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C H R O N O F H O R S E . C O M S U M M E R 2 014 131 obvious that they don't fit in with the lo- cal crowd. eir black cowboy hats and crutches make for plenty of fodder for mockery, and actor Bruce Eckelman as famed trainer Bob Baffert gets in some very cutting lines. Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel, play- ing himself as Bird's Derby pilot, proved to be the highlight of this film. He lights up the screen with comedic timing, slapstick humor and a physical presence that defies his small stature. And Wilson and Con- roy's wise choice to use actual race footage, enlarged and enhanced, gives viewers the spine-tingling satisfaction of Bird's come- from-behind, Horatio Alger-esque finish. Watching Borel on the big screen, weaving through the field of 19 with enough horse to win by more than six lengths, definitely justifies the cost of a movie ticket or the price of a DVD. Is the film perfect? Of course not. Unlike Secretariat or Seabiscuit, 50 to 1 comes up short on facts about how Bird was trained and leaves unanswered ques- tions about why he first ran so poorly un- der Woolley, only to turn it all around in Kentucky. e writers, probably wisely, also leave out characters like the brilliant filly Rachel Alexandra and the plotline of her subsequent duel with the Bird in the Preakness, where some think he might have caught her had the race been a few furlongs longer. Writers Wilson (who produced ma- jor hits like Dances With Wolves and e Bodyguard) and Conroy (who's worked as a script supervisor for Robert Redford) are horse people themselves, and their passion and commitment to telling this story in- spired them to raise $8.5 million to fund their run to the screen. With no major stu- dio to promote the film, they've taken to the road, by bus, to promote and distribute 50 to 1. To find a showing near you or help bring the film to your local theater, visit 50to1themovie.com. Skeet Ulrich plays down-on-his-luck trainer Chip Woolley in 50 to 1, the new big-screen saga based on Mine That Bird's fateful Kentucky Derby bid.