Texas governor Rick Perry isn’t just politics. Despite his long days dedicated to public service, the presidential candidate makes time for his cultural interests. Unbeknownst to most voters, Perry is a big-time movie-buff and maintains an almost scholarly knowledge of a very particular genre of film. Perry explained,“Call it the Texan in me, but for some reason I’ve always been a fan of movies involving talking equine, whether it be mule or horse". Perry revealed in a recent interview in ‘Film Quarterly’ that he “goes way back to the seminal work of ‘Francis the Talking Mule” films of the 1950’s. I believe that army mule was in seven films all told. But that’s where it all began, the talking four-legged friend who would only talk to one person. It really set the standard for all talking horse pictures and Francis was a helluva patriot. The purists kind of get on me for putting “Mr. Ed” in this genre, as he was not specifically cinema, but TV. But for me, Allan Lane (voice of Mr. Ed) is the closest thing to what a horse would sound like.” Asked his opinion of more recent talking horse pics, Perry’s criticism was less than positive. “Bobcat Goldthwaits 1988 “Hot to Trot” with horse voiced by John Candy was a case of upstarts trying to re-invent the wheel that the masters had refined. No time for it.” Perry does admit to avoiding any the-making-of type documentaries of any of these films. “It would be like telling a kid there’s no Santee Claus, I just love to soak in the magic of the talking horse. Knowing the hows would just mess it all up for me.”
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