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David Milch is a great American artist. His previous work on Deadwood is an integral piece of the Golden Age of Television, in which we are currently living. No other TV writer can conjure the sense of community that Milch is able to evoke. The unforgettable scenes, the unique dialogue, and the complete, knowable characters are what made Deadwood great, and those ingredients have all been transplanted from a Black Hills frontier town to a California horseracing track. Having spent much of his life around the racetrack, Luck is the series Milch was born to create, and these 9 episodes are a must-own for any viewer who wants to see TV at its finest.
The story of Luck focuses on the Santa Anita racetrack and its inhabitants, from the high-rollers to the denizens. While a knowledge of horse racing certainly helps, it is not essential, as a close-watching of the show reveals all the necessary information. In the first of three parallel storylines, Ace Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) has just finished a 3-year jail sentence and is putting together a plan for revenge against the associates that set him up. With a rigged jackpot payed out to his loyal driver Gus (Dennis Farina), Ace is able to be the silent owner of the promising racehorse, Pint of Plain. Meanwhile, a foursome of degenerate gamblers, led by handicappers Marcus (Kevin Dunn) and Jerry (Jason Gedrick) put together a bet that could change their lives, and grizzled trainer Walter (Nick Nolte) begins to make waves with his untested new horse, Getting Up Mornin. These various threads are knitted together throughout the season, and the world of the track gets progressively larger, growing to include trainers, jockeys, agents, and veterinarians, all individually flawed and recognizable human beings.
What distinguishes Luck from Milch's work in Deadwood is the direction of the series. Milch teamed up with director Michael Mann to create the show, and while Milch's stamp is unmissable in the writing, Mann makes an equally indelible impact on the look of the show. Nowhere is this more evident than in the racing sequences. They are shot like no other horse racing scenes I've ever seen. The close-up work, the musical choices, and the organized chaos of these powerful animals combine to make each race throughout the series feel unique and important. Additionally, a perfectly placed race-gone-wrong in the pilot gives each subsequent race magnified stakes.
Besides its top-notch technical and creative aspects, Luck resonates most strongly as an argument for human connection. It's there when rookie and veteran jockeys commisserate with each other after a tragedy, or in the simple, ritualistic act of feeding carrots to a horse. It's especially there in a transcendent scene in the fourth episode that is truly the most beautiful scene I've ever witnessed on a TV show. Milch's deeply felt sense of friendship and community is so real and palpable that the viewer cannot help but be moved by it. The series is certainly no bed of roses, but the victories, no matter how small, joyfully propel the characters into their uncertain futures, futures the viewer longs to be a part of.
Sadly, Luck was canceled after its first season due to three seperate horse deaths during production. Where previously, I would have been angry to have lost the stellar efforts of Milch, Mann, and the excellent cast just because of a few horses, the experience of watching Luck has changed my outlook. The horses are shot so powerfully, and the characters lives are improved so dramatically by them, that I could only think of their deaths as tragedies that weren't worth it. No feeling person could watch Getting Up Mornin storming down the track and not realize his beauty and moral worth. I believe that HBO and Milch and Mann did everything they could to minimize horse deaths, as their obvious love for the animals is all over the screen, but it was not enough, and their work could not continue.
Luck is a valuable contribution to the Golden Age of Television. It is a world-altering look into horse racing whose production proved to be unsustainable, but still must be seen by the discerning TV fan. I anxiously await whatever Milch does next, as he continues to blow me away with the work he does for HBO.
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Reviews with images
At least as good as Boardwalk
At least as good as Boardwalk. Very entertaining pilot. All star cast of my favorite actors. The scene in the stone-paneled office could be from Coppola's Godfather series. Brandon and Pacino there, Hoffman and Rosenberg here. My remote cousins, both Russian Jews from my generation, very well preserved I might add, Hoffman was about 74 at the time this was made, Rosenberg is 8 years older than me, neither look it or sound like it. Hoffman still does a good hissy fit. Photography is beautiful the santa anita in the spring, horses are beautiful and it is much need eye candy and not violent at that. Competitive, American, cut-throat, over-sexed innuedo but rings true so far. I had a lawyer boss once, in Northern California who took the office staff to her favorite hangout--the Gillman racetrack in North Berkeley. I could not tolerate the noise but the horses were the same.The photography here brings back all those detailed memories. The horse-sweat smell. The horse poop smell. The way they breathe and watch, their big eyes. the long exhale and their ribs twitching when they do it. Those tails that come whipping around. How it's easier to balance by shifting weight forward with arse in air. how rider and horse are one with the wind. How jockeys are not people persons any more than yours truly, I would be more of an observer of people than a people person. My neighbors in Oregon keep horses. This series is a great reminder of how big and complex they are, how sleek and focused. It seems already like they are the happiest actors in the lot.mon gâteau, have your cake and eat it too? perhaps it tells viewers they are in for a treat.
Top reviews from other countries
Alic
WHY did they cancel this series? Oh yes, reality happend...
Reviewed in Canada on April 10, 2013
musiclover
Il faut se méfier du bouc par devant, du cheval par derrière et de l'homme par tous les côtés......
Reviewed in France on December 1, 2012