War Horse Nominated for Academy Awards and YouTube Friday - Retro Movie Clips!

The most recent horse movie to steal our hearts, War Horse, has been nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture. 

Other Awards this wonderful movie has been nominated for are Cinematography, Art Direction, Original Score, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.

Here's hoping it fares better at these Awards then at the Golden Globes.

Other great horse movies that have been recognised by the Academy include 1944's National Velvet, which won two Oscars - best actress in a supporting role and best film editing, and was nominated in three other categories; 2003's Seabiscuit was nominated for seven Awards, but was unfortunate enough to come up against the great Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (which itself featured wonderful horses) and didn't win any categories; and 1979's The Black Stallion, which featured stunning Arabian stallion Cass Ole in the starring role, received two nominations but also didn't win.  1998's The Horse Whisperer received an Oscar nomination for Best Music Original Song, but missed out on winning, however, Scarlett Johansson did win a YoungStar Award. 1979's The Electric Horseman, which is classic starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, was nominated for Best Sound, but didn't win. Meanwhile, 1978's International Velvet - my favourite, 1994's Black Beauty, 2004's Hidalgo, 2005's Dreamer and 2010's Secretariat - another one of my favourites - didn't recieve any Oscar nominations.

On the Aussie film front, The Man From Snowy River didn't get a look in for an Academy Award, but was nominated for a Golden Globe (Best Foreign Film) and did win an AFI Award for it's unforgettable original score. Another absolute favourite Aussie film Phar Lap, was also ignored by Oscar but did win three AFI Awards and was nominated for a further five. The Lighthorsemen, an emotional tale of the charge at Beersheba, also did well at the AFI Awards winning two and nominated for three altogether.

Regardless of whether the critics recognise our favourite equine films, we'll usually rate them above all others because they star the most noble animal of them all - the horse. Long live horse movies!

Now, let's all cross our fingers for War Horse at this year's Academy Awards being held on Sunday 26 February 2012.

by: Jo Johnson/Horsezone

Quick Link

• Click here to view the full list of Oscar Nominees for 2012.

YouTube Friday Fun - retro clips from horse movies!

 

We're not that impressed with Robert Redford's rough hands but like his method of escaping from the law!