Luck - Page 8 - Horse Racing Forum - PaceAdvantage.Com

castaway01 · 01-30-2012, 10:13 AM

I thought it was quite good. It probably helped that I understood everything that was going on. There was a lot of jargon in there that would have been confusing to non-racing fans, but then you could say the same thing about "The Wire", "The Sopranos" or even "Deadwood" too.

Sure, there were a few minor errors in there, but overall quite entertaining and enjoyable, with a great bunch of character actors supporting the stars. It did a nice job establishing the characters and their world, which is what a pilot episode is meant to do.

The breakdown was awkwardly shot. It's quite likely that in a real mid-race breakdown that the rider and horse would both go down, but from a storytelling point of view, the rider had to be uninjured so he could comfort the horse and then have the conversation with his agent and Gary Stevens (er, Ronnie) afterwards. They're trying to establish that the apprentice is a decent, caring guy.

On the other hand, the racing action as a whole was very exciting. Sure, the last race seemed to be about 2 miles, but they're telling a story. In general, you really felt like you were in the middle of the action.

I was reading a review of the show on HitFix, and in the reader comments some people said they were reading up on horse racing or some of the terms used, and were asking for good sources of basic racing terminology. So, who knows, maybe the show will even make some new fans. At least it should be well-written and interesting.

Tom · 01-30-2012, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

Who do we talk to in order to work a screenshot of PaceAdvantage.com into an episode or two?

Maybe the guy with the oxygen mask could wear a Tee shirt with a

on it!

soupman2 · 01-30-2012, 12:32 PM

Enjoyable first episode. It would have been better I think, but they were introducing 12 characters. Tough to do in an hour. Hope all the horse races don't come down to "the longshot wins!". Found the jockey agent very annoying. But looking forward to episode 2.

The "Color of Money" brought pool back for 15 years when it came out in 1986. Brought a lot of new players. Just like Tiger brought a whole bunch of new golfers. Maybe this will bring in a few more newbies to the game. Hey, we can use their money!

BeatTheChalk · 01-30-2012, 01:08 PM

It was just perfect.

Dave Schwartz · 01-30-2012, 01:26 PM

Quote:

45 years ago Hoffman walked down the escalator.

What movie was that?

BIG49010 · 01-30-2012, 02:16 PM

I found it quite disjointed, with too many story lines to figure out, I would guess this will be a one season and done.

It didn't hold my attention like a Mad Men or Breaking Bad.

wisconsin · 01-30-2012, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Schwartz

What movie was that?

The Graduate?

BeatTheChalk · 01-30-2012, 02:44 PM

The Escalator Scene at LAX -- to open the movie == still gives me
chills to this day. The name of the movie is sometimes given to a horse..
who just broke his ( or her ) Maiden.

rrpic6 · 01-30-2012, 02:47 PM

The Graduate was 45 years ago. Hoffman walked down the escalator in Rainman. That scene was repeated by Zack G. as Alan in The Hangover.

RR

johnhannibalsmith · 01-30-2012, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soupman2

Enjoyable first episode. It would have been better I think, but they were introducing 12 characters. Tough to do in an hour. Hope all the horse races don't come down to "the longshot wins!". Found the jockey agent very annoying. But looking forward to episode 2.

...

This pretty accurately describes how I felt having just watched it.

I rarely watch the pilot of any series because it is just an aggravating hour of introducing the characters and offering some definition of then. So, all in all, I thought they did a good job with this one.

But the agent is horrible. That should be an easy character to write and cast and they went in a weird direction with him as borderline cartoonish with a speech impediment that seemed completely phoney.

Light did a good job critiquing the dreadful editing on the pick six score and the will pays and I think I've watched three mile jump races from Gauvilleaux that ran faster than that race, but hey... I've learned to lower my standards for accuracy... and as long as they all talk about how great that kid looks on a horse, I'm going to have to work really hard to lower them further...

Overall I thought, for a pilot episode and a mainstream-ish racing show, it was pretty darn good.

BeatTheChalk · 01-30-2012, 03:25 PM

So let me get this : You say that Hoffman wasn't at LAX in the opening
scene of The Graduate ? Do we have that right ?? Please let me know.

My mistake in the post was calling it an ESCALATOR .. rather than the
" The moving Walkway " Now look below and please tell us all what is
wrong with this.

While standing mute by himself on the automated, moving walkway (with a monotonous recording: "Please hold the handrail, and stand to the right. If you wish to pass, please do so on the left") at the busy LAX airport, the credits play as The Sounds of Silence is heard on the soundtrack, reinforcing the theme of his emptiness and alienation from his surroundings:

Light · 01-30-2012, 03:48 PM

I'm not sure on one thing about the plot. The guy who wrote the winning Pk6 on the napkin singled the 5 in the big ticket. They also show the trainer of the 5 horse secretly cashing a big win ticket on his horse. So was there a connection between the pk6 player and the trainer I missed? Doesn't seem to be, but I think the plot would have been better if there was because there is no explanation why the pk6 napkin player would single a horse off 2 years (I think) on a huge ticket.

Leparoux · 01-30-2012, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Light

I'm not sure on one thing about the plot. The guy who wrote the winning Pk6 on the napkin singled the 5 in the big ticket. They also show the trainer of the 5 horse secretly cashing a big win ticket on his horse. So was there a connection between the pk6 player and the trainer I missed? Doesn't seem to be, but I think the plot would have been better if there was because there is no explanation why the pk6 napkin player would single a horse off 2 years (I think) on a huge ticket.

The connection is that the player picked up on the fact that the trainer was seemingly trying to make the horse a price. Two year lay off, no name jockey, etc.

Zydeco · 01-30-2012, 04:16 PM

Didn't the wheelchair guy say something about him playing the trainer? And I think there might be a connection down the line between these two somehow.

thespaah · 01-30-2012, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Light

Yeah that was a really sloppy scene and stood out like a sore thumb. And one of the pk6 players says aloud its paying $48k to the favorite and they show it on the board. The next time you see the board, nothing is paying that low. Why wouldn't they correct that scene before airing? Do they think nobody plays the races? Also when the 8 started moving between horses,it looked like they were definitely in the stretch. After the 8 breaks down its like someone rewinds the tape and and the stretch scene happens again except now the grain of the scene looks dated. Not believable.My kid can edit video better than that.

Overall I found the lives of 4 losers hitting the pick 6 kind of boring. Nick Nolte just grumbles to himself and Dustin Hoffman tries to look cool. More bore. Scenes from the 2nd episode look promising. I give it a 5 out of 10 for Episode 1.

Thing is, only seasoned horse players and others who've been around the game would notice such details.
Look at it this way, if this was 1970 and racetracks were routinely seeing 30,000 or more in attendance ( follow me now) perhaps the producers would assume there are plenty of people who'd notice such errors and then the producers would make the effort to correct them.
JHMO