FilmRise, with sales and distribution support provided by
MVD Entertainment Group, has selected Jan. 17 as the DVD street date for
documentary filmmaker Ron Davis’ Harry and Snowman, a feel-good tale
about a World War II vet and riding instructor named Harry de Leyer, who paid
the princely sum of eighty bucks to rescue a plow horse from a trip to the
slaughter house.
The film arrives with an ARR of 109 and domestic ticket
sales from its limited theatrical run currently stand at $525,058 (that’s an
outstanding number for a documentary).
You can’t make this stuff up — sure Hollywood tries, but
this is the real deal. As the story
goes, Harry took the ungainly, but placidly calm white horse back to his Long
Island-based riding school for kids to get use to being on the back of a
horse. Nothing special. Because he was white, he was named
Snowman.
That was in 1956.
Within two years de Leyer and his rescued horse had become fast friends
and won the horse show jumping Triple Crown
— the American Horse Shows Association Horse of the Year, the Professional
Horseman's Association Champion and the Champion of Madison Square Garden's
Diamond Jubilee (all in 1958) — and was twice named the United States Open
Jumper Champion (1958 and 1959).
Seriously, Snowman was one of the great jumping horses of
all time and if not for Harry being in the right place at the right moment in
time he would have been slaughtered at the local glue factory. Snowman was named to the United States Show
Jumping Hall of Fame, became an international celebrity and the subject of two
books, including Elizabeth Letts 2011 New York Times best-selling, “Eighty
Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation.”
If you are looking for a feel-good movie to drive away those
January winter blues, then Harry and Snowman is the perfect DVD
for you.
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