Given an assignment to accomplish that I have approached with much disinterest other than getting it done, I have been surprised as to how I have been made aware of how lies that are touted as the truth can spiral out of control and become false truths.  I have been at a loss for subject matter when the topic of Hidalgo a Disney movie and I felt a decent movie is claimed to be based on a true story.  Trouble is it appears that nothing in this movie other than Frank Hopkins the person this movie supposedly depicts was a real person, is based in any kind of fact.  If you have seen it you would see it is a tall tail, an American cowboy who is also part Indian rides a race in Arabia all the while escaping every imaginable trap set by the Arabs.  I know and will admit that Disney is not known for anything more than fantasy.

Trouble is if you are making a fictional story even if you are Disney you should not bill it as being based in truth.  During research I have found some sites that take the story about Frank Hopkins seriously the one I found repeatedly was http://www.frankhopkins.com/   this site perpetuates the story so I was curious as to why upon closer investigation I found that the site is sponsored by The Horse of the Americas Registry and IRAM- the institute of Range and the American Mustang.  This just happens to be the type of horse credited with amazing feats along with Frank; perhaps they have an altirior motive.  Equestrianmag, http://www.equestrianmag.com/article.php?story=hopkins-hidalgo also has a story that is reported as true although it does have a note at the bottom basically pointing out that they really cant prove any of it and stating “that this account, whether true or not, has become a legend, and that Hopkins and Hidalgo have had a major contribution in that capacity”.  It seems that seeing the story as true may depend on how badly you want it to be true or whether it might further your cause if it were true.

Without a doubt there are a ton of sites that debunk the stories of Frank it seems that he wrote them late in life and touted them as true. The one resource I particularly liked was the History Channel still entertainment however they do try to tell history as it truly happened, the History Channel produced "The True Story of Hidalgo": in this they debunked Frank showing that there is no evidence that he was at the race in Arabia there is however evidence showing that by the date of birth on his marriage documents he would have been three years old when and if the race happened, in short no real evidence has been found to support any of his claims.  I further found an excerpt on http://www.thelongridersguild.com/vermont.htm  that was from Vermont Historical Society's in-house magazine in August 1970.  In this article there is text from one of Franks story’s that chronicles a race from Texas to Rutland Vermont, in this text Frank describes a race that was monitored and kept track of the way a race today would so that the judges would know who was where at all times it depicts a set of cards that were punched frequently and that they could only ride 10 miles a day.  It would seem that with this kind of oversight there would be a trail of evidence however as pointed out in this article there is no evidence at the start point or the end point. 

In the end this movie is fiction even if Frank’s story was true to some degree I think everyone could agree that Hollywood will turn it into a fantastic story.  Any way you look at it there may not seem to be a reason for the big deal whether it is true or not however; where should we draw the line even if it is not a life changing issue or even important once we start down the path there may be no turning back.  When we begin to take everything we see as the truth and do not question it we are at great risk.  I am concerned as should everyone be that most people are willing to take anything they are handed so long as someone tells them it is true, this in my opinion will be the downfall of the county when no one questions anything they will fall for everything and be lead to there own destruction.  I personally love Disney and vacation there every summer, however I am sad that Disney would state that the movie is based in truth after Mickey doesn’t lie!  Or does he?