By Mermaid (Guest Critic)
If you've been hungering for an Old West movie, or something along the lines of an Indiana Jones adventure then you will find lots of excitement from Disney's new movie Hidalgo. The movie, while over two hours in runtime, is long but will keep you glued to your seat as the excitement jumps off the screen.

Based on the true-life tale of legendary long-distance endurance rider Frank T. Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen) and his best buddy, a Spanish mustang called Hidalgo, the film is about a late 19th Century horse race across the Arabian Desert. Frank is the son of an Army scout and a Sioux princess who has followed in his father's footsteps and delivers orders to the Army at Wounded Knee, where the Army is disarming the Indians. When a soldier tries to take a rifle from a deaf Indian all hell breaks loose. The soldier is being warned that this young Indian can't hear him, so the Indian refuses to relinquish his rifle. Next scene Frank witnesses the massacre and ends up in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show.

Frank spends most of his time living in his bottle of whiskey, and attending to his horse Hidalgo. The filmmakers spend more time with the horse than Frank. Hidalgo is the best mustang around, and is billed as such. Enduring hundreds of miles over the vast and wild terrain of the Wild West.

Word gets out about Frank and his famed mustang. An invitation comes from an Arabian sheik, (Omar Sharif), who believes his horse, an Arabian thoroughbred with genealogy going back further than the royal house of Europe is the better animal. He coaxes Frank and Hidalgo to participate in the annual Bedouin horse race. This is a 3000-mile trek through the harshest terrain around. The race is across the Arabian Desert from Aden to Syria. Frank doesn't have the necessary funds to participate in the race so the performers in the Wild West show put it up for him. The prize to the winner of the race is $100,000.

The tradition of the race goes back 1000 years. The other tradition is the way the race is run. No participant in the race is allowed to help one another. If they fall, or if the horse is injured they are left to die. Food or water cannot be given to the injured racer. Frank ponders this situation but he knows how great Hidalgo is so the cowboy and his horse are off to the other side of the world to test their strength and endurance.

Upon his arrival he is introduced to the sheik of sheiks (Sharif), who can't get enough books to read about the American West. He's a big fan of cowboys, and of Buffalo Bill. He encourages Frank to tell him stories of the West to quench his thirst for excitement. At the same time, Frank is introduced to the sheik's daughter Jazira (Zuleikha Robinson) who is promised to be the fifth wife to a prince if he wins the race. So she does all she can do to help the cowboy and his horse win.

There's another female who has a hose of her win in the race. She is English noblewoman Lady Anne Davenport (Louise Lombard) who travels across the desert in corsets and starched dresses. She hopes to win the race so that her horse may be bred with one of the sheik prized horses. Of course she is not a rider in the race. Women aren't allowed. She is attracted to Frank, but only to make him an offer to get out of the race, because she knows he can win.

Throw in sword fights, princes, beautiful horses, and the contempt for Frank and Hidalgo as infidels and you have a great story taken from the pages of an Arabian Night tale. The trek through the desert is grueling. Frank's lips stay chapped throughout the story, and his body badly sunburned.

There's an impressive sandstorm that causes Frank and Hidalgo to ride fast and get to a safe place where they can hide from the effects along with a plague of locusts. Which they eat to keep from starving. There's also a situation where the sheik's daughter is kidnapped and Frank must do all he can to rescue her.

The story here is about a man and his horse. They love, trust and believe in each other. You can see the respect and genuine affection this horse has for this lost soul of a cowboy. Especially when the camera focuses on the horses beautiful eyes.

This is a beautiful picture with heart. It gives the viewer something to cheer for. It's a clap out loud kind of picture that will have you rooting for this lost cowboy and his brave mustang.

The final scenes in the movie come as a pleasant surprise, with a happy ending for all. This is the Seabiscuit of 2004.

Mermaid

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