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Pinto Ben
Also known as [Horns and Hoofs]
(1915) United States of America
B&W : Two reels
Directed by William S. Hart
Cast: William S. Hart [Boss Rider], Fritz the horse [Pinto Ben]
New York Motion Picture Corporation production; distributed by Mutual Film Corporation [Broncho]. / Produced by Thomas H. Ince. From the poem “Pinto Ben” by William S. Hart. Cinematography by Robert Doeran. / © 19 March 1924 by Tri-Stone Pictures, Incorporated. Released 25 August 1915. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / The production was shot 21 April through 5 May 1915. The film was rereleased in the USA by Tri-Stone Pictures, Incorporated, on 19 March 1924. Hart recorded a reading of his poem for Victor Records (catalog number 9297) on 18 October 1928.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Pinto Ben is a pink-nosed cow-pony. A hundred head of cattle are rounded up for beef to be shipped alive to Chicago. Ben and his master, with Segundo Jim, are put in charge. In the Chicago stockyards, men who don’t know range-bred cattle from a herd of mountain goats, calmly inform Jim and Ben’s master that the steers are to be driven into the big pen. At the same instant two or three stock hands run behind the herd and begin shouting and waving their arms to start the cattle. The beasts, a thousand strong, with horns and hoofs beating the air, bellowing their rage, glaring with bloodshot eyes, thunder into the chute. The two men in front prepare for their death ride. Suddenly Pinto Ben flattens himself before a high, iron-bound gate, and leaps. The pony cleans the gate. The great wave of scorching breath falls back on the other side. Ben’s master finds himself sitting on the ground, the head of his dying horse in his lap. Once the pony tries to pull himself up on his broken legs. But be falls back and breathes his last.
Survival status: Print exists in the Library of Congress film archive.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Animals: Horses
Listing updated: 15 November 2022.
References: Koszarski-Hart pp. xviii, 29, 30; Lee-Not p. 71 : Website-IMDb.
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