Seabiscuit

Seabiscuit airs on PBS Monday Night as part of American Experience. It draws on the best selling book by Laura Hillenbrand and she is among those interviewed While the hour long documentary can't go into the fascinating detail of the book, it does show Seabiscuit racing. Though R.D. Heldenfels of the Beacon Journal points out that footage of a morning workout is from the Black Stallion and there are "other re-enactments in 'the scene in which (writer) Gene Smith describes a great jockey as a genius, and in the middle of the 1938 Santa Anita Handicap race description'' by trainer Leonard Dorfman."

You can listen to several radio broadcasts of the races on the website. A new hardcover edition of the book will be out in June with even more photographs.

My suggestion is if you haven't read the book, record the show, buy the book and watch it once you've finished. Then you'll be completely prepared when the movie comes out on July 26th. It stars Tobey Maguire as jockey Red Pollard, Oscar winner Chris Cooper as trainer Tom Smith, and Jeff Bridges as owner Charles Howard. It is directed by Gary Ross who also did Pleasantville (which featured Maguire). This reports from the set.

The Washington Post had a story on the documentary last week and the New York Times has an article

Article Author: Steve Rhodes

Steve Rhodes is a journalist and photographer in San Francisco.

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