Housewife and mother Penny Chenery agrees to take over her ailing father's Virginia-based Meadow Stables, despite her lack of horse-racing knowledge. Against all odds, Chenery — with the help of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin — manages to navigate the male-dominated business, ultimately fostering the first Triple Crown winner in twenty-five years.
Genre(s): Drama, Sport
Rating: 7.2/10/10 (181 votes votes)
Country: USA
Languages: English
Company: Fast Track Productions
Sound: Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
MPAA: PG for brief mild language.
Director(s): Randall Wallace
Producer(s):
Jayne Armstrong – associate producer
Mark Ciardi – producer
Pete DeStefano – producer
Gordon Gray – producer
Bill Johnson – executive producer
Todd Y. Murata – production executive
Mike Rich – executive producer
Andrew Wallace – associate producer
Writer(s):
Mike Rich – (written by)
William Nack – (book "Secretariat: The Making of a Champion") (suggestion)
Cast:
Diane Lane – Penny Chenery
John Malkovich – Lucien Laurin
Scott Glenn – Mr. Chenery
James Cromwell – Ogden Phipps
Dylan Walsh – Jack Tweedy
Fred Dalton Thompson – Bull Hancock
Kevin Connolly – Bill Nack
Nestor Serrano – Pancho Martin
Amanda Michalka – Kate Tweedy
Carissa Capobianco – Sarah Tweedy
Music: Nick Glennie-Smith
Tagline: The Impossible True Story
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The movie is great for families, as there were a number of children inthe theater who really enjoyed the film. There isn't any off-colorlanguage or scenes, and it is well acted and well made. My maincomplaint is that it really seemed to be the Penny Tweedy story, andnot that much about Secretariat. If you want to take your children to awell made movie with horses, this is a good film. If you want to learnabout the greatest racehorse of the 20th century, go to you tube andwatch old clips of the actual horse itself. If you're looking for agood movie about a horse, buy or rent Seabiscuit. That movie tells muchmore of the story about the horse.
There were some surprising acting in this movie. John Malkovich playedthe trainer, Lucien Lauren. Such a character and it would not surpriseme if he won an Oscar for this part…just great! The movie needed acharacter to give the movie some personality and he did a great job.Another actor that stood out to me was Neisan Ellis as Eddie Sweat, thegroom. Again he helped add that touch to the movie that helped youidentify with this story. Diane Lane as Penny Chenesy, owner, playedher part well too and playing roll as owner, wife, mother. The horse,and I assume that there was more than one horse used in this film asSecretarit, did a good job. The horse came across that he knew the fanswhere there for him. We enjoyed this movie and it makes a great familymovie because it is about life and challenges we face.
First off – know this, there is not a bigger racing fan than I am. AndI truly looked forward to this movie, counting down the days, actually.But maybe because I am such a fan of racing and the great Secretariatin particular, I hated this movie. I went to see the sneak preview lastnight and it was awful! It was so nonfactual as to be ridiculous. Therewas no mention of the fact that Penny Chenery and Meadow Stables andRon Turcotte had the Derby winner (Riva Ridge)the year beforeSecretariat. They wanted you to believe that Penny could get a phonecall in Colorado in the middle of summer while poolside and make it toVirginia to be there for the birth of Secretariat in March with hertrainer and the groom by her side. They gave Ron Turcotte a southernaccent, I have met the man and he has a beautiful French-Canadian liltto his voice. There was too much time wasted on the Marcia Brady likecharacter of Penny's daughter and not enough racing scenes. ThePreakness was shown on a small home TV for Heaven's sake!
And the worst was that they wanted you to believe that Keeneland racecourse was Belmont Park, Aqueduct and Saratoga. The music was terrible,I can't believe they played that dumb gospel song during the finale ofSecretariat's heart-stopping Belmont triumph. And while they did havethe best part of the greatest race call ever, ("Secretariat is movinglike a tremendous machine") it was barely audible in the background.Why, oh why could they not just have let the race speak for itself.Please, people go watch the actual race on you tube. It will give yougoose bumps. OK, so maybe as such a big fan I have over analyzed thedetails,but that being said, go see the movie anyway. If it brings theexcitement of racing and the spirit of Big Red to just one viewer thenI guess it will be worth it. For my part, I will just watch Seabiscuit,(a great racing movie) over again.
Secretariat / Rated PG for a couple of bad words and funny lookinghats. Secretariat, the horse, is considered the greatest race horse ofall time. He ran really, really fast. He lived from 1970 to 1989 andlives again in a new movie named in his honor. I love horsey movies. Ihate spoilers in reviews. In case you don't know it I have to tell yousomething. Not exactly a secret. But, if you don't want to know thenlook away count to ten then continue reading. Secretariat won theTriple Crown. Okay that's it. It's safe to continue reading. Knowingthis, there is not much suspense that can be portrayed as the Big Guyis foaled then begins to run. Really, really fast. The movie tells thestory of Secretariat and his owner. The owner was Penny Chenery Tweedyand family. Diane Ladd plays the strong willed woman out to save herfamily finances and root the Big Guy to victory. She is excellent inthe role. Along for the ride, so to speak, are John Malkovich as thetrainer and funny hat wearer, and a group of fine character actorswhich include Scott Glenn, Fred Thompson and James Cromwell. MargoMartindale provides laughs and inspiration as the wise family secretaryand horse namer. Secretariat was directed by Randall Wallace. He alsohelmed two fine films including "We Were Soldiers" (2002) and the firstfilm I ever reviewed, the most excellent "Man in the Iron Mask" (1998).Nick Glennie-Smith provides a beautiful and evocative score. The horserace scenes are exciting and well filmed even if, for the most part, weknow the results. Especially in the Triple Crown contests. In theKentucky Derby he ran every quarter mile faster than the one precedingit and he was still accelerating when he crossed the finish line. Did Imention he ran really fast? The last of the three races, The BelmontStakes, is an especially long and grueling contest which spells the endfor most Triple Crown contenders. I remember watching this race live in1973. Secretariat almost looked like he might lap the 4 other horses inthe contest. That's how commanding his lead was. Disney has offered upgood family fare. The personal financial issues sometimes get in theway of seeing the Big Guy run which is the core of the story. A storyeveryone, not just horsey film lovers, like me should see. A greatstory of a superior athlete. And he knew it. Watch and see. Rated 3.5out of 4.0 lengths. Secretariat won by 31 lengths. Seabiscuit beware.Bamboo Harvester, who died in 1970, would have been proud if he hadlived to see Secretariat run. And he would have spoke up about it. Ifyou want to know how…..Google his name.
'll be honest. The only reason I rented this film was because DianeLane starred in it. My first Diane Lane experience was with TheOutsiders (1983), which is without a doubt the finest film ever made.Next came the very powerful and moving film My Dog Skip. Afterward camethe entertaining – yet over-dramatic – Jumper (2005), in which Laneonly played a supporting role. Just recently I had the pleasure ofexperiencing the wacked out romantic comedy Killshot (2006), where Lanegives a remarkably quirky and downright crazy performance. She's quitesimply the best actress on the face of the planet at this very moment.The Chinese actress Zhao Wei is a close second though.
I had no idea this film was about horseracing. All I knew was that ithad Diane Lane and cute horsies. How could I resist? In any case, thisfilm is so powerful that it made me bawl like a little baby. I kid younot. Yeah, it has a bit of that melodramatic tear-jerking feel to it,but it never feels cheap or manipulative in its execution because therelationships between the characters (including the horse) are sowell-developed and powerful.
Although much of the film focuses on Diane Lane as an inexperiencedjockey who chooses to conquer the challenges of horseracing, there isalso considerable attention paid to the fairytale like love betweenDiane Lane and her horse. Heck, I'd even say that the horse itself wasgiven significant character development – so much so that the horseitself becomes the main character during the final 20 minutes of thefilm. Note that this is not accomplished with an overly simplisticevent. On the contrary, the viewer experiences the pain and sufferingof the horse throughout the film, and is given some excellentstatements that are indirectly made by the horse in classic Kim Ki-dukfashion – i.e., through actions absent of words. By the end of themovie the viewer will have no choice but respect the character of thehorse and readily admit that he is one tough son-of-a-gun.
The racing scenes themselves are perhaps the best ever committed tocelluloid. The camera-work hits you from lots of different angles. Iloved the wide shots from ground level, with the camera rollingalongside the great beasts to allow the speed, grace, and power of thehorses to shine through. This is especially true during the night-timefinale under the lights, which has an even greater sense of intensity.
It is important to understand that this is a very mainstream Disneyfilm that is very marketable to western audiences. I personally preferthe weirder stuff, but a great film is a great film. This is easily oneof the best films of 2010, if not THE best drama of that year. I do notsay such things lightly. See this now!
As an equestrian I usually have a chuckle at the horse movies. It seemsthat none of the producers ever hires enough subject matter experts tokeep inaccuracies from creeping in.
While most family horse movies are formulaic, they can often beentertaining. This movie made by the movie Mogul Randall Wallace hasDiane Lane playing the role of Penny Chenery, owner of the racehorseSecretariat, who won the Triple Crown in 1973. The action set piecesare heavily loaded, however a charming and a good clean movie of theSuperStar. Having just watched a video of the Aintree Grand National,the final race in the movie is well, a bit of a let down. Also, Forpeople who have seen the original movie FLICKA this movie has not muchnew to offer.
Boy; after so many disheartening feedbacks from my friends; I actuallyenjoyed the movie. To my surprise; I really didn't care much about thismovie while the trailers were being aired; and now, here I am writing areview about it.
Most people commented about the movie not being aptly emotional. Idisagree. I'd like the way how the team worked to make it what I call"Not Sappy".
Although, it was not a smash; is what the general consensus is. But I'dgive it a full; as I was entertained. Maybe you should try it and formyour own opinion about it. You might even love it.
This movie is about the relationship/bondage between man and animal.Horses play an equally important role with John Malkovich in the movieand the movie revolves around them. Diane Lane playing the heroine alsocontributes. -a young woman whose life had been saved by four horseswhen she was a kid. Since then she loves them and doesn't think of themas "animals" but as real "friends". Malkovich loses his fortune andbecomes a poor man. But Penny follows him and they struggle with lifewith the help of the faithful horses.
The sets were mostly lavish plantations, and so robustly built that theanimals could easily walk upstairs. I was a bit disappointed that thereweren't more location shots to conserve street sights of the state ofVirginia of the times.
Yes,the story looks naive.But what's more important is that this filmmade something that few films are capable of nowadays-it proved thegreat power of friendship and love in a really touching way.The editingwas wonderful and the animals are trained incredibly well.Undoubtedly ahighly recommendable film!
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Secretariat is entertaining in all departments! The acting is great(John Malkovich deserves an Oscar as the trainer); cinematography isoutstanding (shots of the races are multi-angled and with extragraininess a la the fight scenes in "Gladiator"); hat's off to thedesigner's costumes of the period (early 70's) for accuracy andoriginality: hair styles and make-up are endemic to the era. RandallWallace directs the film with a steady and firm focus. Although we knowthe horse is famous for winning the Triple Crown in 1973 the energy andsuspense are maintained till the conclusion. Even my wife enjoyed it… and she is the harshest critic I know. Go see it and enjoy !