"One of the rare movies that achieves a magical atmosphere. Seeing it is like being carried on a magic carpet; you don't want to come down. (It may be the greatest children's movie ever made.) In this first feature by Carroll Ballard... the visual imagination that he brings to the natural landscape is so intense that his imagery makes you feel like a pagan - as if you were touching when you're only looking. His great scenes have a sensuous trancelike quality. The movie is set in 1949, but it seems outside time. And this distilled atmosphere makes it possible for a simple boy-and-animal story to be transformed into something mythological." - Pauline Kael, The New Yorker

"Generations from now, when people talk about horse movies, they won't be talking about National Velvet or My Friend Flicka [1943], they'll be talking about the majestic beauty of Carroll Ballard's The Black Stallion." - Michael Blowen, Boston Globe

"The first half of The Black Stallion is so gloriously breathtaking that the second half, the half with all the conventional excitement, seems merely routine. We've seen the second half before -- the story of the kid, the horse, the veteran trainer, and the big race. But the first hour of this movie belongs among the great filmgoing experiences. It is described as an epic, and earns the description." - Roger Ebert

The Black Stallion is a suffocatingly gorgeous adventure movie, which means it isn't very adventuresome at all... The director, Carroll Ballard, and the cinematographer, Caleb Deschanel, have captured so many lavishly beautiful images that the cumulative effect is one of repetition. In another context, this sort of glamour might prove more useful -- but the source material for The Black Stallion is Walter Farley's novel about a young boy's amazing escapades. And it requires more action in the telling, plain and simple." - Janet Maslin, The New York Times

"The relationship between man and beast develops slowly and mystically - the island interlude, utterly without dialogue, lasts 50 minutes, and is one of the most sustained, lyrical, rapturous sequences in the history of motion pictures, a visual symphony." - Jay Scott, The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

"Visually, this is a breathtaking movie, one that in no way looks like a director's debut feature. The plot itself is not particularly original, but Ballard avoids the contempt of familiarity by adding a measured layer of naturalism to the narrative. Riding the stallion is never about breaking him or bending him to Alec's will; it's a matter of mutual acceptance. Ballard, who as the second unit director on Star Wars [1977] shot most of the desert exteriors, creates a series of spectacular images..." -- Jim Thomas, DVDVerdict.com, 2010

Awards and Honors - THE BLACK STALLION

Special Achievement Academy Award - Alan Splet, Sound Editing
Academy Award Nominations - Mickey Rooney, Best Supporting Actor; Robert Dalva, Best Film Editing

Golden Globe Nomination - Carmine Coppola, Best Original Score

BAFTA Film Award Nomination - Caleb Deschanel, Best Cinematography

American Film Editors Award Nomination - Robert Dalva

British Society of Cinematographers Nomination - Caleb Deschanel

Los Angeles Film Critics Awards: Carroll Ballard (New Generation Award); Caleb Deschanel (Cinematography), Carmine Coppola (Original Score)

Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Award - Alan Splet

National Society of Film Credits Award - Caleb Deschanel (Cinematography)

National Film Preservation Board - Named to National Film Registry, 2002

Compiled by Roger Fristoe