It's a winner: Excellent cast helps 'Seabiscuit' take great strides

It's always autumn, or so it seems, in "Seabiscuit," a film bathed in fading golden light and filled with russet leaves and the gentle brown eyes of horses. Fall is the most nostalgic of seasons, and its sepia tones perfectly fit this very old-fashioned movie about three men, a horse and a time long gone by.

Writer/director Gary Ross (he wrote "Big" and "Dave," and made his writing/directing debut with the 1998 fable "Pleasantville") has a warmhearted optimism that saturates his movies; they all touch upon themes of hope and old-fashioned decency. "Seabiscuit," his first film based on real events, does the same — a horse becomes, in the Depression, a symbol of happier days to come. There are no villains in this movie (though a scowling rival horse-owner comes close); just some very American heroes, wholesome as a shiny red apple.

"Seabiscuit" View trailer *** With Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, Gary Stevens, William H. Macy. Written and directed by Gary Ross, based on the book "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand. 134 minutes. Rated PG-13 for some sexual situations and violent sports-related images. Several theaters.

Laura Hillenbrand's wonderful nonfiction book was a huge bestseller, and not just among horse people — she vividly depicted the sounds of the pounding hoofs, the despair in the eyes of second-tier jockeys struggling for a mount or a meal, the almost imperceptible change in a horse's gait that can mean a career-ending injury. Her book introduced four unforgettable characters: Red Pollard, the wizened, wary young jockey looking for the perfect steed; trainer Tom Smith, an early horse whisperer; Charles Howard, the wealthy car dealer who bought a knock-kneed horse nobody wanted; and the Biscuit himself, a too-short bay with a healthy appetite and a need to run.

Each had his own history leading up to Seabiscuit's heyday in the late 1930s, and this is where "Seabiscuit" the movie can't help but disappoint. The book is thick with details that the movie, with only two hours, can only hint at.

Pollard (Tobey Maguire, toughness etched into his pale face) has a haunted look that's only partially explained in the movie. And while Ross takes his time — and wisely so — in introducing his characters and bringing them together, Seabiscuit's rise to fame seems to get short shrift.

Ross also makes the unfortunate choice of using David McCullough, host of "The American Experience" and other television documentaries, as a voiceover narrator to the film. It's understandable that Ross wanted to be sure that the story behind the Depression was told, that audiences understand why Americans were looking then for a symbol of hope, but it gives the movie an educational, made-for-television feel, and too often brings the storytelling to an abrupt halt.

But the movie's nostalgic mood is thoroughly beguiling, and its likable cast makes up for any shortcomings. Jeff Bridges, that most relaxed of actors, plays Howard as a backslapping charmer, always looking ever-so-slightly amused. Chris Cooper, as trainer Smith, delivers every line like it's a backwoods aphorism ("Try to feel it," he tells Pollard, by way of racing strategy); he's the quiet soul of the film.

Maguire, always so good at playing desperate, thin-skinned boys, finds Pollard's fierce love of speed, and of the misfit horse that became his friend. And William H. Macy, as an eccentric radio fast-talker with a Clark Gable mustache, provides some welcome rat-a-tat-tat humor.

Seabiscuit himself is played by 10 different horses (seamlessly, to my eye; perhaps a horse expert could spot the changes), and the race scenes are thrilling. We lean in with the horses as they round the turns; riding with the jockeys as they stretch out over their mounts' backs toward the finish. "Seabiscuit" doesn't end with a bang or a whimper; it just fades away gently, like the dusty light of an autumn afternoon.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com