Harry de Leyer and Snowman
“HARRY & SNOWMAN” My rating: B
84 minutes | No MPAA rating
For those who regard horses as beautiful, dumb brutes, “Harry & Snowman” poses a conundrum.
Ron Davis’ documentary is a real-life man/horse love story featuring an animal whose personality threatened to outshine those of the humans around him.
At age 85, trainer and rider Harry de Leyer looks back on his life and declares that “Snowman was more than a horse. He was my best friend.”
Snowman, for those with little interest in the equestrian sports, was a plow horse on his way to the glue factory when he was rescued by de Leyer.
The Dutch immigrant (he had been active in the anti-German resistance in his native Netherlands, hid Jews in his cellar and saw friends executed) had come to a livestock auction in 1956 hoping to pick up a few cheap mounts for his students at a posh Long Island boarding school for girls.
The horse he would name Snowman was already in a trailer destined for the rendering plant, having found no buyers.
As Harry recalls, he looked at the horse. The horse looked at him. It was love at first sight.
He bought the newly christened Snowman for $80, and over the next few years rode this Cinderella steed to the world championship of jumpers.
(Snowman’s story bears an uncanny resemblance to that of Dream Alliance, the Welsh racing champion featured in last summer’s doc “The Dark Horse.” The two films would make a hell of a double feature.)
Butler's Cinema Scene 