Hidalgo

A pulp-fiction, 1930s-style serial about a cowboy riding a horse race in Arabia. It’s so unselfconsciously anachronistic that it’s almost charming, and Viggo Mortensen is handsome and heroic as the lead, but attempts at adding straight drama cause the story to bog down, and are occasionally embarrassing to watch. However, the pure boy’s-adventure-story sequences, which include swordfights and gun battles and riding across the open sands, work on their own merits. Definitely worth seeing if you’re in your late '80s and miss the movies of your youth, or if your collection of Hop-along Cassidy reels is now wearing out.