RIDE A WILD PONY

US, 1976, 91 minutes, Colour.
Robert Bettles, Eva Griffith, Michael Craig, John Meillon.
Directed by Don Chaffey.

Ride a Wild Pony and Born to Run are two Walt Disney films produced in Australia. The director of each was Don Chaffey, who made The Fourth Wish and also made Pete's Dragon for Disney. Both films are about horses and ponies and appeal to younger audiences entertained by animal stories. They both star Robert Bettles, who also appeared in The Fourth Wish. Bettles is at times an abrasive young boy not the ordinary endearing Hollywood hero of Disney films. Ride a Wild Pony was filmed in Chiltern, Victoria and Born to Win around the Newcastle area. They both are period films and portray the Australian countryside and the period very attractively. Animal story, children, animals, striving to achieve are part of the ingredients which ensure success.

1. For what audience was this film made? Audience expectations of an action film centering on a pony? How well were expectations fulfilled?

2. The importance of the 1920's setting? The picturing of the farms, the wealthy property, the town and life in the town, the people and their way of life?

3. The importance of the Australian setting for background and themes? Australian characters? Australian settings and colour?

4. How attractive a boy was Scott? Picturing him as a migrant, the hard farm life, his hard-working mother and father? His skipping school and the need for school? His response to the pony and the training of the pony? The loss of the pony? His relationship with the children at school, especially the Quayles? Why did he have a chip on his shoulder? The length of time that he stayed away from school? People searching for him? The focus of his life in the pony?

5. How important for understanding Scott was the picture of the Piries? Their grimness, the glum looks of the mother, their migrant and Welsh background, their poverty, the reaction of people in the town, especially the police? The poor appearance of the family?

6. The importance of the contrast with the Ellisons? Their wealthy background, their property, their manners? Their owning the ponies?

7. Josie in the background of the Ellisons? 'Audience pity for her in her illness? The focus of her life in the pony? The detailed picturing of her achievement in training the pony? Yet the severity expression in her love?

8. The picturing of the Quayle family as the ordinary people of the town? Quayle as a fair solicitor, humane, giving every man his due? The relationships in his own family?

9. How interesting was the wrangle? The bitterness, the hurt for the children and each family? The humour of the situation? The court-case and the evidence and the way of deciding whose horse the pony was? The people betting? The impact of the final decision?

10. How valuable were the minor characters and their presentation? The situations in the town, the training of the pony, the shops, the people betting etc.?

11. How moving was the reconciliation and the apology? What did this say about the families, about the children?

12. The themes of Australia: the rich and the poor, country and city, class distinctions? Themes of pity, arrogance, friendship and love?

13. How enjoyable was the film? How much could be learnt of human values through it?