If Hidalgo is all some made up story, then we as a viewing audience shouldn’t be surprised. Hollywood has become horible for their movies “based on true stories”. The word “based” gives them a lot of room to fiddle with the facts (A Beautiful Mind is just one example). Should we be outraged about this? Well, actually, NO. Hollywood isn’t in the historical education business, it’s in the entertainment business. The main goal for them is to produce the most entertaining product they can that will bring in as much money as it can. We can’t fault them for that. It’s their business. I usually only take issue when a film purports itself to be historically accurate, and then ends up being as fictional as George Bush’s Weapons of Mass Destruction fairy tale. But back to Hidalgo:
Critics charge that the new Disney movie “Hidalgo” is not based on a true story. They say legendary cowboy and horseman Frank T. Hopkins, the movie’s main character, invented many of his feats. Here’s a list of those feats – and what his critics say.
Won a race from Galveston, Texas, to Rutland, Vt., in 1886. Casey Green, head of special collections at the Rosenberg Library in Galveston: “We’ve referenced every newspaper between 1880 and 1890, but there is absolutely no mention of Frank Hopkins or his race from Galveston to Vermont.”
Starred in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show for 32 years. Juti Winchester, curator of the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyo.: “We are unable to find any Frank T. Hopkins in our database of known cast members, acquaintances, employees or friends of Colonel Cody.”
Won a 3,000-mile race across the Arabian Desert. Dr. Awad Al-Badi, director of research at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: “There is absolutely no record or reference to Hopkins with or without his mustangs ever having set foot on Arabian soil. The idea of a historic long distance Arab horse race is pure nonsense and flies against all reason.”
You can read the entire Billings Gazette article here
