Fresh Horses (1988)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

I wanted to but couldn't!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

this is one of those movies which doesn't quite come together as it ought, but has some decent and compelling moments which render it finally watchable. to be brutally honest, i'm not particularly enthralled with any of the work ringwald has done, even her famous collaborations with john hughes; but i think they last because they're convincing, character-driven stories. this is another one of them.i liked the on location shots of a place that was neither new york or SoCal. they made an nice effort to root the story in reality. people live in real houses and drive old cars.i'm really digging these 80s films, they have like dialogue and cinematography and stuff. it's also not some effing remake.

More or less.I first saw this movie while attending Cincinnati Law. I was a defense attorney in the UC Student Court, defending a student on a parking ticket appeal, and by coincidence I watched this movie the night before the trial . . . and Andrew McCarthy parked in the exact spot where my client had gotten the ticket.Anyway, the movie is OK if you want a somewhat depressing John Hughes film. Fall in Ohio gets bitter quickly, and I can't help but think it affected the tone of the film. It's nice to see many of the familiar sights of Cincinnati and UC, but other than that, it's mostly forgettable even if you don't get the feeling you've already seen it before.

I saw this movie in the theater when it first came out. I was in love with Ringwald at the time as she was(and is still if the laws of physics still apply) about 5 years older than me. I really liked it then, and have been trying to get this on DVD for years.I was afraid that the film wouldn't be as good as I remembered, and it wasn't in the WAY that I remembered, but it was BETTER in ways that I didn't have the experience or maturity to appreciate at the time.While aspects of the film are dated, namely the syrupy, St. Elmo's Fire-ish theme song in the opening/closing credits, it held up surprisingly well. The only thing that keeps me from giving this higher marks is the unfortunate 80's gloss that works so well for the John Hughes films, but keeps this one from transcending the rat-pack genre.If this film were made today, it would never be filmed or sold as a "box-office" film, but would rather go through Sundance, IFC, etc., and the style would be more raw, more gritty. By and large though, that just didn't happen with "Teen Stars" in the 80's, and I'm amazed they got this film made at all! Also, for the people who don't seem to get the "Fresh Horses" reference, my take on it is not definitive, but there is a line where Ben Stiller is talking to Matt (McCarthy) and says something to the effect of letting a tired horse go, and getting a "fresh horse" in reference to dropping Jewel.It seemed to me that the metaphor was that while the characters all cared about each other, each relationship("horse") had more selfish/cynical motivations behind them. In effect, the relationships were being used to move themselves from one-point to another towards their goals/desires, whether or not they themselves understood or acknowledged them.Ringwald uses McCarthy to get out of her marriage, McCarthy uses Ringwald to get out of his engagement, Stiller seems to use his friendship with McCarthy to avoid growing up and getting serious, McCarthy seems to be trying to fulfill an image of himself as a white-knight, though he finds that he doesn't have the character, he also seems to need the superiority he feels over Jewel due to her lack of education and so on....Unfortunately for most(it seems!), the movie required you to do a little thinking, and probably drew the wrong crowd due to its co-stars, who were maybe expecting Pretty in Pink II, or Pretty In Pink "for adults", but I do not agree with that view of the movie.If you haven't seen it, give it a shot. Just go in with a blank slate and take it as it comes....

This movie was filmed in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky, where I was living at the time. I hung around some of the days of shooting, as the house where Molly Ringwald "lives" stands right outside my town.Andrew McCarthy was a darling who signed autographs, talked to whomever was around as if they were lifelong friends and even joined us for lunch. He won some lifelong fans during those days. However, Molly Ringwald was too grand for the likes of usKentuckians; she snubbed everyone and hid in her trailer. She kept stopping production during the cold weather because she was absolutely adamant about not being filmed with a red nose.I have to admit, when the film was shown, we laughed until we cried when we noticed that her nose was Rudolph red -- a lot.That is my fondest memory of this waste of good talent (McCarthy's). They should have saved the money and spent it on nose makeup for Ms. Ringwald. Or maybe charmschool.