Wild Horse Hank

WILD HORSE HANK is a pleasing family film showcasing one of Linda Blair's best performances. She plays the titular Hank, daughter of rancher Richard Crenna who comes into confrontation with fellow rancher Al Waxman after she returns home from school. Her stallion has escaped the ranch and been seized by Waxman along with a herd of wild horses fated to become dog food. Blair breaks the herd loose in the dead of night and sets out to drive them across 150 miles of rough terrain, hopefully to safety on a Federal reserve.

It is obvious that Blair does much of her own riding here, and she delivers a performance as Hank that is both spirited and heartfelt. It is also a pleasure to see a young Michael Wincott - so frequently cast as cold-blooded villains - in one of his earliest roles, a somewhat unorthodox good guy. He plays Waxman's younger brother, who sides with Blair in her efforts to rescue the wild horses. WILD HORSE HANK was briskly directed by veteran Eric Till, and beautifully shot by Richard Leiterman on locations in both Alberta and New Mexico. I found the movie to be good, inoffensive entertainment.

This is a pleasant and sincere family film for all ages, adapted from Mel Tillis' teen novel "The Wild Horse Killers". Some liberties have been taken with the

plot and characters to make the film more appealing to a wider audience -- for example, the main character "Hank" is named Sandra in the book and her

friend-in-need is an old prospector and not a handsome young rodeo cowboy --

but the general story of an 18 year old girl who singlehandedly rescues a herd of wild mustangs and takes them to a protected federal park is retained.

Linda Blair, more mature than in "The Excorsist", does a very decent job here and obviously does her own riding, at which she appears very accomplished. I

imagine she was just branching out into more adult parts at this time ('78). The move has a nice, understated feminist message as Hank acts independently

and is very capable and mature in her actions...she stands up to threatening

older men in a confident way, and can obviously ride (and shoot!) with the best of them. Her dad is played by the late Richard Crenna.

It is interesting to see how the romance is treated -- the young cowhand who

assists Hank, Charlie (played by a young Michael Wincott, with a soft speaking voice very unlike the familiar raspy voice the actor has as a grownup) is eager to earn the heroine's RESPECT and get to know her...not because of her

"sexiness" or stunning beauty, but because of hard won respect and admiration.( I would not mind seeing a bit more of that in mainstream adult films one of these days...and "Wild Horse Hank" is more than 25 years old...)

The horses and beautiful scenery will be enjoyed by any viewer of any age. The story is clear and simple and told without sappiness...and it presents an unusually nice feminist story for the kind of young girls who are likely to love horses anyhow.

I felt this compares favorably with "The Black Stallion Returns", the sequel to the magnificent "The Black Stallion". It lacks the majesty and visuals of "The Black Stallion", but like the sequel, it's still a pleasant and entertaining children's film with a healthy and positive message.

I should add this is long OUT OF PRINT, and what a pity. There are not a lot of good children's movies -- of the non-animated kind -- so why not have this out on DVD or on Nickelodeon where it can be enjoyed by a new generation of

youngsters???

Wild Horse Hank is a film for the archives,it has one of best satires of its time.Hank being very much like Wild Horse Annie,the wild horse advocate of the 1950's.Annie's passion for saving the wild horses, a threatened species was put into law by congress,it is known as (The Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971) The irony today of wild horse hanks satire is,wild horses are in fact a threatened species in 2007. The Bureau of Land Management is still exploiting these horses with round ups and constant harassment.When this film was released in 1978 there were more than 150,000 wild horses roaming free in much of the west and southwest regions of the United States. Now there are less than 23,000 left.Out of the 23,000 wild horses left in the United States.The BLM is planning to remove 12,000 more over the next 5 years.The reason given by the BLM, is they want a total of 11,000 wild horses to remain because they feel that it is a sufficient number to maintained for herd viability.The worst part of this scenario is that the "Wild Horse Hank's" satire has come true. The U.S. Government that runs the Bureau of Land Management, has sold many of Americas horses to slaughter for over seas market for human consumption. Your Horses! My Horses! OUR HORSES fate has been put in the hands of one man who runs the program.Free horse meat,with an all profit market. The rest of the horses are still in captivity in overcrowded corrals awaiting to be adopted or killed. The Film Wild Horse Hank should be re-released for the purpose of remembering this ICON. For soon there will be no wild horses to see but the ones in our hearts,minds and memories. Just like the ones in Wild Horse Hank.