Virginia's Run

Amazon.com

In the tradition of National Velvet, this Nova Scotia-set family film revolves around a 13-year-old with a passion for horses. Like Elizabeth Taylor's Velvet, Virginia (Lindze Letherman) even has an older sister, Caroline (Rachel Skarsten). Sadly, her mother was killed in a riding accident three years ago and her father, Ford (Gabriel Byrne), has since forbidden Virginia to ride. Nonetheless, she's been visiting Twister in secret and is even with her when she gives birth to a foal. Virginia names him Stormy and he takes to her from the start, but to no one else--including owner Blake Raines (Robert Guy Miranda). So Blake sells the horse and Virginia is heartbroken. How is she going to compete in the Memorial Day endurance race? And where does Blake's new trainer, Jessie (Joanne Whalley), fit into the picture? Those questions--and others--will be answered before the end of this heartwarming adventure. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Description

When the mother of 13-year-old Virginia (Letherman) dies in a riding accident, Virginia's father (Byrne) sells the horse and vows neverto let his two daughters ride. Defying him, Virginia nurses the horse's new colt, Stormy, and secretly trains with him at night. But when Stormy is sold, Virginia's sister and a sympathetic trainer (Whalley) must help convince her father that a girl needs free rein to grow.

Customer Reviews:

An average account of girls and their love of horses........2006-11-21

The title AND the fact that horses play a huge role enticed me to watch this movie recently. Overall the acting is fairly stiff, and the story isn't all that compelling, but I still watched it in its entirety. I have yet to watch a horse movie and believe the relationship between the horse and its human. It's all suggested and not believable. I don't regret watching it, but don't think I'll watch it too many more times. For true horse lovers it will have to be one of the few movies to watch just on general principal.

The best movie in the world for horz lovas!!!!!!!!!!!.......2006-01-19

This movie is the best movie I have ever seen. I am a big fan of horse racing, and I loved this movie!!! It is all about courage and never giving up. The horses in this movie are fantasticlly trained, I can tell!!!!!! Buy this movie for a horz lova of any age!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An awesome film .. towards what really counts in life!.......2005-06-21

This is an wonderful film. Especially, if you want to view people in their horse "click" environment versus why most horse owners love their animals. This is one of the best Horse films made with lots of real life issues and filming. A must see film.

Directors are not horse people...........2005-05-11

Ok, call me crazy, call me anything you feel fits, but this
movie drove me bonkers! I grew up w/ horses, and thus am a
horseperson. And the first thing a true horseperson will notice is that Stormy, the foal that is born, is NOT a newborn foal. Couple things that suggest this: 1.) there's no sac around him as he's coming out. 2.) he's to big, and 3.) He stands not even 2 minutes after he comes out. NO newborn foal stands that quickly and is able to walk. I've seen plenty of foals born, and they all try several times before succeeding in standing.
Another thing, after his mother passes, he wouldn't have survived. A newborn needs the mother's milk within the first hour or so after being born, w/out they'll die, or be very sickly.
One more thing I need to vent about, so bear with me. It says 2 years later after Stormy is a foal. When they show him again...um I'm sorry, but that ain't no 2 year old...That horse had to be 5 or 6, 4 possibly. He was too filled out. Also, there is no way a 2 year old could run a 50-mile or so endurance race. 2 year old thoroughbreds only run a mile at most in races, and only 2-3 times that year. The horse would have not have been able to do what the horse in the movie did.
I'm sorry if I ruined this movie for you, but it really bugs me. I hate it when people decide "oh hey let's make a horse movie" but they don't know a thing about horses. And I realize not many people would care that much, but I do, it's just something that bugs me, we all have things that bug us, people who don't know what the heck they're doing bug me....to be more specific, Directors who don't know the first thing about horses!

Good Drama, Plenty of Excitement.......2005-01-07

After Virginia's (Lindze Letherman) mother is killed in a freak riding accident, her father (Gabriel Byrne) sells the offending mare, Twister, and forbids Virginia to ever ride. But you know kids - they don't listen! When Twister later gives birth to a foal, Virginia breaks the ban and grooms Twister's offspring to compete in the big Memorial Day 50 Mile Endurance Race.

Gabriel Byrne is good in these kinds of movies (see: Into the West) and it's not perfect, but Virginia's Run is entertaining enough.

Staci Layne Wilson

Average customer rating:

Mikey & Nicky
"Mikey, You've Gotta Let Me In!"
So-so crime drama
Gut punch: best American crime film of the 70s
How Did This Film Go Unoticed??

Mikey & Nicky
Starring: Peter Falk , John Cassavetes , Ned Beatty , Rose Arrick , and Carol Grace
Director: Elaine May
Manufacturer: Homevision
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00065GVI4
Release Date: 2004-12-21

Amazon.com

It's not written or directed by John Cassavetes, but Elaine May's eclectic portrait of two petty, middle-aged goodfellas on the streets of Philadelphia is electrified by the same nervous energy and volatile personalities of Cassavetes's best work. Nicky (Cassavetes), a trembling wreck convinced there's a contract out on his life, calls his boyhood buddy, Mikey (Peter Falk), who comes to his aid in the middle of the night. Over the course of one long night stretching to dawn, they scramble through city streets, smoky bars, dark alleys, and a graveyard of ancient memories of camaraderie and duplicity. While they engage in mind games and accusations, a betrayal brews in the background. The tragedy of the drama is that they are likely the best friends either ever had, and the closest thing to family either of them has left. May takes her low-budget picture to the streets and lets friends and former collaborators Cassavetes and Falk hit their shaggy rhythm while she peels back their sneering bravado to find sad, scared, vulnerable men underneath. It was a down-and-dirty shoot for May, whose rush can be seen in momentary glimpses of her crew in a few shots and overhead lights sometimes dipping into the frame, but that same on-the-fly drive gives the film its edgy, restless energy. --Sean Axmaker

Description

From Elaine May, director of The Heartbreak Kid, comes Mikey & Nicky, a compelling crime thriller with a powerhouse cast, including John Cassavetes (Rosemary's Baby, The Killers), Peter Falk (TV's Columbo) and Ned Beatty (Deliverance, Cookie's Fortune). Nicky (Cassavetes) has embezzled a fortune from his Mafia bosses and is on the run. Nicky's only friend, Mikey (Falk) tries to help him escape; or will he lead him into a trap? Shot in a gritty, improvisational style, Mikey & Nicky is one of the most original and riveting crime films of the 1970s.

Customer Reviews:

Mikey & Nicky.......2007-07-04

Directed with confidence by Elaine May, this gritty, pared-to-the bone crime drama about a penny ante Mafia associate who's on the run after embezzling a cache of money from the mob has a freewheeling, improvisational quality that perfectly matches its air of anxious desperation. The film succeeds brilliantly because of the give-and-take rapport between Falk and Cassavetes, who come across like a bickering old couple destined at any moment for a violent meltdown. Ned Beatty also contributes an edgy turn as the hired killer out to nail Nicky. With betrayal looming like an ominous shadow, "Nicky" is an engaging study of street life and strained male relations.

"Mikey, You've Gotta Let Me In!".......2005-05-11

"Mikey and Nicky" is a lost treasure, one of those gems that slip through the cracks when a big studio doesn't know what do to with a film that they think isn't "commercial" enough. Director Elaine May shot 1.5 million feet of film ("Gone With The Wind" took only 500,000 feet) and spent over two years tinkering with it before an exasperated Paramount Pictures took it away from her and dumped it into theaters in a butchered version in 1977. A completed. smoothly edited version wouldn't be available until the early '80's and this is the film that is now on DVD.

The film stars Peter Falk and John Cassavetes as two middle-aged gangsters. Nicky (Cassavetes) has stolen a lot of money from his employers and is on the run from a blustery, not-too-bright contract killer (Ned Beatty). A frantic Nicky calls Mikey (Falk), his friend from childhood, for help. Critics have noticed that this film seems almost a parody of Cassavetes' own directed films like "Faces" and "A Woman Under The Influence", and "Mikey and Nicky" does have a sort of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" improv feel to it. But a couple of viewings will reveal a careful structure to the screenplay. Different layers of these wiseguys' characters are gradually and surprisingly revealed until we get an almost literary, rounded understanding of them. Indeed, May is said to have started working on this as a play in the 1950's, and it does help to think of it as a theater piece that thrives on the action of language. (Although it is marvelously cinematic; as the two stumble through their long night together we get a terrific sense of the grungy 1970's urban landscape, so different from the clean, well-lighted convenience stores and mutiplexes of today.)

Nicky is impulsive, immature and wild; Mikey is something of a nerd who is pained that the bosses don't like him. Their relationship does remind you of the Harvey Keitel-Robert DeNiro friendship in "Mean Streets", filtered through the absurdist mob comedy of "Prizzi's Honor." Eventually, though, the laughs begin to stick in your throat as it becomes clear that May is primarily interested in the anatomy of betrayal and back-stabbing. These two know everything about each other from childhood and can't refrain from using that knowledge as weapons. The film eventually builds to a shattering climax that is one of the most effective I have seen in a long time. May's dark gangster fable is a clear ancestor in tone and humor to "The Sopranos", especially in its view of mobsters as working stiffs who play out office politics with guns and knives. If you are a fan of that HBO masterpiece, you should really see "Mikey and Nicky."

So-so crime drama.......2005-03-12

John Cassavetes (Nicky) and Peter Falk (Mikey) are two small-time hoods; Nicky is about to be bumped off by the mob and goes to Mikey for help. But Mikey is an ambiguous character who seems to be helping Nicky, but really isn't. Nicky gets it in the end--right on Mikey's doorstep. There is very strong acting by Cassavetes and Falk, much of it apparently improvised, though much of the movie has a very stagey quality to it: lots of dialogue in set scenes, not much action. Ellaine May directed, though not very well. Forgettable.

Gut punch: best American crime film of the 70s.......2005-01-19

This is a truly startling piece of cinema, considering it was directed by Elaine May, half the Nichols-May comedy duo and director of the biting comedies A New Leaf (sadly unavailable on DVD...or even VHS) and The Heartbreak Kid. Mikey and Nicky is unlike any other of May's films and, in fact, unlike any other American crime film, with one possible exception. And that exception is John Cassevetes' The Killing of a Chinese Bookie.

The similarity is seen in the same jarring cinema verite-like style on display. The constant close shots of what the two main characters do throws us right into their problems, their anguish, their mental manipulations. The often sounds-like-it-was-improvised dialogue was, in fact, not improvised--but the two actors playing the title characters, John Cassevetes and Peter Falk, did a lot of improvising while the film was originally being shot. Almost none of it was used, but watching this film, you can't tell that; it feels like they're the actual characters who could say anything based on who these characters are, rather than actors portraying the characters. Brilliant acting.

Cassevetes is a unique talent whose films are unlike any others in American cinema and these no doubt provided the impetus for May's technique here; her inspiration was strong enough to cast Cassevetes himself as well as one of his regulars, Falk, as the two leads. These two play off each other so well it is impossible to stop the film and go to the fridge for a beer.

They're both criminals, close to the bottom of the totem pole for that era--mid 70s (this was actually released in 1977). Nicky (Cassevetes) has made off with a chunk of loot from his bosses and Mikey (Falk), his friend, comes to Nicky's hotel room when Nicky phones him to come and help him out. What ensues is a powerful back and forth of Mikey's allegiance to their mob boss, most obviously shown with his connection to a shooter, played, interestingly enough, by Ned Beatty. Mikey's allegiance to his boss plays off Nicky's paranoia based on what he's done and his fear that he'll get iced.

If this were only a tale of simple betrayal, we could call it quits right here and say, yeah, sure, been there, done that. But Mikey and Nicky have a relationship that's too complex for that. You can feel, when they're together, that they need something from each other, that they can give each other a sense of belonging, even if only to the same underworld connection that no one else can give each of them. This edgy psychological bond is the powerful glue that holds not only the two of them together, but the viewer to the film.

Whether or not betrayal actually happens IS the point, no question. It's really how and why we get there that makes this film a stunning piece of work.

A real gut punch of a film, Mikey and Nicky slams it home. See it.

How Did This Film Go Unoticed??.......2003-02-16

I Personally belive this film shows the gritty side of 1970's
crime world in great detail. Nickey, a nervous wreck thinks
someone has put a contract out on his life, calls upon his buddy
Mikey to help him as the two pair go on long night of tearing up
the streets and smokey bars and realizes their deep betrayal with every turn. Throughtout this film it sometimes resembles
1973's Mean Streets but not quite as good but holds it's own
with it's restless, edgy style.

Average customer rating:

Fugitive Lovers
Starring: Sondra Currie , Virginia Mayo , Steven Oliver , and John Russell
Director: John Carr
Manufacturer: Trinity Home Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000G1R308
Release Date: 2006-09-26

Average customer rating:

Ultimate Sleepover DVD Giftset
Starring: Sam Waterston , Tess Harper , Gail Strickland , Reese Witherspoon , and Jason London
Director: Robert Mulligan , Peter Markle , and Melville Shavelson
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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Romantic Comedies | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000NSH07U
Release Date: 2007-04-10

Amazon.com

This giftset includes 15 sleepover favorites including: Material Girls, Uptown Girls, Saved!, Legally Blonde, Legally Blonde: Red, White & Blonde, Valley Girls, Virginia's Run, Man in the Moon, The Princess Bride, Courage Mountan, Yours, Mine & Ours, Mermaids, Mystic Pizza, Sleepover and Beauty & The Beast.

Average customer rating:

Run... If You Can!
Starring: Martin Landau , Yvette Nipar , Jerry Van Dyke , Morgan Douglas , and Sandy Berumen
Director: Virginia L. Stone
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( R ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00009PBKI

Average customer rating:

My copy of this cute movie worked just fine
One of Bob Hope's best, a Hilarious Pirate Spoof!
At Last!
One of Bob Hope's Best
Awesome comedic swashbuckling fun!

The Princess and the Pirate
Starring: Bob Hope , Virginia Mayo , Walter Brennan , Walter Slezak , and Victor McLaglen
Director: Sidney Lanfield , and David Butler
Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 0783115296
Release Date: 1999-05-18

Amazon.com

Bob Hope is in top form in this Technicolor parody of pirate pictures, doing his best vaudeville shtick as an inept performer trying to save princess Virginia Mayo from the evil clutches of governor Walter Slezak and pirate Victor McLaglen. It's all ridiculous fun, of course, but if you're a fan of Hope, you never tire of his self-effacing gags and double-entendres. His out-of-place show biz jabs were always clever, and they're all the funnier in this period setting--particularly the Bing Crosby jokes. But Walter Brennan nearly steals the film as a wacky pirate scheming to steal buried treasure, and tattooing the map on Hope's chest. Yet the two best routines are when Hope tries to conceal his chest while taking a bath with Slezak, and when he tries to impersonate McLaglen as "the Hook." --Bill Desowitz

Customer Reviews:

My copy of this cute movie worked just fine.......2007-09-13

This movie was not what I would call laugh out loud funny, but I did giggle a few times and it made me smile a often.

Bob hope as the cowardly vaudevillian was naturally funny, as expected. I had never watched a Virgina Mayo movie before. She was pretty, funny, and had a great singing voice. Maude Eburne was convincing as the landlady of the inn. She was just creepy enough to be funny. However, it was Walter Brennan as Featherhead who stole the show. He played a crazy pirate, who was smarter than he looked. I do not want to write more and possible divulge spoilers.

The makeup and costumes were just beautiful, especially the governor's clothes. The sets at times were a little phony, but not too bad considering that this movie was made in 1944.

Overall this movie was good and I would watch it again. I give it three and three quarters stars.

One of Bob Hope's best, a Hilarious Pirate Spoof!.......2007-09-12

When producer Samuel Goldwyn 'borrowed' Paramount's biggest comedy star, Bob Hope, for 1944's "The Princess and the Pirate", he provided the comedian with all the ingredients for a classic; a great script (by Everett Freeman, Dan Hartman, Melville Shavelson, and a host of uncredited Hope gag writers), a first-rate director (David Butler), a sexy co-star (Virginia Mayo), top-notch supporting players (including Walter Brennan, Walter Slezak, and Victor McLaglen), and a cameo by (who else?) Bing Crosby. How could the film miss? And to Hope's credit, the film still holds up as one of his best, over sixty years after it's release!

As entertainer Sylvester the Great, Hope plays his signature 'heroic coward' character, protecting incognito princess Mayo (who, naturally, falls for him), does a funny 'drag' sequence as a truly ugly gypsy (while fending off the amorous advances of addled Brennan), and thwarting the machinations of an evil island ruler (Slezak, who'd play a similar role in "The Pirate") and ruthless pirate (McLaglen, gleefully chewing up the scenery). The tone is light-hearted (Hope occasionally addresses the audience, sharing a one-liner with us), has a great song ("Kiss Me in the Moonlight"), and the end result was not only a box office hit, but earned two Oscar nominations.

If you're a Bob Hope fan, this is a 'must' for your collection!

At Last!.......2007-06-11

I don't know about those other reviews, my copy seemed fine so they must have fixed those poor CQ issues - what else is there to say; Its Bob Hope and Pirates!!!

One of Bob Hope's Best.......2007-05-21

I found this movie to be one of his best. In this swashbuckling movie I found a great mix of Pirate action adventure and comedy. The action adventure was real clean fun, and the comedy romance wasn't too mushy. This is a great film for both young and old alike. My 4 yr old boy loved it; I was amazed it kept his attention. He learned alot about Pirates too.
My friends 13 yr old daughter couldn't stop laughing.

Awesome comedic swashbuckling fun!.......2007-02-12

What a cute movie! Bob is just the best when it comes to comedy. This is probably the funniest swashbuckling comedy I've seen so far. Love who Virginia Mayo leaves with at the end of the movie - you know it isn't going to be Bob, he usually can't seem to get & keep the girl!

If you want a funny twist on pirate movies, look no further than this movie. A nice alternative to the over-the-top performance of Johnny Depp's as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Average customer rating:

Fugitive Lovers
Starring: Sondra Currie , Virginia Mayo , Steven Oliver , and John Russell
Director: John Carr
Manufacturer: 905 Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Adventure | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B000HDZKC8
Release Date: 2006-09-26

Average customer rating:

An average account of girls and their love of horses.
The best movie in the world for horz lovas!!!!!!!!!!!
An awesome film .. towards what really counts in life!
Directors are not horse people....
Good Drama, Plenty of Excitement

Virginia's Run (2002)
Starring: Gabriel Byrne , Joanne Whalley , Lindze Letherman , Rachel Skarsten , and Kevin Zegers
Director: Peter Markle
Manufacturer: MGM
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000089QA5

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

An average account of girls and their love of horses........2006-11-21

The best movie in the world for horz lovas!!!!!!!!!!!.......2006-01-19

An awesome film .. towards what really counts in life!.......2005-06-21

Directors are not horse people...........2005-05-11

Good Drama, Plenty of Excitement.......2005-01-07

DVD:

DVD

DVD