''Thunderhead, Son of Flicka'' is a 1945 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Louis King Louis King (June 28, 1898 – September 7, 1962) was an American actor and film director of westerns and adventure movies in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Early years King was born in 1898 in Christiansburg, Virginia. His name was also written ...

and starring

Roddy McDowall Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (17 September 1928 – 3 October 1998) was a British-American actor whose career spanned over 270 screen and stage roles across over 60 years. Born in London, he began his acting career as a child in his n ...

, Preston Foster, and

Rita Johnson Rita Ann Johnson (August 13, 1913Parish gives year of birth as 1912, but her grave marker says 1913. – October 31, 1965) was an American actress. Early years Johnson was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, the daughter of a single mother, Lilli ...

. It is a sequel to the 1943 film ''

My Friend Flicka ''My Friend Flicka'' is a 1941 novel by Mary O'Hara, about Ken McLaughlin, the son of a Wyoming rancher, and his mustang horse Flicka. It was the first in a trilogy, followed by ''Thunderhead'' (1943) and ''Green Grass of Wyoming'' (1946). The ...

''. The film was adapted to screen by Dwight Cummins and Dorothy Yost from

Mary O'Hara Mary O'Hara (born 12 May 1935) is an Irish soprano and harpist from County Sligo. She gained attention on both sides of the Atlantic in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Her recordings of that period influenced a generation of Irish female singer ...

's novel, ''Thunderhead'' (1943), second in a trilogy with ''

'' (1941) and ''

Green Grass of Wyoming ''Green Grass of Wyoming'' is a 1948 American Western film directed by Louis King and starring Peggy Cummins, Charles Coburn and Robert Arthur. The screenplay, written by Martin Berkeley, is based on the third book in the popular, "My Friend ...

'' (1946).

Plot

Ken McLaughlin's

mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticate ...

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...

Flicka gives birth to an all-white colt that, unknown to Ken's dad, Rob, was actually sired by a neighboring rancher's

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

racehorse, Appalachia, rather than Rob's own

stallion A stallion is an adult male horse that has not been gelded ( castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cre ...

, Banner. The colt, nicknamed "Goblin", proves to be difficult, but Ken trains him to race. Ken's mother, Nell, officially names the colt Thunderhead after the billowing white clouds she sees overhead. Thunderhead is entered into his first race with Ken as the jockey, but he suffers an injury, ending his racing career. Meanwhile, the Albino, a wild mustang stallion that has been raiding local ranchers' herds for years, steals Rob's best mares and kills Banner, putting the family near bankruptcy. Although Banner was Flicka's sire, the Albino is Flicka's grandsire and Thunderhead's great-grand-sire. Rob, Ken, and the ranch hands search for the mares, but during the night, Thunderhead gets loose and runs off. Tracking Thunderhead on foot to a secluded valley, Ken discovers the Albino's herd, including his father's horses. The Albino attacks Ken, but Thunderhead fights and kills the Albino, saving Ken's life. Rob and the others arrive as Thunderhead rounds up the Albino's herd, heading them to the McLaughlin ranch. But once there, Thunderhead is uneasy. Rob tells Ken that Thunderhead is a king now and wants to roam his realm. Ken removes Thunderhead's halter, freeing him.

Cast

as Ken McLaughlin * Preston Foster as Rob McLaughlin *

as Nelle McLaughlin * James Bell as Gus * Patti Hale as Hildy (as Diana Hale) * Carleton Young as Maj. Harris *

Ralph Sanford Ralph Dayton Sanford (May 21, 1899 – June 20, 1963) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films and in at least 200 episodes on television between 1930 and 1960, mostly bit parts or supporting roles. Sanford frequently ...

as Charlie Sargent

Filming and production

The film was shot on location at various sites, including the following: * Oregon: Bridal Veil Falls at

Oneonta Gorge __NOTOC__ Oneonta Gorge is a scenic gorge located in the Columbia River Gorge area of the American state of Oregon. The U.S. Forest Service has designated it as a botanical area because of the unique aquatic and woodland plants that grow th ...

and the Multnomah County Fairgrounds near

Gresham, Oregon Gresham ( ) is a city in the Willamette Valley, Located in Multnomah County in the U.S. state of Oregon, bordered by Portland to the northwest and partially in the southwest. It was first settled in the early 1850s by the Powell brothers. It ...

* California: Brent's Crags, Hidden Valley, and

Hollywood Park Racetrack Hollywood Park was a thoroughbred horse racing, race course located in Inglewood, California, about 3 miles (5 km) from Los Angeles International Airport and adjacent to The Forum (Inglewood, California), the Forum indoor arena. In 1994, t ...

* Utah:

Zion National Park Zion National Park is a national park of the United States located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a ...

Kanab Kanab ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Kane County, Utah, United States.Find a County
". ' ...

Bryce Canyon National Park Bryce Canyon National Park () is a national park of the United States located in southwestern Utah. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along ...

, Red Rock Canyon, Navajo Lake, Glendale Gorge,

Cedar City Cedar City is the largest city in Iron County, Utah, United States. Located south of Salt Lake City, it is north of Las Vegas on Interstate 15 in Utah, Interstate 15. Southern Utah University is located in Cedar City. It is the home of the Ut ...

, and Cedar Breaks National Monument * Additional scenes were shot in Duck Creek, Nevada. This was the first "Color by Technicolor" feature film to be photographed entirely on 35mm

color Color (or colour in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though co ...

film, in this case Technicolor (Monopack) motion picture film. Earlier Technicolor features used black and white negative film photographed behind color filters, or used Monopack only for certain sequences.

Release

The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

on February 22, 2005.

References

External links