International Velvet

This is a good, enjoyable and fairly accurate depiction of the eventing world, with plenty of good riding action (shot with real event riders, not stunt actors) - a perfect movie for riding fans. Yes, it is set in a world of fairly wealthy people with posh accents, but that is the context of the film. You don't find many ethnic minority people from housing estates, with cockney accents, competing in top level eventing (even now).

Fans of the book National Velvet will spot lots of inconsistencies (The Pie isn't piebald and the dates are wrong). If viewed as a completely separate film in it's own right, though, then the interactions between the heroine and her 'adoptive' parents are very genuine. Even so, the plot is incidental to the riding and so some parts are a bit weak, but that won't bother any horse fans. And to the various reviewers who commented on the heroine being played by an American actor - they obviously haven't actually seen the film because the heroine is American.

I saw this movie when I was 13. I think I must have seen it 50 times if not more. I bought 2 copies of the book, and have collected more than a few items of memorabilia that have to do with the movie over the years. I was so jealous of Tatum O'Neal, I wished it was me in the picture. I have been to Ledyard-where they filmed Sarah's first visit to the US as a member of the US team and it was awesome to see the 3 day eventing up close and personal. I love horses and even had my own for quite a while. (I even wanted to change his name to Arizona Pie but figured since he'd had his name for sometime that every time I called him, I was afraid he wouldn't come!!!) I have a copy of the movie and treasure it like it's gold! This movie is for anyone young or old who loves horses. It's a great family movie and one to be watched over and over again.

Luckily, horse lovers, particularly girls, will sit through two hours of B-Grade acting and weak plots for fifteen minutes of footage of showjumping. National Velvet, in which a little girl called Velvet Brown wins the grand national, was set in the 1920s.....in International Velvet, the now adult Velvet has reached 40 years of age.....International Velvet should be set in the 1950s. Instead, somehow it is the 70s, Velvet is in a defacto relationship with big hair and flared jeans and the link is at best tenuous. Would have been great if Elizabeth Taylor had played the adult Velvet at a realistic age, since she played Velvet in the original that made her a star.... Whatever, the horses are beautiful, the footage of cross country events and the birth of a foal is wonderful.....so girls like my pony-mad daughter won't notice the glaring inconsistencies, extraneous characters that serve no purpose, or the soap operatic sentimentality and nauseating 70s soundtrack. Great acting by Tatum O'Neal and Anthony Hopkins....although he would probably prefer to forget it!

I absolutely love this movie, I cry every time...maybe because as a girl, I always wanted to ride in the Olympics, I don't know. Of course it isn't the same as the original, (another movie I love), but it's set in a completely different time...

The riding sequences were great, the references to the original were good, and overall, the acting was pretty good. Christopher Plummer was a surprise, and I loved Anthony Hopkins in his part as the taskmaster coach!

I own the video, and have shown it to my young daughters...they love it too!

A piece of fluff definitely, but for a girl who had a dream...it's awesome!

Orphaned Tatum O'Neal moves to Britain to live with her aunt Velvet and live-in boyfriend, writer Christopher Plummer. Like auntie, who won the National, Miss O'Neal falls in love with the last colt of Pie, and tries out for the National team.

Clearly intended to tug at the heart strings of people who loved the first movie, this one doesn't succeed on that count. Where it works, thanks to writer-director Brian Forbes, is in painting portraits of the characters, particularly Plummer, and team coach Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins is particularly good, with a lot of humor in his tough, supercilious character.

Despite the focus being on Miss O'Neal, her character is far less complicated and interesting -- at least to me, who am not horse-mad. Forces' wife, Nannette Newman, plays Velvet -- it was hoped that Elizabeth Taylor would reprise her role -- and their daughter, Emma Forbes, has a small part.