History Film / Seabiscuit

* HistoricalBadassUpgrade: War Admiral's portrayal is embellished to make Seabiscuit more of an underdog. He's portrayed as a gigantic and very imposing horse with superior breeding. In reality, War Admiral was small, nicknamed the Mighty Atom, and at most 0.3 hands taller than the famously small Seabiscuit.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Also fitting in with "Adapted Out" is the real-life background of Red Pollard. The film depicts him as having grown up in an affluent family that lost its fortune in the Great Depression, forcing him to leave to seek his fortune in racing. The real-life Pollards lost their fortune in 1915, long before the Depression, when their brickyard in Edmonton was destroyed in a flood.

* AdaptedOut: Many aspects of the true story were removed to better focus the film's story arc. Among the things that were changed: Charles Howard had multiple children, Howard maintained a stable full of racehorses and jockeys, Red fell in love with, and married, the nurse who cared for him after he broke his leg. Red, prior to breaking his leg, also suffered another serious fall where his chest was crushed and had to spend many months convalescing.

During TheGreatDepression, John "Red" Pollard (Creator/TobeyMaguire), the child of a Canadian family, is left in the care of a race horse trainer. While learning the ropes of being a jockey, Red earns additional income in underground boxing matches, leading to a severe head injury during a fight that blinds him in one eye-- potentially ending his jockeying career almost before it's begun.

Meanwhile, Charles Howard (Creator/JeffBridges), an office clerk for a bicycle company, is handed a new life by fate. After a happenstance involving a broken-down car, Howard finds automobiles fascinating, learning as much as he can about being a mechanic. Applying his new skills and no small amount of talent, Howard becomes an expert in cars in general, earning a living first modifying cars and then selling them, rapidly rising to be one of the largest and most successful car dealers in California. His charmed life is visited by fate again, however, when his son dies in a car accident. Howard is unable to cope, sinking into depression to the point that his wife leaves him and life as he knows it comes apart.

Smith finally contrives a match race between Seabiscuit and War Admiral, the top race horse in the country, but Red breaks a leg during training and is told he will never be able to jockey again. Red recommends an old friend, George Woolf, as a replacement. With Red's coaching and insights in how to handle Seabiscuit, they defeat the favored War Admiral, but Seabiscuit suffers injury at Santa Anita some time later. Red helps Seabiscuit through his recovery and, using a brace he built for his own injured leg, Red rides Seabiscuit in the final race at Santa Anita against Woolf on another horse. When Red and Seabiscuit fall to the back of the pack, Woolf reins in his own horse to pull even with Seabiscuit, using the same technique he'd used in the War Admiral race to get Seabiscuit fired up enough to pull ahead and win his final race.

* TheDayTheMusicLied: During the historic match race against War Admiral, Seabiscuit jumps out to an early lead. [[spoiler:After a while, though, he begins to slow, accompanied by mournful music, allowing War Admiral to catch up. But Seabiscuit slowing was a BatmanGambit on the part of his jockey, George Woolf, and (injured) regular jockey, Red Pollard, who knew that the horse would push himself harder if the other horse was matching his speed. It worked, and Seabiscuit won.]] This was, as Hillenbrand's book described, TruthInTelevision (well, except for the music).

[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kr7f71k1_8490.jpg]]

''Seabiscuit'' is a 2003 film about the racehorse of the same name.

''Seabiscuit'' charts the collision of four entities - three human, one horse - in the creation of a legend. During TheGreatDepression, John "Red" Pollard (Creator/TobeyMaguire), the child of a Canadian family, is left in the care of a race horse trainer. Although Red learns the ropes of being a jockey, he earns additional income in underground boxing matches. While this brings in some extra money for Red, it also results in a severe head injury during a fight that leaves him blind in one eye, an injury that could very likely end his jockey career.

* RealityIsUnrealistic[=/=]MoodyMount: Interviews with some of the crew reveal that they actually toned down the real Seabiscuit's bad behavior, which is well documented, out of fear the audience would think they made it up for the movie and/or [[RuleOfFunny for laughs]].

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Refreshingly averted. The film takes artistic liberties here and there, especially to make the characters look more sympathetic (see RealityIsUnrealistic[=/=]MoodyMount above), but for the most part it stays true to life. If anything, they ''downplayed'' some of the fantastic events of the real story!

Meanwhile, Charles Howard (Creator/JeffBridges), an office clerk for a bicycle company, is handed a new life by fate. After a happenstance involving a broken-down car, Howard finds automobiles fascinating, learning as much as he can about being a mechanic. Applying his new skills and no small amount of talent, Howard becomes an expert in cars in general, earning a living first modifying cars and then selling them, rapidly rising to be one of the alrgest and most successful car dealers in California. His charmed life is visited by fate again, however, when his son dies in a car accident. Howard is unable to cope, sinking into depression to the point that his wife leaves him and life as he knows it comes apart.

-->'''Howard''' (''laughing''): I don't know what's worse! Our horse is too small, our jockey's too big, our trainer's too old, and I'm too dumb to know the difference!

* BirdsOfAFeather: Red Pollard and Seabiscuit. Two used and abused misfits who are angry at the world for how its mistreated them, now out to show the world what they can accomplish.

** InvertedTrope: [[http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2003/07/25/Limp-Seabiscuit-hobbles-onscreen/13331059156002/ One reviewer]] called Creator/TobeyMaguire, Red's actor, "the world's tallest jockey." Maguire is normal height at 5'8" (173 cm), close to the real-life Red's height, which ''is'' exceptionally tall for a jockey. It's also clearly a bad thing, since [[RealityEnsues Red was forced into an eating disorder to keep weight off.]] (Granted, other jockeys ''also'' had eating disorders, but it was even worse for Red than for them.)

*** It is also urban legend that Biscuit was held back to give other horses ego trips. A racehorse trainer (especially one as good as Jim Fitzsimmons) would never sabotage one owner's horse to benefit another--an extremely serious accusation, as that's how you lose clients ''and'' your reputation. Biscuit lost races and trained poorly because he did not respond well to the common training methods of the day and Fitzsimmons did not know how to meet his specific training needs, but there's no evidence to support the theory of intentional sabotage.

* ParentalAbandonment: Red's career starts when his parents, who are broke and unable to support all their children, abandon him to a small-time horse trainer. The reality was less harsh, as Red stayed in touch with his parents and helped them financially once riding Seabiscuit began to pay off.

*** It is also urban legend that Biscuit was held back to give other horses ego trips. A racehorse trainer (especially one as good as Jim Fitzsimmons) would never sabotage one owner's horse to benefit another, that's how you lose clients ''and'' your reputation. Biscuit lost races and trained poorly because he was sour and refused to cooperate.

** InvertedTrope: [[http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2003/07/25/Limp-Seabiscuit-hobbles-onscreen/13331059156002/ One reviewer]] called Creator/TobeyMaguire, Red's actor, "the world's tallest jockey." Maguire is normal height at 5'8" (173 cm), close to the real-life Red's height, which ''is'' exceptionally tall for a jockey (and it was definitely bad, since [[RealityEnsues Red was forced into an eating disorder to keep weight off]]).

** InvertedTrope: [[http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2003/07/25/Limp-Seabiscuit-hobbles-onscreen/13331059156002/ One reviewer]] called Creator/TobeyMaguire, who played Red Pollard, "the world's tallest jockey." Maguire is normal height at 5'8" (173 cm), close to the real-life Red's height, which ''is'' exceptionally tall for a jockey (and it was definitely a bad issue, since [[RealityEnsues Red was forced into an eating disorder to keep weight off]]).

** Inverted Trope: [[http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2003/07/25/Limp-Seabiscuit-hobbles-onscreen/13331059156002/ One reviewer]] called Creator/TobeyMaguire, who played Red Pollard, "the world's tallest jockey." Maguire is normal height at 5'8" (173 cm), close to the real-life Red's height, which ''is'' exceptionally tall for a jockey (and [[RealityEnsues why Red was forced into an eating disorder to keep weight off]]).

** A subverted example of "Expecting Someone Shorter": [[http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2003/07/25/Limp-Seabiscuit-hobbles-onscreen/13331059156002/ One reviewer]] called Creator/TobeyMaguire, who played Red Pollard, "the world's tallest jockey". Maguire is normal height at 5'8" (173 cm), which ''is'' exceptionally tall for a jockey (and [[RealityEnsues why Red was forced into an eating disorder to keep weight off]]). The subversion: the real-life Pollard was 5'7".