Smoky

I have been looking for this film on DVD or VHS for at least 10 years. This is one of the best horse movies of all time. It is joyful and tearful, but a story of intense love for a horse. About a black stallion that Fred Mac Murray names "Smoky" because where there is fire there is Smoke. This story needs to be released in Digital DVD format. I have been a movie collector for over 45 years, this is one that everybody should see. A true family picture that displays a great tenderness, love, devotion, and courage that you will always remember. The stars Fred Mac Murray, Anne Baxter, and Burl Ives are at their best in their performances. Burl Ives a sings "Jimmy Crack Corn and I Don't Care" which fits the horse ranch fare.

Like "Lassie come home", if there is a movie i'll always remember, it is indeed the lovable "Smoky" and his loyal master McMurray.Fifty years ago, alone in a theater watching the film, having a hard time to see the screen because the tears in my eyes blurred the only scene i could never forget. I think it's near the end, when the true love of McMurray for his animal and Smoky's attachment for his real friend, burst you out of emotions. Glad i was alone, no one could laugh at me. The day after, when i narrated to my young friend, between the double features I have seen: "Going my way" with Bing Crosby as a priest, and "Smoky", i preferred and enjoyed by 200 yards, the latter, he did not understand why... Since many years, i searched as hard as Fred for his horse, without any luck to find the DVD or VHS. May be he did not pass my way yet! Or i have not cross their path. But one thing i am sure: no other horse did or never will surpass him on any screen.

"Smoky" is quintessential family fare, with no surprises or plot twists; As a reader remarked, "man finds horse, man loses horse, man finds horse". Is it my imagination or are many horse stories similar? "War Horse" and "Black Beauty" had much the same theme as "Smoky".

In this one, Fred MacMurray arrives at a ranch under a cloud of suspicion. His cowboy credentials are impeccable, but some ranch hands have heard stories. All goes well until Bruce Cabot shows up and pleads with Our Hero to get him a job. But it turns out that Cabot is his ne'er-do-well brother, and Fred took the rap for him in another state. Fred has, meanwhile, found and broken a wild horse that is the envy of the local horsemen. Cabot finds the horse 'ornery' and despises it. Naturally, things happen, Fred and the horse are separated, and the horse ends up with - you guessed it, Cabot. From here you can fill in the blanks.

The movie, filmed in and around Utah's Zion National Park, is gorgeous to look at while the movie itself has a very pedestrian feel. No new ground is broken in the story and co-star Anne Baxter has very little to do despite being the manager of the ranch. Burl Ives gets to sing some songs in the bunkhouse. Kids will like this picture more than adults will, and it is a pleasant way to spend 90 minutes.

It's a funny, romantic, suspenseful, tearjerker all rolled up into one movie. I have been looking for a copy of this movie for a very long time. the one time that I found copies of it I did not have a credit card, so unfortunately i missed out. I would love to have this movie for my kids to watch.

Macmurray owns Smoky. He is separated from him (it's been so long since I've seen it, I'm not sure how). I think Macmurray has an accident, and by the time he wakes up, Smoky has been sold. Macmurray searches for him. The tale tells of both man and horse's adventures apart. At the end, Macmurray inadvertently comes across a man beating his horse, and Macmurray comes to the horse's rescue. It's raining, the horse is harnessed to a cart on the city street, Macmurray suddenly realizes it's Smoky. Even through the rain, you know Macmurray is crying tears of joy. It almost seems as if Smoky is too. I love this movie and would love to find a vhs copy to watch over and over. It must be at least 35 years since I've seen it. It was made in 1946, but I think it was released in 1951, my birth year. Julie