Gypsy Colt

I thought the horse looked awful familiar! I was also a "Fury" freak as a kid. "Beaut" was a gorgeous horse. He seemed to fill out quite a bit by the time he was in "Fury." Beaut was one of the talented animal actors I can recall. In some ways, his range was quite similar to the Lassies who have been with us over the years. The one scene were he was "obvious" was in the desert as he staggered along and finally dropped. A bit of the ham, there!! The theme of the youngster being able to relate to a horse in a special way was reinforced by the interaction between the young boy who found Gypsy in the desert. Like the young girl, the boy also felt that Gypsy shouldn't be sold to adults who didn't value him, which lead him to set Gypsy free. Seeing the young Cocoran was interesting. I recall seeing her as a teenager in some films. Her brother Kevin played in quite a few Disney films, as I recall.

It seems almost required to mention that Gypsy Colt is not even a disguised remake of Lassie Come Home so I won't break tradition. Being that this is America with a lot more wide open spaces the horse Gypsy has a bigger journey to travel to get back to his little mistress young Donna Corcoran.

Nothing original about this family picture. Donna has a thoroughbred colt and it's the most valuable asset on her dad's farm. Her parents are Ward Bond and Frances Dee. Economic necessity forces them to sell Gypsy to horse racing owner Larry Keating. But you can't separate a child and her horse any more than with a dog. You can take it from there you've seen it all before.

Perennial western heavy Lee Van Cleef is the bad guy once again, a cruel trainer who does get his and the audience cheers accordingly.

Gypsy Colt is a nice family film, one of the last MGM B film products, probably made as an afterthought at Leo the Lion's studio.

For child star Donna Corcoran, it must have been nice and light and fluffy making this one, after doing "Don't Bother to Knock" with MM. That was SO dark and weird. In this one, family finances are making it impossible to keep her horse, so they will need to sell the horse to someone with a short-tempered trainer . Usually it's the child stars that are so precocious, but in this case, it's the (trained) horse that is the precocious one. Co-stars Ward Bond as "Dad". He was known for so many westerns over the years. This one is more for the kids. Everyone does a fine job, but it's pretty serious drama. Only 162 votes on imdb so far, so TCM must not show it very often. meh. It's ok. Directed by Andrew Marton, who had come from come over from Europe several times.

In the 50's, choices for kids' movies weren't quite what they are today. Gypsy Colt was a real favorite of exhibitors at the time -- entirely clean content and a short running time. It's corny by modern standards but still very charming in its own way. Interesting to see some of the same MGM props that turned up in some of their other films, War of the Worlds is one. If you love horses and a warm, fuzzy, sentimental feeling, Gypsy Colt is a winner. Although, Lee Van Cleef sure plays a real mean guy here.

It's true what they've always said... this is the equine version of "Lassie Come Home," right down to the horse punctually collecting the kid at school. As with all animal movies, it seems, something dreadful happens to the family and the animal is put to the test as a result. This time out the lead is a young girl, earnestly played by one of the acting Corcoran family, Donna. Ward Bond is appropriately firm-handed as the father and lovely Frances Dee exudes understanding as the mother. Lee Van Cleef is menacing as the villain of the piece. The gorgeous black stallion, Beaut, that plays Gypsy is the same horse that played the title role in the 1950s TV series "Fury" (please observe a moment of silence for my treasured childhood TV show) and was Elizabeth Taylor's loving steed in "Giant." It's a B effort for sure, but it's nicely done for the young horsey set and others so inclined.