Why did ‘Hidalgo’ gallop off into the sunset?

Normally, the culture wars leave me tired. All this hysteria over who can guide me down the path to righteousness gives me a headache. However, after finally seeing “Hidalgo,” I am totally confused.

In one corner are the moralists, those good-intentioned people and their political allies who simply want to control what we see and hear in order to save us from ourselves. In another corner is a recent bonanza of smash hits filled with violence and blood, from the inspirational “The Passion of the Christ” to the rampaging zombie epic “Dawn of the Dead” and the demonic “Hellboy.” Coming down the road for the next month, according to The Times (“The Avengers,” by John Horn, April 5), is a one-a-week avenger film. Good will triumph over evil after a lot more human carnage is piled up.

In a third corner is “ourselves,” torn like the tortured Gollum from the J.R.R. Tolkien epic “The Lord of the Rings.” “Our masters are good. They want us to be pure so they can make sure evil purveyors will be righteously fined, publicly vilified and kept far away from distribution channels,” says the angelic Gollum. “No, they want to stop you from seeing your precious images of flesh tearing, blood flowing and gore everywhere,” responds his devilish self.

Ourselves whip back and forth, desiring purity but lusting after something more base. We are entertainment seekers in the hands of an angry government, a thread away from frying in hellfires built of our own desires but for the saving graces of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael K. Powell and government committees that periodically call media giants onto the congressional carpet.

In the last corner stands this imperfect yet rousing ode to the mythic and literal rise of the human spirit: “Hidalgo.” Here is a movie whose roots are firmly planted in film history -- from the swashbuckling Douglas Fairbanks adventures of silent cinema to the intelligent action films of David Lean (such as “The Bridge on the River Kwai”) and the moral epic of “The Guns of Navarone” and the celebration of the indomitable human spirit in “The Great Escape,” to the homage of Saturday serials represented by the Indiana Jones films and, finally, to the tongue-in-cheek humor of “The Mummy.” This is a genre that has thrilled and entertained us for the last 100 years. And if you count epic literature, well, we are talking thousands of years -- going back, no doubt, to when we lived in caves, telling ourselves stories to ward off the demons of the night.

In other words, here’s a film with derring-do, laugh lines, a driving Stravinsky/Copland-esque score, tender man-and-his-horse moments, hair-breadth escapes, monumental scenery, colorful secondary characters, exotic locations and tearful triumphs over evil villains and harsh conditions. And the hero renounces materialism, too! In other words, it is everything any family might want from a Hollywood movie -- and it tanked.

So I’m confused. What is it that the public really wants to see? I guess that makes me like any other studio executive who is trying to answer this question. But one thing is for sure: I’d think twice before making another “Hidalgo.” Instead, I can’t go wrong siding with the devil because, clearly, the audience has a taste for death and violence and lots of blood, whether it’s zombies or seekers of revenge or Romans torturing the Son of God. Give it a “good-versus-evil” veneer and we get both the morality and the gore, a lesson well-learned -- before Mel Gibson became religious -- back in the silent era by that great master of sex and the Bible, Cecil B. DeMille.

Meanwhile, the spiritual triumph of a man and his horse will, one hopes, find salvation on DVD.

Barry Simon is a professional conflict manager whose 30-year career in the entertainment industry has led him to say about some films, “I laughed. I cried. What’s not to like?” He lives in Studio City.