Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

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Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken

DVD Cover
Directed by Steve Miner
Written by Matt Williams
Oley Sassone
Starring Gabrielle Anwar
Michael Schoeffling
Music by Mason Daring
Cinematography Daryn Okada
Editing by Jon Poll
Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures
Release date(s) 1991
Running time 88 minutes
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
IMDb profile

Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken is a 1991 film about Sonora Webster, a rider of diving horses.

Contents

[edit] Cast

[edit] Plot

Sonora (Gabrielle Anwar) is a stubborn orphan who lives with her aunt during the Depression. She has a love of horses, and one day before school, loses a bet that her horse can jump a fence. The fence breaks and the cows get out, forcing Sonora to be late for school. After Sonora is given detention, her aunt tells her that because of her behavior and the family's financial difficulties, Sonora is going to be put into an orphanage. Instead, she slips out of the house during the night.

Sonora ends up at a county fair and sees Marie perform as a Diving Girl. A Diving Girl jumps onto a horse as it runs up a steep platform just before it leaps off, into a pool of water. Sonora then informs Doc Carver that she is his new Diving Girl. He informs her that she is too young and her body isn't developed enough--she should go back home. She stubbornly twists her arms and legs around a chair to show him she won't leave until he gives her the job. Instead, he just places her and the chair outside of his tent.

Ending up in the stable with the horses, Al Carver sees how talented Sonora is with them and convinces his father to give her a job as a stable-hand. Sonora then begins traveling with them, bonding with Al and even Doc Carver. Al wins a wild horse in a game of cards, and says that if Sonora can tame the horse, he will train her to be a Diving Girl. She surprises him one day riding up on the horse, and he keeps his promise, much to the chagrin of Marie.

One day, Marie falls and dislocates her shoulder, leaving her unable to perform. Thus, Sonora becomes the Diving Girl, even though the swimsuits don't fit her. Although she has never actually dove with the horse into the pool of water, Sonora is successful her first jump. Marie is so jealous that she eventually leaves.

Al and his father have always had a difficult relationship, and one day Al leaves after having a bad fight with his father. He and Sonora have just shared their first kiss, and he promises to write her. Again, Al keeps his promise, but his father hides his letters from Sonora. Al returns, and he asks Sonora why she never wrote him. They are both confused over the missing letters, but put it behind them. It is then learned that Al got a deal with the Steal Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey to perform the show. This seemes to patch up old differences, and just as everyone seems to be getting along, Doc passes away en route to Atlantic City, probably from a heart attack. Now Al takes over his father's role as a presenter. On his first day, he is extremely nervous, so Sonora finds his father's famous fringed jacket to give him confidence. When she finds the jacket, she also finds Al's old letters, confessing his love for her. When she finds Al, she lets him know she feels the same.

Al and Sonora perform at Atlantic City--their largest audience. Everyone is nervous and excited. As Sonora is climbing the ladder, Al proposes to her. She accepts and gets ready to do the jump. The horse is anxious, and just before the jump, a cymbal crashes, causes the horse to trip. Sonora keeps her eyes open as they fall into the water. Both Sonora and the horse make it, but Sonora's vision is impaired, yet she hides this from Al.

The next day when she wakes up, Sonora is blind. The doctor tells her she will be blind her entire life. Marie comes back to be the Diving Girl. Sonora misses diving terribly, and feels like a cripple. One day, with the help of Clifford, the stable boy and close friend, Marie is locked in her dressing room, and Sonora climbs the platform. The crowd doesn't know she's blind, but she uses her other senses and has a successful jump. Sonora is again the Diving Girl, and she and Al live happily ever after.

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This 1990s drama film-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.


Filmed in Orangeburg, South Carolina on the McCants family farm, whom Emily Haynes is related to.