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Plot Summary
Running Wild: The Life of Dayton O. Hyde examines the inspirational life of Dayton O. Hyde as a modern-day renaissance man and one of the last old-style cowboys. Through heroic determination, he is preserving part of the American West with a breathtaking 12,000-acre prairieland, Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, in South Dakota that he has maintained for the last 25 years and where more than 500 mustangs now run free – all rescued from the controversial wild horse roundups in the west.
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Customer Reviews
Great NYTimes review
"The burning question is why Mr. Hyde’s story has never been made into a feature film." Fantastic film.
Determination, Love for Animals & an "Eng" Degree
In Running Wild, Dayton O. Hyde's determination, perseverance and deep love for animals and the environment make him the archetypal "cowboy" - a loner more comfortable with horses than people with a large heart for the open spaces of South Dakota and the creatures that inhabit it.
The film follows Dayton from early childhood in Marquette Michigan to cowboy life in Oregon and, later, South Dakota. He attends school California and collects his "Eng" from Berkley - a credential that is fortuitously mistaken for an Engineering degree but was actually a degree in English.
A notable photographer who documents some of the more amazing rodeo images of his day, Dayton developed a deep bond with the wild horses that roamed the west. But after observing their suffering and mistreatment, Dayton becomes the horses' champion and savior, a "holy man" who decides that someone must do something, That "someone" would be him.
The way forward leads Dayton away from his family and friends in Oregon on an almost Quixotic quest to create Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, a refuge for the animals he loves so dearly and who seem to love him in return.
There's salvation here - for the horses (and even for Dayton) - but deliverance comes at price, and the cost can sometimes be seen too clearly in friends and family. A moving portrait of a determined man, his vision and its impact on the world around him.
Heroes & Cowboys
The best heroes - just like the best cowboys - are flawed. Dayton would say that the best cowboys make life hell for those around them - but that it's an awful fun ride.
In Running Wild, you'll take a journey into the life of Dayton O. Hyde - a real life cowboy and would be hero. His story is authentic, poignant, raw, the stuff of legends.
Leaving home at 13, Dayton caught a freight train to work on a ranch in Oregon. 75 years later, he remains a cowboy working and living off the land. But he's also a poet, a writer, a photographer, and a man torn between two worlds - balancing the pride and passion for his cause, with the shame and guilt for those he left behind.
His story is an important one. Remarkable yet ordinary. Filled with personal failures and public triumphs, exceptional narratives contrasted against those common moments we all share. You want to love him despite his shortcomings, or perhaps because of them. Because if a man this flawed can make such an impact on the world - maybe you can too?
Philosopher Dan Dennett said, "Find something more important than you are, and dedicate your life to it". For Dayton, this was saving the Wild Mustangs, and in a broader respect - leaving some small corner of our world untouched for future generations.
Watch this movie if you want to witness a life lived unapologetically and without restraint.
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- $12.99
- Genre: Documentary
- Released: 2013
- © 2013 Free Running Films, All Rights Reserved.