Flicka

Infobox Film
name = Flicka

---

caption =
director = Michael Mayer
producer =
writer = Mark Rosenthal
Lawrence Konner
starring = Alison Lohman
Tim McGraw
Maria Bello
Ryan Kwanten
Kaylee DeFer
music = Aaron Zigman
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = 20th Century Fox
released = October 20, 2006
runtime =
country = United States
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0434215

"Flicka" is a 2006 film adapted from the 1941 children's novel "My Friend Flicka" by Mary O'Hara. The film is directed by Michael Mayer. A previous adaptation, directed by Harold D. Schuster, was released in 1943.

This time, the plot focuses on a female protagonist, played by Alison Lohman. In previous versions, the main character was a male. The movie also features Maria Bello and Tim McGraw, who also serves as executive producer of the soundtrack album.

This $15 million-budgeted film grossed $21 million in the United States theaters [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=flicka.htm "Flicka"] at Box Office Mojo] , and then it went on to become a surprise hit in DVD market in the United States; it made more than $48 million on DVD sales [ [http://www.the-numbers.com/dvd/charts/annual/2007.php "Flicka"s DVD sales] ] and more than $19 million on DVD/Home Video rental [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=homevideo&id=flicka.htm "Flicka"s home video sales] at Box Office Mojo]

Plot

16-year-old Katherine "Katy" McLaughlin (Alison Lohman) has big dreams of administering her father's Wyoming horse ranch, but her father, Rob, (Tim McGraw) and mother, Nell, (Maria Bello) have other, larger plans for their daughter. Being a similar, independent spirit to Katy, Rob has a hard time understanding his daughter as she defies his authority to spend time with a stray mustang she named "Flicka" (the Swedish word for "girl").Meanwhile, Katy's older brother, Howard (Ryan Kwanten), detests living on his father's ranch and wants to go to college. Knowing that Rob wants him to inherit the ranch, Howard has a hard time telling his parents about his dream. After being convinced by his girlfriend, Miranda (Kaylee DeFer), and watching Katy suffer when Flicka is taken to the rodeo, Howard confesses that he doesn't want the ranch. When Katy comes down with a high fever after trying to save Flicka from a cougar attack, Rob and Nell wait and watch in hopes that the fever will break. Meanwhile, Rob believes that Flicka is so badly hurt, she'll have to be put down. When two of his fellow ranchers refuse to, knowing that Katy will hear the shot, Rob goes to shoot Flicka. After giving her father permission to shoot the horse, Katy awakes to what she thinks is the gunshot her father used to put Flicka down, but is really a gunshot he used to kill the mountain lion that attacked Flicka and Katy. Rob returns in the early morning with a badly wounded Flicka walking behind him. The next morning, Katy's fever breaks and she is surprised when her parents present her with Flicka, whose wound has now been bandaged up by the vet. Rob tells Katy that she'll have to take care of Flicka once she's well. Katy later learns that Rob typed up her school final that she had written out and sent it in so she could pass for the year. The film ends with Katy on Flicka and Rob on his horse, standing above a Wyoming ravine.

Accident

On April 25, 2006, one of the horses used in the film was killed in a freak accident on the set. The incident took place at the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center, located in Lakeview Terrace, California. Days later, another incident took place that resulted in the death of another horse. [ cite web|url=http://imdb.com/news/sb/2005-04-28#film1 |title=Second Horse Death in 'Flicka' Filming |accessdate=2007-07-14 |last=Irwin |first=Lew (Editor) |date=2005-04-28 |work=Studio Briefing |publisher=Internet Movie Database ]

After investigation, the American Humane Association declared that the deaths were not the fault of the filmmakers. However, the usual "No animals were harmed in the making of this film" statement would no longer appear in the end credits of the film.

Production notes

* At the carnival, The Warren Brothers are the duo singing. The Warren Brothers are friends of Tim McGraw and his wife Faith Hill and occasionally tour with them.
* The horse Tim McGraw rode in the film played "Seabiscuit" in the Tobey Maguire film.
* Parts of the movie were filmed in Sheridan, Wyoming.

References

External links

* [http://www.flickadvd.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/movies/a0002933.cfm Parental review]
*imdb title|id=0434215|title=Flicka
* [http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/flicka Flicka Reviews] at Metacritic.com
* [http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/flicka/ Flicka trailer] (Requires QuickTime)