Gallant Bess

I wish that I could remember the title of the book, but I remember checking it out severals times as a kid and reading it cover to cover. The book had actual photos of Bess delivering water to the seabees and her jumping straight off the ground while under attack by Japanese. It showed her retired in a lush pasture in KY. I enjoyed the movie as much as the book!!

It is the best horse story out there.

This is such a great movie. I had a friend contact Bridgestone, (I think that is the name) a company that sometimes is able to put movies on tape for sale. I guess they get permission although I have no idea how it works. But I heard the company couldn't or wouldn't get Gallant Bess taped. Anyway, it finally aired on January 11 on Turner Classic movies and I taped most of it. I missed the credits. But now I have a copy for my daughter. We loved it. It was the first time I had seen it in 40 some years. I was thrilled. I felt like a kid again. I urge anyone that loves a good old horse story to get Turner Classic Movies to release it. Or at least air it more on TV. It is a cool story for Veterans Day or Memorial Day too. Good luck.

My mother drove me to school, one morning when I was nine. On the way, she mystified me by announcing she'd pick me up early. She wouldn't say why, just smiled and said it'd be a surprise. In my family, you did't skip school for anything less than snow, illness, or death. so this was odd.

I wondered about the surprise thing all morning. At noon, Mom picked me up and drove me home. My favorite lunch was waiting on the table. I thought that was the surprise, but no, she said, something else was yet to come....

After lunch, she planted the two of us in front of the TV and told me, "There's a special movie on, this afternoon. I want you to see it."

It was "Gallant Bess."

I was a horse-crazy little girl with my own horse standing in a corral out back, but I remember being extraordinarily touched by "Gallant Bess." The adults in my life were still talking about WWII as if it'd just happened, so that seemed very close to me, too. I felt for that farm boy who lost his mare, Bess, to the WWII cause, and found her again, in what I was told was based on a true story. By the end, I was so caught up in empathizing with that young man and the horse, the ending seemed scary and amazing and is still clear in my mind's eye.

I suppose, compared to the high-tech, computer-enhanced images of today's films, "Gallant Bess" may seem mild. Those were simpler times. Maybe the acting's not outstanding, but there's a goodly amount of action and suspense.

This film impressed my mother so much that she took me out of school to see it. Once I'd seen it, I understood why. If you like a moving animal story, or if you've got a horse-crazy little kid in your house, y'all should see it, too.

This is one of my all time favorites. I have vivid memories of how Bess went from tank to tank with the water buckets. Then the horrible storm scene. I have tried for years to find this movie, Gypsy Colt, Black Gold, and others. All of us who enjoy this movie need to write TNT & have it released. How can they keep a wonderful movie like this from so many who want it? Especially the family, I am really surprised at that! I really want my child to enjoy it just as I had. Since I do not have cable or Dish, it is very difficult to have access to the classics. If someone was able to catch it on late night TV, and got it recorded, please e-mail me!

Some people are unsure if Gallant Bess is based on a true story or not.

It is. Sort of.

The second half of the movie, when Tex rescues a horse during the war, was based on my grandfather's rescue of Bess while on the Solomon Islands during WWII.

Bess starred as herself in the movie, ie, the horse that was really rescued was the horse in the movie.

Search Wikipedia.org for "Gallant Bess" for the article I am writing regarding the true story.

Glad to see people out there still enjoy this movie! I tease my dad, who's father was Bess' master ("Tex" in the movie) and who rode Bess all the time as a kid, about having cried when he saw the movie for the first time as a kid.