MovieChat Forums > Luck (2012) Discussion > Horse changed 3 times during the race

Horse changed 3 times during the race

posted 12 years ago by julielamberth-335-327045
12 replies | jump to latest

So, during the race in the finale I have now seen Rosie on several different horses - at around 31 minutes - starts with a darker horse with just a small star. Then a more chestnut with a wide blaze, then a star and a very narrow blaze. In the winner's circle she seems to be on a horse that has a straight blaze without a star at the top. It's most noticeable when she goes from star only to the wide blaze when Mongateau first starts to pull out of the pack.
Did they not think horse people would be watching and notice this? That everyone would just be looking at silks? At least paint the horse to have the same face markings, especially when it's the focal horse. That's just lazy.

[–] Nomad310 12 years ago

If what you noticed is so, and I'm not saying it's NOT so, then that would seem to me to argue that, as "realism" was not achieved by cutting several races to appear as if it were one race, stock footage would have been sufficient and this entire mess could have been avoided.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] Nomad310 12 years ago

I would rather the "spell" been broken for a few seconds that have what happened, happen, resulting in the loss of a really wonderful series.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] Nomad310 12 years ago

I don't know why you believe that stock footage of a horse race is any less exciting than something staged just for Luck. "Stock" should not have any negative connotation. It merely means that it's film that already exists and is stored, held in stock, like any other merchandise, for future use.

Stock footage is film of real races, with real horses and real jockeys running in real races. What could possibly be boring about that or lacking in credibility?

As well, I don't agree with you that the race scenes were the main attraction of Luck. The main attractions were the stories, the characters and the atmosphere of the race track and gambling in general, not to mention the amazing work of the cast.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] dobardan 12 years ago

Easypz, you either have a lot of time on your hands, or you are one of those people who can type out tons of well-crafted, logical prose faster than most of us can think it.

The intercutting of the fans with the racing shots in the last episode, along with the music, provided may be the most emotionally intense sports sequences I have ever viewed. There is no way that could have been replicated with the use of stock footage. Even with the best of stock footage, lighting, angles, filter, etc. all would have been off enough to negate the dramatic effect.

OP: I didn't notice the inconsistencies, but I wasn't searching for them; were you?

[–] julielamberth-335-327045 12 years ago

I actually wasn't searching for it - I was doing something on the computer and kind of half-watching, and it was just so jarring that once I saw it I couldn't unsee it. I guess people who really aren't into horses at all might not notice. I had to go back a couple of times to make sure I wasn't just wrong about what color silks she was wearing. I don't have a strong opinion on the stock footage issue, but I'm kind of surprised nobody else seems to have noticed it.

[–] dobardan 12 years ago

Maybe if your brain wasn't doing double duty, you would have been more involved in the story and not as prone to simply noticing visual input--just a theory.

[–] SrEditor 11 years ago

A little makeup would have been the best solution.

Those who are familiar with horses recognize their faces as distinctive, just as most people recognize other people they're familiar with. I say "most" people because there is a condition known as face blindness, which prevents some people from recognizing even those they know well. In one extreme case, a man failed to recognize his own mother as she passed him on the sidewalk.

I am not quite that extreme, but I often wondered, for instance, how anyone could recognize a criminal in a line up? How a police artist could work with someone until a recognizable face is produced? How some people did not need to meet someone over and over again before they knew the person was familiar?

It wouldn't take careful study or pickiness for a "horse person" to catch differences that the rest of us would never notice.

[Sorry to dredge this thread out of the grave, but it struck me that I had something to add to the conversation.]

[–] meldrone 12 years ago

Maybe Rosie's first two horsies got kilt.

[–] rogerscorpion 12 years ago

I agree with the OP, that slapping a little make-up on the substitute horses, wouldn't have been too arduous a task.

That said, this reminds me of a conversation I had in 1974. I knew someone who was a train enthusiast. That year, Walter Hill (who, coincidentally, directed the pilot of Milch's Deadwood)directed his fist feature, 'Hard Times'--set during the Depression. Charles Bronson played a drifter, who hopped freight trains. My friend commented that the numbers identifying the train cars were modern (for '74), & that during the Depression, they'd have been far lower. This information, thankfully, has never caused me to love the film less.

Carpe Noctem!