'All the Pretty Horses' BD: Matt Damon Makes Run for the Border

The must-be-seen-to-be-believed brilliantly remastered Mill Creek Entertainment April 7, 2020 DVD release of the 2000 Matt Damon drama "All the Pretty Horses" follows the MCE April 2020 leitmotif of BDs of films based on novels. This release coincides with the (reviewed) BD release of "Trapped," which is an adaptation of the Greg Iles thriller "24."

The accolades for this movie based on the Cormac McCarthy book of the same title include the 2000 National Board of Review, USA award for Best Screenplay. Each act in "Horses" playing out like a chapter in a book verifies that National Board of Review has chosen wisely. 

"Horses" tells the post-war tale of West Texas presumed ranch heir John Grady Cole (Matt Damon), who gets a rude awakening on his grandfather buying the farm setting the stage for his mother to sell the family homestead to an oil company. Rather than packing up the truck and moving to Beverly (Hills that is), John and best buddy (with "Brokeback Mountain" style homoerotic undertones) Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas) head out to be cowboys in Mexico.

A fateful encounter early in the journey is a game-changer that shows John that no good deed goes unpunished and that the riding trail to Hell is paved with good intentions. John is much more kind-hearted than Lacey on the pair meeting mid-teens runaway Jimmy Blevins (Lucas Black) on a horse to which he has an arguable claim but that does not technically belong to him. 

The excitable boy experiencing intense angst leads to a chain of events that finds him almost naked and afraid and John and Lacey figuratively at the end of their ropes. A spoiler is that past soon coming back to haunt our heroes puts them at risk of literally being at that end of their ropes.

In the interim, John and Lacey obtain gainful employment at a large Mexican ranch. The skill of John at taming horses earns him the favor of the owner; John being Matt Damon earns him the favor of Alejandra (Penelope Cruz), who is the daughter of the owner.

This near saga continues with paternal pride leading to John and Lacey being held accountable for the sins of another; this leads to a Mexican standoff that involves a South-of-the-Border form of frontier justice. 

More trauma and drama ensues, leading to a sort of a homecoming on a few levels. The spoiler this time is that this neo-modern western does not guarantee that John will ride off into the sunset in the end.