How sad is this?

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Absolutely Fantastic

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I saw this movie in a middle school class. It was quite an adventurous story, about a daredevil woman who rides horses off of high dives. However, an accident involving one of the horse falling off a very high platform changes her life forever.It was a somewhat entertaining, dramatic and adventurous movie from what I remember, with some good acting and a good story-line with achieving one's goals.It's also quite a nostalgic film that reminds you of the old days (as it is set during the Great Depression). It's a good one for the entire family.Grade B

1st watched 9/23/2010 -- 3 out of 10 (Dir-Steve Miner): Mediocre story with bad direction from Steve Miner makes what could have been interesting --- pretty dull. This true story is about a young girl from the depression era who is kicked out of her aunt's house, runs away, and dreams of eventually getting to Atlantic City and being a diver of horses(really, I'm not making this up). She has a love of horses and sees an ad for this position and has no idea what it is or what it takes to be this, but because of her current position she would rather be anywhere else and welcomes what looks like an adventure. Gabrielle Anwar, who plays the girl, is cute but there has to be more in a movie than just looking at a pretty girl. The direction is choppy at best and the story seems pieced together without good segways between the major story lines. The acting is OK, but nothing special. The characters include a boy interest, a new fatherly figure, played by Cliff Robertson(who is the boss of the side show she hooks up with), and a friend who stays to work with the company. She does get to Atlantic City with the show and dives but then suffers an accident that blinds her(this occurs late in the movie). She then has to work back into doing what she loves best while carrying her affliction(which makes the movie kind of Rockyesque). The story just doesn't have enough heart to carry it through, and the filmmaking is not good enough to make it watchable. Good attempt, but nothing special.

I didn't think this was as good as hyped at the time of its release, but it was still a nice, old-fashioned film and Gabrielle Anwar as "Sonora Webster" was a pleasure to watch. I'm sorry she never developed into a major star, although she's stayed busy in her acting career.This is a based-on-a true story and if a woman really performed diving horse acts while blind, well, that is incredible. This is certainly an inspiring story.I enjoyed looking at the recreation of the Atlantic City Boardboard during its heyday. Oveall, the colors could have been better in this film, however. There was too much brown, but it's not a major problem.The story is the thing here and in that aspect, it's a winner.

Absolute schmaltz, this movie is the core of many girl-nights and sleepovers from my youth. Michael Schoeffling is so delicious, and I don't know why he never made it too bigtime. I think Gabrielle Anwar is talented in her subtlety, even though this movie is so Disney, so superficial and sugary. Red-headed carnival boy (plays role of "Clifford") is pretty good too.It's nice, it's family-friendly...take it to entertain some young girls while babysitting or something.I cannot believe they make us write these things to ten lines. Am I in detention? I mean, really now, I used to believe in "brevity is the soul of wit" and all that. Anyhoo, here's your stinkin' 10 lines. Have a g'day, dear reader of mine. Cheers.