent les frontières pour se rendre au Sud du Mexique. Ils rencontrent, parmi d'autres, un jeune homme nommé Jimmy Blevins qui devient leur ami, et une jeune aristocrate, Alejandra Villarreal, dont John Grady tombe amoureux. Au Mexique, il devient plus mature et plus réaliste en voyant toutes les atrocités du monde.
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Fiche technique
Titre : De si jolis chevaux
Titre original : All the Pretty Horses
Réalisation : Billy Bob Thornton
Scénario : Ted Tally, d'après le roman
De si jolis chevaux de Cormac McCarthy
Montage : Sally Menke
Musique : Marty Stuart
Pays : États-Unis
Genre : Western, drame
Durée : 116 minutes
Dates de sortie :
États-Unis : 25 décembre 2000
France : 6 juin 2001
De si jolis chevaux (All the Pretty Horses) est un film américain de Billy Bob Thornton sorti en 2000 et adapté du roman épo du même nom de Cormac McCarthy publié en 1994(et bien meilleur que le film -lui même assez moyen-qq belles scènes néanmoins)
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Résumé
John Grady Cole, un jeune Texan d'une vingtaine d'années, se retrouve tout seul au monde. En effet, sa mère vient de vendre le ranch familial, le forçant ainsi à quitter l'unique ville qu'il a jamais connu. John décide alors de partir tenter sa chance au Mexique avec son ami d'enfance Lacey Rawlins. Là-bas, les deux jeunes gens espèrent trouver les derniers cow-boys et le rêve d'une vie meilleure... Au cours de leur chevauchée vers le Rio Grande, John et Lacey croisent un adolescent intrépide et paumé qui, sans qu'ils s'en doutent, va changer le cours de leur existence
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External Reviews