Until last month, I hadn't watched The Man From Snowy River since I was a kid. Then Jeremy brought it home from the library and we sat down with the girls for a family movie night. It was another "watching it again for the first time" moment, and it was wonderful. You guys, that movie is so awesome. It's the best kind of movie that you can watch with your kids and you're entertained and they're enthralled and all the weird, slightly freaky subplots go soaring right over their heads, creating vague memories for them to reflect on over the years until they finally watch the movie again as an adult and everything makes sense (see also: Amadeus, The Black Stallion, and Raiders of the Lost Ark). As an adult, The Man From Snowy River is this great story of growing up and becoming a man and forgiveness and redemption and a truly fabulous horse chase scene that takes up the final 20 minutes or so of the movie.
As a kid - as one of our kids, anyway - The Man From Snowy River is about wild horses ("brumbies") and ranch horses, and trying to tame the wild horses, and there's a bad guy and a good guy. And the final horse chase is pretty fabulous for the kids, too.
So if you haven't seen this movie, go watch it already. And then have your kids watch it. Keep in mind that on a first viewing, you will have to pause the movie approximately every 30 seconds to explain what's going on, but as soon as the kids settle in to the horses + good guys + bad guys motif, they're good to go. I should also mention that this movie was made in the 80s, and sometimes it shows (like in a freaky three-stage closeup of the main brumbie, which might have startled the kids a little but which had Jeremy and me laughing from the campiness). Also, there is one use of the word bull****, and also there's this one part where the dad slaps someone. But like I said, that stuff tends to sail over the heads of little ones, or if it doesn't, you just say, "Well, that's how they did it in the olden days," and that's a good enough answer.
And the music - the MUSIC. So lovely. When you're done watching the movie, go buy the soundtrack.
Have you ever seen this movie? If so, how long has it been since your last viewing? Perhaps it's time for another look.