Tagline:
The Funniest Talking Horse Movie Ever!
Plot:
A put-upon loser (Bobcat Goldthwait) inherits a talking horse—played by Don the Horse and voiced by John Candy—that gives him profitable financial advice. Soon, Goldthwait is living the high life: His rapid rise to the top even makes front-page business news during what must have been a slow news cycle. Don then moves in with Goldthwait, in spite of their building's strict no-animals policy, Goldthwait's luck begins to sour when Don gives him a bad stock tip. To regain his lost fortune, he and Don (whose dead father gives him an inspiring pep talk, even though he's been reincarnated as a horsefly) enter a race that they win by psyching out the other horses.
Key scenes:
The film opens with wisecracking Don stating that "some anthropological-type guys" postulate that ancient horses may have had larynx muscles, which they passed down from generation to generation. This provides the firm grounding in scientific plausibility that every talking-horse comedy desperately needs. Don's opening spiel also contains a strong hint of equine supremacy, which Hot To Trot validates by casting actors like Bobcat Goldthwait, Gilbert Gottfried, Tim Kazurinsky, and Dabney Coleman as the bipeds, then having Coleman step in horse excrement mere seconds after the opening credits. Things take a more serious turn, however, when Don and his father (voiced by Burgess Meredith, in perhaps his greatest role) share some touching moments immediately before the elder horse dies.
Can easily be distinguished by:
The prominent role played by a talking horse.
Sign that it was made in 1988:
Once he's hit the big time, Goldthwait calls information just so he can tell someone he's calling from—of all places—his car. He also feeds Don some Tab.
Timeless message:
Businessmen should carefully scrutinize advice given to them by talking horses, even if such counsel has proven lucrative in the past.
Memorable quotes:
"You'd move your lips, too, if some stagehand was shoving a carrot up your butt," Don indignantly responds when Goldthwait points out that Mr. Ed's lips moved when he "talked."
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