# Does anybody remember this short film? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 11, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-remember-this-short-film/459642 "2008-08-11T19:03:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-remember-this-short-film/459642/1 "2008-08-11T19:03:23Z")
This was one of those films that got aired in school in lieu of class on the day before a vacation break. IIRC, there was no spoken dialogue (or very little). The story was about a young lad and his favorite horse. What was most memorable about it to me was one crucial scene - the boy goes out riding alone on a bleak, rainy day and happens to come across another horseback rider in a long tunic & hood. It turns out the rider is Death - the boy peers under the rider’s hood and sees a skeleton. Frightened, the boy rides away, but the horse has an accident, tripping & falling & getting caught in a muddy pond. There is a sequence in which a lot of men try valiantly to pull the horse out of the pond and get it back on it’s feet, but the horse is too panicked, and its’ kicking & flailing only causes it to get sucked further down into the pond, and dying. (Either it drowns or it has to be put down - I can’t remember.) I just remember being a little traumatized by that film - the rider being revealed as the Grim Reaper was actually very scary for a first grade classroom, and the absence of dialogue and depressing downbeat ending kind of threw me. But for the life of me, I can’t remember what the title of this movie is; does it ring any bells? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-remember-this-short-film/459642/2 "2008-08-11T19:14:22Z")
Death has made only slightly fewer film appearances than Michael Caine and Ron Jeremy combined. A couple of things might narrow this down: What year did you see it? Color or B&W? Was it a children’s movie? Was it religious in nature? Was it identifiably American? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-remember-this-short-film/459642/3 "2008-08-11T19:19:58Z")
If it weren’t for the supernatural aspect, I’d say [Run Wild, Run Free (1969)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064909/). Very little dialogue (main character doesn’t speak). Horse caught in mud. But no Grim Reaper. Any chance you’re conflating two movies? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-remember-this-short-film/459642/4 "2008-08-11T19:32:27Z")
[QUOTE=Krokodil] Death has made only slightly fewer film appearances than Michael Caine and Ron Jeremy combined. A couple of things might narrow this down: What year did you see it? Color or B&W? Was it a children’s movie? Was it religious in nature? Was it identifiably American? [/QUOTE] -I remember seeing it in first or second grade, which was around '76 or '77. -It was color. -I’m guessing it was a children’s movie (since we watched it in first/second grade). At least, it didn’t have anything in it of an offensive nature (except for the skeletal image of Death). -I don’t remember any overtly religious overtones. Though they might have slipped by me at that age. -Not quite. Since there was no dialogue, there were no accents or idenitifiable speech patterns. It all took place in a countryside setting (as opposed to a western setting.) It may have been English or European. Sorry for the vagueness, but I haven’t seen the flick in at least 30 years. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-remember-this-short-film/459642/5 "2008-09-26T14:59:07Z")
I have confirmed that this is indeed “Run Wild, Run Free.” The vision of “Death” is very quick, and occurs only in the boy’s mind. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-remember-this-short-film/459642/6 "2008-09-26T17:27:26Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I have confirmed that this is indeed “Run Wild, Run Free.” The vision of “Death” is very quick, and occurs only in the boy’s mind. Wow. Thanks. I had given up hope for an answer. When will I learn that the SDMB will never let me down? Kudos.