''The Long Shot'', sometimes called ''The Long Shot: Believe in Courage'', is a

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies and ...

film that aired April 18, 2004. It stars

Julie Benz Julie Benz (born May 1, 1972) l is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Darla on ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and ''Angel'' (1997–2004), and as Rita Bennett on '' Dexter'' (2006–2010), for which she won the 2006 Satellite Awar ...

and

Marsha Mason Marsha Mason (born April 3, 1942) is an American actress and director. She has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Actress: for her performances in ''Cinderella Liberty'' (1973), ''The Goodbye Girl'' (1977), '' Chapter Two'' ...

and centers around a

dressage Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined b ...

competition.

Plot summary

Annie Garrett (

) is a young woman who moves with her slacker husband Ross and their seven-year-old daughter Taylor (

Gage Golightly Gage Golightly (born September 5, 1993) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Hayley Steele in the Nickelodeon series ''The Troop'', Erica Reyes in the MTV series ''Teen Wolf (2011 TV series), Teen Wolf'', and Karen in the Am ...

) from

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

to a ranch in northern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. After he fails to land a job as promised, Ross abandons Annie and Taylor. With nowhere to turn, and their horse to look after, Annie gets a job as a ranch hand and stable person at a stud farm owned by Mary Lou O'Brien (

), a stern woman who is dealing with her own past. Inspired by Mary Lou's encouragement, Annie decides to enter into a

competition with her horse she trained herself, Tolo. Unfortunately, Tolo becomes blind and Annie is injured. When she recovers she goes to compete on one of Mary Lou's horses, California Red, but due to an unexpected visit, the horse is unable to compete. In order to compete, she has to believe in herself and have faith in Tolo to win.

Cast

as Annie Garrett *

as Mary Lou O'Brian *

Paul Le Mat Paul Le Mat (born September 22, 1945) is an American actor. He first came to prominence with his role in ''American Graffiti'' (1973); his performance was met with critical acclaim and earned him the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year ...

as Guido Levits *

as Taylor Garrett, Annie's daughter *David Alexander as Monte Shelton *Christopher Cousins as John Oaks *John Livingston as Ross Garrett, Annie's husband *

Robert Pine Robert Pine (born Granville Whitelaw Pine, July 10, 1941) is an American actor who is best known as Sgt. Joseph Getraer on the television series ''CHiPs'' (1977–1983). Including ''CHiPs'', Pine has appeared in over 400 episodes of television. ...

as Douglas McCloud *

Laura Johnson Laura Johnson is an American actress. She is best known for playing Terry Hartford in the CBS primetime soap opera ''Falcon Crest'' from 1983 to 1986. Career Johnson made her film debut in the 1977 drama film ''Opening Night (1977 film), Opening ...

as Bonnie McCloud *

Juliette Goglia Juliette Rose Goglia (born September 22, 1995) is an American actress, singer and musician. She is best known for portraying Sierra in the Disney Channel series ''That's So Raven'', Hannah West in the CBS series ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation' ...

as Colleen O'Brian, Mary Lou's granddaughter *Joe Russell as Security Guard

Promotion

Schering-Plough Schering-Plough Corporation was an American pharmaceutical company. It was originally the U.S. subsidiary of the German company Schering AG, which was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering. As a result of nationalization, it becam ...

signed on its product

Claritin Loratadine, sold under the brand name Claritin among others, is a medication used to treat allergies. This includes allergic rhinitis (hay fever) and hives. It is also available in combination with pseudoephedrine, a decongestant, known as lo ...

as the network's entitlement sponsor for ''The Long Shot.'' This meant that not only did the film's title artwork include the Claritin logo, but the brand would be featured in every promotion and spot regarding the movie's premiere. This made ''The Long Shot'' the network's first exclusive entitlement-sponsored film.

Reception

''The Long Shot'' did moderately for the network, premiering with a 1.8 household rating. However, at the time it aired, the movie ranked #1 in average "Length of Tune" over all competitive cable original movies.

External links

*
''The Long Shot''
at

''The Long Shot''
at Hallmark Channel UK

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Long Shot, The 2004 television films 2004 films Hallmark Channel original films Films about horses Horse sports in film Films directed by Georg Stanford Brown Films scored by Mark Watters