All the Pretty Horses

All the Pretty Horses is a 2000 film, directed by Billy Bob Thornton and based on the novel of the same title by American author Cormac McCarthy. It stars Matt Damon and Penélope Cruz. The movie tells the story of John Grady Cole (Matt Damon), a sixteen year old cowboy, and his best friend Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas), crossing the border to move south to Mexico. They encounter, among others, a young boy named Jimmy Blevins (Lucas Black), whom th... more

All the Pretty Horses is a 2000 film, directed by Billy Bob Thornton and based on the novel of the same title by American author Cormac McCarthy. It stars Matt Damon and Penélope Cruz. The movie tells the story of John Grady Cole (Matt Damon), a sixteen year old cowboy, and his best friend Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas), crossing the border to move south to Mexico. They encounter, among others, a young boy named Jimmy Blevins (Lucas Black), whom they befriend, and a young aristocrat's daughter, Alejandra Villarreal (Penélope Cruz), with whom John Grady Cole falls in love. In Mexico he becomes disillusioned by the atrocities of the world. After Billy Bob Thornton completed his cut (said to be somewhere between three and four hours) producer/distributor Harvey Weinstein forced him to cut more than one hour out of it. Peter Biskind suggests in Down and Dirty Pictures that this was at least partially done as payback for Thornton's refusal to cut Sling Blade down. In the end, Thornton was... less