Director Joe Johnston"s tale of a half-Indian Pony Express rider (Vigo Mortenson) and the horse (the titular Hidalgo) he enters in a grueling race across the punishing Saudi desert is an energetic throwback to the adventurous swashbucklers of a bygone era. James Newton Howard"s rousing orchestral score echoes those sentiments perfectly, evoking musical moods that are variously American and Arabian--and, in its best moments, a skillful fusion of both. "Main Title" and "Don"t Waste Our Money" hearken back to the dynamic, driving rhythms of Copland and Elmer Bernstein to conjure an American western classicism that ranges from the pastoral to the epic in its sweep. If Howard"s Arabian motifs are initially somewhat of a caricature, once established they gracefully shift into evocative passages of impressive dynamic and emotional range. There"s the obligatory action film thunder, of course, but those cliches mostly take a welcome backseat to the haunting, worldbeat allure of "Montage" and the triumphant, melodic warmth of "The Final Three" and "Let "Er Buck." --Jerry McCulley