The Great Escape

All the Pretty Horses

All the Pretty Horses

All the Pretty Horses is Billy Bob Thornton's much-anticipated follow-up to his award-winning directing debut, Sling Blade. Along with switching domestic distribution from one company to another, the movie's release date has also been repeatedly postponed (as has Thornton's other supposedly-in-the-can feature, Daddy and Them), which usually spells disaster in Hollywood-speak, but might just mean Miramax thinks it has a winner on its hands, worthy of the Oscar rat race a December release necessarily means. Adapted from the highly celebrated novel by Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses tracks WWII vet and countrified cowboy John Grady Cole (Damon) down to Mexico where he falls in love with his rancher boss' beautiful yet unattainable daughter (Cruz). The trailer previews some gorgeous footage, as well as the always stunning Cruz, but All the Pretty Horses still faces an uphill battle: Devotees of the book think pretty boy Damon is a little too pretty to play the rugged ranch hand, and, just weeks away from its release, Thornton's reportedly still cutting the meaty three-hour-plus film down to a more manageable length. (Dec. 25)