HOT CORNER
A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, heard, observed, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here. One exception: No products will be endorsed.
What: “Seabiscuit” DVD.
Publisher: Universal Pictures.
Price: $49.95 ($34.95 from amazon.com).
The first six days in release, this DVD and the VHS of the Golden Globe-nominated movie sold 5 million copies, total sales reaching $80 million. The film itself has done more than $120 million worth of business. In his career from 1935 to 1940, Seabiscuit raced 89 times to earn $437,730.
How do you know the details of Seabiscuit’s record? Well, among the collectibles that come with the DVD is a set of four postcard-sized black-and-white photos from Seabiscuit’s epic win over War Admiral, the Triple Crown champion, in 1938. On the backs of the cards is some interesting statistical information, including a chart of the race and a profile of jockey George Woolf, who substituted for the injured Red Pollard.
This is a two-disc set. Besides the two-hour, 21-minute movie, the discs are crammed with bonus features that include interviews with the actors, director-writer Gary Ross and Laura Hillenbrand, whose runaway bestseller ignited Seabiscuit-mania. (By the way, it was Hillenbrand’s boyfriend, Borden Flanagan, who in a quick bit recites one of the film’s definitive lines. Looking at the scrawny, unraced Seabiscuit, he says to the farm manager: “Get rid of him.”).
The entire match race is shown, accompanied by the radio call of Clem McCarthy (“ ... They’ve got 200 yards to come now. . . Seabiscuit leads by one length ... It’s Seabiscuit by a length and a half. Woolf has put his whip away. Seabiscuit has won by four lengths! I never saw such a wild crowd! They’re roaring around me!”
-- Bill Christine