I was deeply moved by the character of John Grady Cole. Says Ted Tally: 'ALL THE PRETTY HORSES is a masterpiece, an authentically great book and I thought it would also make a fantastic movie. Both knew bringing this towering tale of a boy's odyssey into the world to the screen would be an exhilarating filmmaking challenge. Both were swept away by Cormac McCarthy's novel, by the Mexican badlands setting, and by the raw physicality of the landscape that rends and changes John Grady Cole. These same themes are what attracted two Academy Award-winning filmmakers to the sweeping beauty of ALL THE PRETTY HORSES (2000): screenwriter Ted Tally and director Billy Bob Thornton.

A classic hero's journey on the outside, McCarthy's tale was at its core a stunning examination of a young man's coming-of-age - of friendship, loyalty, honor and most of all, staying true in a harsh and changing world. John Grady Cole's epic odyssey - in which he travels from innocence to experience, from childish games to jeopardizing his life for love, from haunting evil to acting with honor - first came to the attention of the world in Cormac McCarthy's acclaimed, National Book Award-winning novel, All The Pretty Horses. And so, Cole rounds up his best pal Lacey Rawlins and sets off for the Rio Grande, for the true cowboy life, for a Mexico free of highways and fences, to a place where horses still run wild and love can still burn like a wild fire. Only just a young man, he understands that in order to live the life he wants, he'll have to head for a place where cowboy dreams still exist. Upon the divorce of his parents, his grandfather's death, and the loss of his inheritance and land, John Grady Cole must set out in search of a new life. It is just after World War II, and the land where he grew up, his beloved West Texas, has been altered forever by highways that bisect the plains and a new way of life that sneers at the traditions of acting with honor, communing with horses and simple, quiet living on the land For John Grady Cole, the last of a long line of Texas ranchers and the hero at the heart of ALL THE PRETTY HORSES (2000)'s lyrical tale, that time has arrived. There comes a time in a young man's life when things must change. Cormac Mccarthy, All The Pretty Horses (2000) 'He Turned South Along The Old War Trail And He Rode Out To The Crest Of A Low Rise And Dismounted And Dropped The Reins And Walked Out And Stood Like A Man Come To The End Of Something.'

Novel all the pretty horses