The hearsay is that the horse, Hidalgo, has more sex appeal than Viggo Mortensen (as his rider, Frank Hopkins). This is his first movie following the spectacularly successful Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Omar Sharif (yes Dr. Zhivago himself) appears as Sheikh Riyadh, the sponsor of the cross-desert race "Ocean Of Fire". Now, that's where the sex appeal is. All we need is a bevy of balalaika players strumming Lara's theme. In the Lord Of the Rings Extended edition commentary, It is easy to see that Mortensen is a horse lover. He purchased his movie horse "Brego" at the end of the shoot. See the
Fanlisting of the Lord Of the Rings Horses. But Viggo himself comes off rather strangely as a super-methodical actor.
Guarantee number one: sometime during the movie, Hidalgo and Hopkins are going to be dying of thirst. Water will be provided by either, Providence (an oasis), A pretty girl, or Hopkins' worst enemy who grudgingly gives respect.
Also, the trailers are showing "Mummy" like sandstorms. I suggest that anyone finding this believable turn an Ingersoll Rand sandblaster on their body and see how long they could survive. {BB}
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