Lean on Pete-Horse Racing Movie

[RunForTheRoses]

Real good movie, it is a bildungsroman set on a racetrack backstretch, "Portland Downs" which I believe is Portland Meadows.



https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lean_on_pete/


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5340300/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/05/movies/lean-on-pete-review.html


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzlazAyylw8

[FakeNameChanged]

Wow, some heavy hitters along with this kid: Buscemi, Travis Fimmel, and Steve Zahn. Will have to try that on demand. Plus I really liked my visit to Portland Meadows last year. May be there next month.

[098poi]

Looks good. I have a crush on Chloe Sevigny so that's a plus.

[the little guy]

It's an excellent movie. Not sure I would call it a horse racing movie, though there is plenty of horse racing related stuff, but it's very good....and very sad.

[MadVindication]

I love this movie, sad as it is. The story really stuck with me.

I thought it portrayed the dark side of the racing industry really well. Buscemi and Sevigny both portrayed jaded characters "just trying to make a buck" in a dying game.

The situation with horse Lean on Pete was a great mirror to the dark coming of age story of the young man.

I give it 4/5.

edit: it is up on streamlord.com

[Cholly]

It IS an excellent movie (based on a book by a favorite writer of mine Willy Vlautin)...and it does have a few horse racing scenes--some at Portland Meadows and some at bush tracks in eastern Washington.

But be forewarned: if you like movies that make you feel good about life and humanity, this is NOT your movie.

[PaceAdvantage]

Thanks for posting about this...had no idea about this movie...definitely will check it out.

[jballscalls]

Was excited seeing this thread! I actually did all the announcing of the races for this movie. I'll tell you a couple funny stories from my two days on set.

First of all, Steve Buscemi was the coolest. His trailer was by mine and I got to chat with him quite a bit while they set up sets. There was a trainer on set named Teri Beckner, who had horses at PM, and she was kind of Steve's advisor as he played the trainer in the movie. Steve was super curious about racing and was asking Teri all sorts of questions. My favorite was he asked her "Teri what would a trainer say if after their horse got claimed?" She replied "Well if it's as slow as that horse in there they'd say hallelujah!"

The other cool thing was getting to talk to Charlie Plummer who plays the lead. He was really down to earth and since he was 17 he had to have a parent on set. His grandma was there and it was really cool to see how excited she was watching him.

In 2012 the director Andrew Haigh came out to Portland Meadows with Willy Vlautin (the author of the book) and they had just bought the movie rights. After I gave them a tour of the grounds Andrew said "Well if we can ever get this made you'll have to be our announcer." Four years later I got the call. It was a really cool experience to see a movie set up close and proud to have been a tiny part of this movie. Everyone watch it!

[RunForTheRoses]

Was excited seeing this thread! I actually did all the announcing of the races for this movie. I'll tell you a couple funny stories from my two days on set.

First of all, Steve Buscemi was the coolest. His trailer was by mine and I got to chat with him quite a bit while they set up sets. There was a trainer on set named Teri Beckner, who had horses at PM, and she was kind of Steve's advisor as he played the trainer in the movie. Steve was super curious about racing and was asking Teri all sorts of questions. My favorite was he asked her "Teri what would a trainer say if after their horse got claimed?" She replied "Well if it's as slow as that horse in there they'd say hallelujah!"

The other cool thing was getting to talk to Charlie Plummer who plays the lead. He was really down to earth and since he was 17 he had to have a parent on set. His grandma was there and it was really cool to see how excited she was watching him.

In 2012 the director Andrew Haigh came out to Portland Meadows with Willy Vlautin (the author of the book) and they had just bought the movie rights. After I gave them a tour of the grounds Andrew said "Well if we can ever get this made you'll have to be our announcer." Four years later I got the call. It was a really cool experience to see a movie set up close and proud to have been a tiny part of this movie. Everyone watch it!


Very cool.:ThmbUp: I thought you may have called at PM. Buscemi was great in the flick as was the kid.


Here is a list of release dates, should be able to stream soon:


https://www.ondvdreleases.com/3240-lean-on-pete-release-dates.html

[AltonKelsey]

Buscemi is great in anything he does.


A difficult movie but well worth watching

[clicknow]

I prefer documentaries to movies. I thought 50-1 was just dumb, too.

I can highly recommend this " no-holds barred look into Richard Mandela's stable from early in the morning until evening and everything in between. This is truly a lesson in horsemanship."

This was filmed when he was preparing Pleasantly Perfect, The Tin Man, Redattore, Kudos, Ile de Grance and Brisquette. IMHO, fascinating in every respect and a must for any horse racing library:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UDUMXW?SubscriptionId=0QCHRJVSKG6F3BRGBNG2&tag=pbs_00099-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B000UDUMXW

[clicknow]

Another one that few people have seen, is Racetrack by Frederick Wiseman.
Wobbly 16mm B&W film from 1986, sort of like a 1950's Life magazine print story come to life on camera but very surreal. Starts at a breeding farm, then takes you backside at Belmont, you get to see a foal birth, the grooming, feeding, shoeing, as well as horse mating as a trainer and stable employees hold a grunting stallion in place.

http://www.zipporah.com/films/18


As for movies, well I still do like Phar Lap. :p

[davew]

Thanks for posting about this...had no idea about this movie...definitely will check it out.

releases on dvd next week and in my Netflix queue



On the Muscle: Portrait of a Thoroughbred Racing Stable also is very good - was this a miniseries shown on TV/cable?

[clicknow]

On the Muscle: Portrait of a Thoroughbred Racing Stable also is very good - was this a miniseries shown on TV/cable?

I don't know davew, only reason I posted about it was because I purchased the DVD....3 episodes. Glad you thought it was very good, too....it really is an indepth "portrait of a racing stable."