Dark Horse is a 1992 American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by David Hemmings

David Hemmings

David Edward Leslie Hemmings was an English film, theatre and television actor as well as a film and television director and producer....

. The screenplay

Screenplay

A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...

 by Janet Maclean was adapted from an original story by Tab Hunter

Tab Hunter

Tab Hunter is an American actor, singer, former teen idol and author who has starred in over forty major films.-Background:...

.

Plot

The plot focuses on new-girl-in-town Allison Mills, a teenager who recently lost her mother. When she hangs out with the wrong crowd, she gets into trouble and is sentenced to community service

Community service

Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....

 at a local stable

Stable

A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals...

. There she comes to love spending time with the animals until an automobile accident cripples her and her favorite horse Jet. The wheelchair

Wheelchair

A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...

-bound girl learns to overcome her handicap through the indomitable spirit of the steed, who overcomes the odds and runs again.

Principal cast

• Ed Begley, Jr.
  Ed Begley, Jr.
  Edward James "Ed" Begley, Jr. is an American actor and environmentalist. Begley has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He is best known for his role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich, on the television series St...
  
   ..... Jack Mills
• Mimi Rogers
  Mimi Rogers
  Mimi Rogers is an American movie actress and competitive poker player.-Early life:Rogers was born Miriam Spickler in Coral Gables, Florida, the daughter of Philip C...
  
   ..... Dr. Susan Hadley
• Ari Meyers
  Ari Meyers
  Ari Meyers is an actress. She is best known for her role as Emma Jane McArdle in the television series Kate & Allie .-Early years:...
  
   ..... Allison Mills
• Donovan Leitch
  Donovan Leitch, Jr.
  Donovan Jerome Leitch is an American actor. He is a member of the band Camp Freddy, and was a founding member of neo-glam group Nancy Boy along with Jason Nesmith...
  
   ..... J.B. Hadley
• Samantha Eggar
  Samantha Eggar
  Samantha Eggar is an English film, television and voice actress.-Early life:She was born Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar in Hampstead, London to an Anglo-Irish father and a mother of Dutch and Portuguese descent...
  
   ..... Mrs. Curtis
• Natasha Gregson Wagner
  Natasha Gregson Wagner
  Natasha Gregson Wagner is an American actress.Gregson Wagner was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Richard Gregson, a film producer, and the late actress Natalie Wood...
  
   ..... Martha
• Tab Hunter ..... Perkins
• Tisha Sterling
  Tisha Sterling
  Tisha Sterling is an American television and film actress. She is the daughter of actor Robert Sterling and actress/singer Ann Sothern.-Life and career:...
  
   ..... Officer Ross

Production notes

In pre-production for four years, the film was the first project brought to the screen by Glaser/Hunter Productions, owned by Tab Hunter and his life partner

Significant other

Significant other is colloquially used as a gender-blind term for a person's partner in an intimate relationship without disclosing or presuming anything about marital status, relationship status, or sexual orientation, as it is vague enough to avoid offense by using a term that an individual...

 Allan Glaser, after several other efforts were aborted for various reasons .

Hunter's story was inspired by an Arabian horse

Arabian horse

The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...

 that was used as a double

Body double

A body double is a general term for someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character in any recorded visual medium, in shots where the character's body is shown but the face is either not visible or shown indistinctly, or in shots where the image of the credited actor's face is joined,...

 in the 1979 film The Black Stallion

The Black Stallion (film)

The Black Stallion is a 1979 American film based on the 1941 classic children's novel The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. It tells the story of Alec Ramsey, who is shipwrecked on a desert island, together with a wild Arabian stallion whom he befriends...

. After breaking his leg, the animal spent a full year recuperating in a sling. Although he never walked properly again, when set loose he could run with no problem .

Director Hemmings insisted on shooting in his home base of Sun Valley, Idaho

Sun Valley, Idaho

Sun Valley is a resort city in Blaine County in the central part of the U.S. state of Idaho, adjacent to the city of Ketchum, lying within the greater Wood River valley. Tourists from around the world enjoy its skiing, hiking, ice skating, trail riding, tennis, and cycling. The population was 1,427...

, where he was surrounded by an entourage offering strong support. He drank heavily during filming, and often was barely functional at the end of the day. Glaser tolerated his erratic and boorish behavior only because the dailies

Dailies

Dailies, in filmmaking, are the raw, unedited footage shot during the making of a motion picture. They are so called because usually at the end of each day, that day's footage is developed, synched to sound, and printed on film in a batch for viewing the next day by the director and some members...

 were so good .

The film was shown at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

.