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Robert Redford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam Neill, Dianne Wiest, Scarlett Johansson ... see more see more... , Chris Cooper , Cherry Jones , Ty Hillman , Catherine Bosworth , Austin Schwarz , Dustin Schwarz , Jeanette Nolan , Steve Frye , Don Edwards , Jessalyn Gilsig

Robert Redford directed himself for the first time in this romantic drama adapted from the 1995 best-seller by Nicholas Evans. Fourteen-year-old Grace MacLean (Scarlett Johansson of Manny & Lo) and he... read more read more...r friend Judith go horseback riding in upstate New York on a winter morning, but their horses lose their footing on ice and slide onto a road, where Judith and her horse are killed by a jackknifing truck. Grace and her horse are also seriously injured -- doctors must amputate Grace's right leg -- and the frightening incident leaves a lasting trauma not only on Grace but also on her horse, Pilgrim. Grace's mother -- magazine editor Annie MacLean (Kristin Scott Thomas) -- seeking Grace's recovery, feels there's a link between her crippled, embittered daughter and Pilgrim's behavior. Learning about a horse trainer with a special gift, she takes Grace and Pilgrim to Montana where horse whisperer Tom Booker (Robert Redford) lives on a ranch with his younger brother Frank (Chris Cooper), Frank's wife Diane (Dianne Wiest) and their children. Tom's work with the horse also has a rejuvenating effect on the guilt-ridden Grace. Annie loses her magazine job, and the low-key romantic involvement between Annie and Tom develops during the summer, stifled by the unexpected arrival of Annie's husband, Robert MacLean (Sam Neill). Screenplay by Eric Roth and Richard LaGravenese (who adapted The Bridges of Madison County). Filmed in Montana and Saratoga Springs, New York. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

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70% liked it

49,834 ratings

Critics

72% liked it

53 critics

PG-13, 2 hr. 48 min.

Directed by: Robert Redford

Release Date: May 15, 1998

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DVD Release Date: October 30, 2001

Stats: 2,036 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (2,036)

  • stormyweather980
    October 26, 2009
    stormyweather980
    Lots of people don't like this movie, but I've always been a sucker for a tear jerker drama film, and this is one of them. Redford's always been both a great actor and director. This is the first movie I think of when I think of him as a director. Awesome story (it'd be even bett... read moreer if she'd stayed with Redford!) and perfect setting and scenery.
  • 76Majikat
    January 16, 2009
    76Majikat
    A young Scarlett Johansson plays a good role in a story that has more depth to it that the title suggest. It does essentially lead to a love story, but the film is very long and the love story is not the main plot.

    With likable characters and stunning scenic views, The Horse ... read moreWhisperers is a watchable lengthly, but not one, I would demand people to watch.
  • thmtsang
    January 11, 2009
    thmtsang
    A mother hires a horsewhisper to heal her daughter's horse and in doing so repairs the relationships in the family. Good cast, including a young Scarlett Johansson.
  • deano
    August 3, 2008
    deano
    This isn't a film, it's a symphony: a magnificent project that perfectly suits Robert Redford's taste, style, and abilities. The subsequent romantic overtures between these two adults from different worlds play out against the Herculean task of helping the tormented girl and her ... read moreterrified animal. Redford once again proves himself the most generous of directors; all the best scenes and lines go to his costars.
  • xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    April 21, 2008
    xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    I like this movie very much. Great Cinematography and great acting by everone. The mother of a severely traumatized daughter enlists the aid of a unique horse trainer to help the girl's equally injured horse.
  • crossbladezero
    March 23, 2012
    crossbladezero
    Somewhere, Robert Redford is probably whispering to himself, because he pretty much looks like a horse now. Many, remember when he used to be handsome and I didn't keep judging men by their looks? I certainly can't pull my usual "Scarlett Johansson's hot" exclamation to refill my... read more man meter, because she was about 13 when she did this film, so that would be creepy, and plus, while she was kind of cute, you couldn't tell that she was going to look all that phenomenal when you look at this film. Well little girls, let that be a lesson that even if you don't look all that terribly pretty now, you could grow into one of the most attractive women on Earth... and I strongly emphasize the "could". Sorry to go shallow, gals, but I'm not going to lie to y'all; the chances of that happening are about as good as some adapting an Eric Roth script and not making it boring. Well, I guess that means that you should be hanging out with one of the three great directors that didn't make a terribly slow Eric Roth film, because it appears to have worked for the now lovely Miss Johansson. Yes, boys and girls the guy who was in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "All the President's Men", "Out of Africa"....... *snort* a-a-and "The Natural" (Sorry, I fell asleep there for a second) actually cracked the code to making a not-that-dull Eric Roth script, yet only rides that stallion for only so long before it goes back to limping.

    Roth's screenplays are often intended to be slow, but rarely dull, yet the type of meditation that he pumps into his work is so hard to do that, more often than not, the execution defaults to dry, and Redford manages to impressively work past the dryness, but only for so long. The film hits its share of rather dull spots, which is to be expected, considering that the storytelling is still so very slow in its pacing, and while that can work to great effect in some cases, typically, it only damages the film, and this film is no exception to that rule. With the pacing being so ridiculously slow, with few, if any jumping points, countless sequences and segments that run their coarse feel as though they're going on forever. I'm not making some kind of exaggerated joke when I say that Redford is introduced around 25 minutes in, yet it genuinely feels like we're nearing the 50 minute mark, and it's testaments to the pacing like that that really leave the film to lose plenty of steam, and while it's not like the later-to-be-done other Eric Roth-written film, "Munich", which is glacial in pacing and bone dry (Yet still pretty good; Sorry, but I'm a sucker for dramas, even if they do feature Eric Bana, who might be one of the worst actors alive), there's no getting around the fact that this is another Eric Roth screenplay that is not quite used to its full potential. However, as far as these spotty executions go, this is most certainly one of your better ones. Sure, it's not even mildly as good as one of the best Roth-written films, "Forrest Gump" or one of the best films... of all time, "Benjamin Button", yet what Redford lacks in comfortable pacing, he makes up for in sharp execution in almost every other regard of the film.

    While the opening is as slowly-paced as the rest of the film, I've got to give it up to Redford for nailing things right out of the gate, because this film wastes no time in presenting a challenge as part of the development segment: Pulling off something as potentially manipulative as one horse and teenaged girl getting smashed to death against a truck, while the other horse is left bloodied, busted and traumatised, with bones sticking out and flesh falling off its face, and the other teenaged girl is having to have half of one of her legs amputated. Just the fact that the leg in question will never get the chance to mature into the voluptuous puppy that adult Scarlett Johansson is sporting is tragic enough, yet Redford, against all odds, nails that scene effortlessly, portraying it with gritty realism and audacity, while making it still very disturbing, as well as emotional, without getting manipulative, and just like that, you're hooked. After that, the film goes up and down and quality, yet is never not compelling, keeping you engaged through all of the major slow-downs, as well as the occasional dull spot, partially because Eric Roth's... oh, and Richard LaGravenese's (Sorry buddy, but you're working with Eric Roth, so good luck getting noticed) screenplay, while not glowing, is still fairly tight, and while the execution is looser than the brain of those two guys that fought Max Baer (Look it up, it's pretty depressing; Poor Jethro's dad) in atmosphere, Redford manages to translate enough of the intrigue and sparkling charm within the duo's script for you to find yourself attached. If no other Robert behind the camera attracts your attention, then it's Robert Richardson, who might be one of the greatest cinematographers to ever pick up a camera, and sure enough, while this film doesn't bounce off the screen as much as Richardson's usual projects, the film is beautifully saturated in a fashion that's truly awe-inspiring, though not overbearing in its being so constant. Still, even if the lighting of the cinematography was too much (All might Robert Richardson, forgive me for my blasphemy), you would still find yourself pulled down to the film's level of substance, placed there not only by Redford's offscreen skill, but onscreen charisma, yet what really delivers on the humanity are the performances by the true centers of this story: Kristin Scott Thomas and then-up-and-coming Scarlett Johansson. It's not brought up very often, because now, she's become such an absolute bombshell and admittedly bombed in "The Spirit", but when you step back, Scarlett Johansson is not simply the last classic-style starlette, but a fine example of the modern, wildly talented actress, even when she was just 13, when she gave a very down-to-earth and charming, yet at times heartbreakingly emotional performance that was matched only by Kristin Scott Thomas' very believable and emotional portrayal of a woman seeking some form of relief in a life all but destroyed by tragedy. Watching these two actresses deliver such moving performances with such skill has got to be one of the most compelling aspects of this flawed, yet thoroughly engaging film, which is saying quite a bit.

    At the end of this slow ride (Take it easy! Sorry, but I just had to), the film isn't quite as impacting as it should be, being held back by a glacial pacing that sometimes drags the film into dullness, yet what triumphs in the end is Robert Redford's ability to extract consistent compellingness, charm and intrigue from Eric Roth's and Richard LaGravenese's gripping script, and with that appeal being supplemented by Robert Richardson's beautiful cinematography, as well as a pair of particularly remarkable performances by Kristin Scott Thomas and Scarlett Johansson, "The Horse Whisperer" is left a generally entertaining and thoroughly charming heartwarming that's ultimately worth the long-feeling sit.

    3/5 - Good
  • crazydannielle16
    April 20, 2009
    crazydannielle16
    I didn't care for this movie. It was REALLY long and kind of boring. It made me very uncomfortable watching the wife flirt with another man and even fall in love with him. I didn't really understand the point of this movie. I guess the point was... go back to your husband.
  • ashleymh007
    July 10, 2007
    ashleymh007
    A great story,beautiful scenery.A little too slow,but its part of the evolution of the story not just between the healing of the girl and the horse,but also the impending relationship that never happens betweem Rob Redford & kristin thomas
  • weelee18
    December 28, 2008
    weelee18
    Great movie..
  • mingsysar
    October 30, 2008
    mingsysar
    Robert Redford is a brilliant director, shame about the story; too slight to be engaging, the character development is zilch despite the subject matter and I wanted to see more behind the scenes of the ranch. Frustrating.

View All The Horse Whisperer Reviews

Critic Reviews

Todd McCarthy
November 8, 2007
Todd McCarthy, Variety

Directing himself for the first time, Redford has lavished his usual meticulous care on popular material that comes alive on the screen in ways that it never could on the page. Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum
November 8, 2007
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

This has loads of craft and honor but never quite takes off. Full Review

Andrew Sarris
April 27, 2007
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

We are not talking postmodern or even modern here, but the best kind of old-fashioned. Full Review

Kenneth Turan
February 14, 2001
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

That lack of identifiable passion is The Horse Whisperer's most vexing problem. Full Review

Janet Maslin
January 1, 2000
Janet Maslin, New York Times

What The Horse Whisperer loses in storybook romance it gains in rock-solid values and a stirringly profound respect for nature... Full Review

Ruthe Stein
January 1, 2000
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle

As good as Redford and Scott Thomas are at the outset, they can't convey the passion necessary to make the affair believable. Full Review

Stephanie Zacharek
January 1, 2000
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

Redford seems to have fooled himself into thinking the story of The Horse Whisperer runs much deeper than it does. Full Review

James Berardinelli
January 1, 2000
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

A film as rich in its visual presentation as it is in its emotional resonance. Full Review

Susan Stark
January 1, 2000
Susan Stark, Detroit News

...an intelligent, lush-looking tale... Full Review

Joe Baltake
January 1, 2000
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee

...transporting and therapeutic... Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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The Horse Whisperer Trivia

  • What was the first movie Kate Bosworth was in?  Answer »
  • Which actress features in movies like the horse whisperer, the girl withthe pearl earring and the island?  Answer »
  • The first movie that Scarlett Johansson and Kate Bosworth co-starred in together. Directed by Robert Redford  Answer »
  • in The Horse Whisperer, what happened to the horse and the girl?  Answer »
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