Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

Infobox Film
name = Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken


caption = DVD Cover
director = Steve Miner
producer =
writer = Matt Williams
Oley Sassone
starring = Gabrielle Anwar
Michael Schoeffling
music = Mason Daring
cinematography = Daryn Okada
editing = Jon Poll
distributor = Buena Vista Pictures
released = 1991
runtime = 88 minutes
country = USA
awards =
language = English
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 103262

Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken is a 1991 film about Sonora Webster (Gabrielle Anwar), a rider of diving horses. It is loosely based on events in the life of Sonora Webster Carver. It was filmed in the small town of Orangeburg, South Carolina on the McCants family farm; Emily Haynes was related to the McCants.

In one scene, Doc Carver (Cliff Robertson) sits on the ground with his back up against a tree along side a road later renamed "Wild Hearts Road" in honor of the movie and its success.

Sonora Webster Carver and her sister Arnette French saw the movie together, but Sonora was dissatisfied with the movie's romanticism of her life despite its appeal to the general public.

Cast

*Gabrielle Anwar as Sonora Webster
*Michael Schoeffling as Al Carver
*Cliff Robertson as "Doc" Carver
*Dylan Kussman as Clifford
*Kathleen York as Marie
*Frank Renzulli as Mr. Slater

Plot

Sonora (Gabrielle Anwar) is a stubborn orphan who lives with her aunt during the Depression. She has a love of horses, and one day before school, loses a bet that her horse can jump a fence. The fence breaks and the cows get out, forcing Sonora to be late for school. After Sonora is given detention, her aunt tells her that because of her behavior and the family's financial difficulties, Sonora is going to be put into an orphanage. Instead, she slips out of the house during the night.

Sonora ends up at a county fair and sees Marie perform as a Diving Girl. A Diving Girl jumps onto a horse as it runs up a steep platform just before it leaps off, into a pool of water. Sonora then informs Doc Carver that she is his new Diving Girl. He informs her that she is too young and her body isn't developed enough -- and tells her she should go back home. She stubbornly twists her arms and legs around a chair to show him she won't leave until he gives her the job. Instead, he just places her and the chair outside of his tent.

Ending up in the stable with the horses, Al Carver sees how talented Sonora is with them and convinces his father to give her a job as a stable-hand. Sonora then begins traveling with them, bonding with Al and even Doc Carver. Al wins a wild horse in a game of cards, and says that if Sonora can tame the horse, he will train her to be a Diving Girl. She surprises him one day riding up on the horse, and he keeps his promise, much to the chagrin of Marie. Sonora and the wild horse ("Lightning") develop a special bond which proves important later in the film.

One day, Marie falls and dislocates her shoulder, leaving her unable to perform. Thus, Sonora becomes the Diving Girl, even though the swimsuits don't fit her. Although she has never actually dove with the horse into the pool of water, Sonora is successful at her first jump. Marie is so jealous that she makes unreasonable demands of Doc Carver to ensure her stardom status, and after he refuses, she quits the show rather than share billing with Sonora.

Al and his father have always had a difficult relationship, which isn't helped by Al's burgeoning romance with Sonora, and one day Al leaves after having a particularly bad fight with his father. He and Sonora have just shared their first kiss, and he promises to write her. Again, Al keeps his promise, but his father, protective of Sonora, hides Al's letters from her. Doc Carver and the new stablehand Clifford leave the farm in search of work, and that night Lightning falls ill. Sonora spends the night worrying over the horse and is woken by Al, who has returned and who discovers Lightning ate some moldy hay and has developed colic. They work together to heal Lightning and are walking him when Doc Carver and Clifford return, telling the pair that the show is over as there is no more work to be had.

Al asks Sonora why she never wrote him, and she tells him she never received any letters. They are both confused over the missing letters, but put it behind them. It is then learned that Al got a deal with the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey to perform the show. This seems to patch up old differences, and just as everyone seems to be getting along, Doc passes away en route to Atlantic City, apparently from a heart attack. Now Al takes over his father's role as a presenter. On his first day, he is extremely nervous, so Sonora finds his father's famous fringed jacket to give him confidence. When she finds the jacket, she also finds one of Al's old letters, confessing his love for her. When she finds Al, she lets him know she feels the same.

Meanwhile, Clifford has acquired a rusted-out motorcycle from a friend in Atlantic City and plans to refurbish it to working status; Sonora is unimpressed and laughs at the notion.

Al and Sonora perform at Atlantic City -- their largest audience. Everyone is nervous and excited. As Sonora is climbing the ladder, Al proposes to her. She accepts and gets ready to do the jump. The horse, a jittery stallion who is not her usual partner Lightning, is anxious because of all the noise from the band and the crowd, and just before the jump a cymbal crashes loudly, which causes the horse to falter and trip. Sonora keeps her eyes open as they fall into the water. Both Sonora and the horse make it, but Sonora's vision is impaired, yet she hides this from Al and won't seek medical attention for the condition.

The next day when she wakes up, Sonora discovers she cannot see. The doctor diagnoses detached retinas in both her eyes due to uncontrolled hemorrhaging behind her eyes (a result of the high impact of the dive and her open eyes at the point of impact) and tells her the condition is permanent -- she will be blind for the rest of her life. In order to avoid a breach of contract lawsuit, Al must find another diving girl within a week, and calls Marie, who returns to be the Diving Girl.

Clifford has been working on his "new" motorcycle and gets it back in working condition. He demonstrates his new act for a small crowd including Al and Sonora -- it is an enormous metal ball in which he rides around inside on the motorcycle, doing loop after loop. The crowd is amazed and Clifford is pleased with his new "death-defying" act.

Meanwhile, Sonora misses diving terribly, and feels utterly helpless and like a burden to Al. She tells him of her desires to dive again, and indicates her unique bond with Lightning as evidence that she could do it again as she knows the horse so well. Al and Sonora work together to try to train her to mount Lightning again, much the same way she and Doc once worked together earlier to train her to mount the horse in motion. Sonora is stubborn and refuses to give up, but Al forces her to accept the fact that it is impossible. She spends some quiet time with Lightning that night.

The next day, with the help of Clifford, Marie is locked in her dressing room, and Sonora climbs the platform. Though Al is scared for her and shouts at her to come back down, the crowd doesn't know she's blind, and she uses her other senses to have a very successful jump. Sonora is again the Diving Girl, and her voiceover tells us that she continued diving for 11 more years. She and Al got married and lived happily ever after.

ee also

*Sonora Webster Carver
*William "Doc" Carver
*Diving horse

References

*cite web |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE5D7113FF937A15756C0A967958260 |title=Review/Film; The True Story Of a Girl, a Horse, A Diving Board |publisher=NY Times |date=1991-05-24 |first=Stephen |last=Holden

External links

*imdb title|id=0103262|title=Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken
* [http://www.ultimatedisney.com/wildhearts.html Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken DVD Review] at [http://www.ultimatedisney.com Ultimate Disney]