This is a rare case of a Hollywood movie being far less exciting that the real events that comprise its storyline.
I saw each of Secretariat's triple crown races on TV when they happened. My wife is a former horse owner, and she was dieing to see this movie. And we both sat in front of the screen, stunned. To be fair, there was excellent acting by John Malkovich and good acting by Fred Thompson and the actor who plays jockey Ron Turcotte. But most of the other actors just stood around, looking embarrassed and uncertain of what to do with themselves as they recited clichéd lines. Most of the scenes involving Penny Chenery's family and professional problems had all the passion and realism of a "Mr. Ed" episode.
What happened? Well, the direction and screenplay/dialog of Secretariat are awful. Not just a normal sort of "awful." I mean historically, epicly awful. Some of the scenes in this movie are at the general level of "The Swarm" - one of the worst movies ever made.
First problem; Secretariat is not seen very often in this movie. His winning string of races as a two-year old that made him Horse of the Year are not shown- instead we hear a track announcer announcing the name of the winning horse "Secretariat! Secretariat!" over and over again. Hmmm, that must have helped with the movie budget.
Instead, we see many scenes with Penny's family. Penny has four children -an anti-war protester hippie daughter and three children that are not the hippie daughter. The hippie daughter looks and acts like a Brady Bunch daughter or a Hannah Montana character with absolutely no hint of drugs, sex, or dirty loose clothes. She and her hippie friends spray paint signs for protest rallies: the sign we can see says "Make Music,Not War"- ooh that's realistic. I guess "Make Love, Not War" was too edgy for the creative geniuses behind this historical epic.
I genuinely like Diane Lane but she is either miscast as the tough owner of Secretariat, or she received bad direction. She has no growl in her voice and very little iron in her demeanor. Her character makes a string of snap decisions each of which is portrayed as requiring an incredible leap of faith - and every decision is eventually revealed to have been absolutely correct and absolutely essential. For example, she makes one momentous decision by staring into Secretariat's eyes for about 10 seconds. Everyone of these scenes is acted and filmed in a way that comes across as unconvincing and contrived.
Whenever the script, over a four-year period, needs to have Penny interact with journalists, the same two actors playing reporters are always used -no matter whether the scene is in Virginia, Kentucky, NYC or upstate New York. I kept thinking of a grade school play where two kids are assigned the roles of "reporters" and keep exiting and entering the stage in different scenes.
The background music often detracts from the action, especially a totally jarring blast of black gospel music at the movies' climax. And African-Americans in the 1970s? They are depicted as characters out of Amos & Andy -like Buckwheat in Spanky & the Gang.
Many scenes appear to have been shot with only two cameras. In scenes with Penny's husband and brother, the actors look like they are nursing a hang-over as they deliver their lines and then stand around looking like they want to vomit.
And the plot takes significant liberties with the facts. In real life, Penny divorced her husband soon after Secretariat wins the triple crown. Too edgy for this script, I guess. And the plot centers on a fictionalized situation in which Penny struggles to sell "breeding shares" in Secretariat to literally 'save the farm" but in real life the breeding shares for Secretariat sold like hot-cakes and Penny played no role in selling them. Its a shame, because the movie fails to do justice to real-life events that were genuinely dramatic and moving - and then relies on fictionalized situations for its storyline.
If you enjoy Plan 9 from Outer Space and My Mother,the Car then I recommend this movie to you.
I saw each of Secretariat's triple crown races on TV when they happened. My wife is a former horse owner, and she was dieing to see this movie. And we both sat in front of the screen, stunned. To be fair, there was excellent acting by John Malkovich and good acting by Fred Thompson and the actor who plays jockey Ron Turcotte. But most of the other actors just stood around, looking embarrassed and uncertain of what to do with themselves as they recited clichéd lines. Most of the scenes involving Penny Chenery's family and professional problems had all the passion and realism of a "Mr. Ed" episode.
What happened? Well, the direction and screenplay/dialog of Secretariat are awful. Not just a normal sort of "awful." I mean historically, epicly awful. Some of the scenes in this movie are at the general level of "The Swarm" - one of the worst movies ever made.
First problem; Secretariat is not seen very often in this movie. His winning string of races as a two-year old that made him Horse of the Year are not shown- instead we hear a track announcer announcing the name of the winning horse "Secretariat! Secretariat!" over and over again. Hmmm, that must have helped with the movie budget.
Instead, we see many scenes with Penny's family. Penny has four children -an anti-war protester hippie daughter and three children that are not the hippie daughter. The hippie daughter looks and acts like a Brady Bunch daughter or a Hannah Montana character with absolutely no hint of drugs, sex, or dirty loose clothes. She and her hippie friends spray paint signs for protest rallies: the sign we can see says "Make Music,Not War"- ooh that's realistic. I guess "Make Love, Not War" was too edgy for the creative geniuses behind this historical epic.
I genuinely like Diane Lane but she is either miscast as the tough owner of Secretariat, or she received bad direction. She has no growl in her voice and very little iron in her demeanor. Her character makes a string of snap decisions each of which is portrayed as requiring an incredible leap of faith - and every decision is eventually revealed to have been absolutely correct and absolutely essential. For example, she makes one momentous decision by staring into Secretariat's eyes for about 10 seconds. Everyone of these scenes is acted and filmed in a way that comes across as unconvincing and contrived.
Whenever the script, over a four-year period, needs to have Penny interact with journalists, the same two actors playing reporters are always used -no matter whether the scene is in Virginia, Kentucky, NYC or upstate New York. I kept thinking of a grade school play where two kids are assigned the roles of "reporters" and keep exiting and entering the stage in different scenes.
The background music often detracts from the action, especially a totally jarring blast of black gospel music at the movies' climax. And African-Americans in the 1970s? They are depicted as characters out of Amos & Andy -like Buckwheat in Spanky & the Gang.
Many scenes appear to have been shot with only two cameras. In scenes with Penny's husband and brother, the actors look like they are nursing a hang-over as they deliver their lines and then stand around looking like they want to vomit.
And the plot takes significant liberties with the facts. In real life, Penny divorced her husband soon after Secretariat wins the triple crown. Too edgy for this script, I guess. And the plot centers on a fictionalized situation in which Penny struggles to sell "breeding shares" in Secretariat to literally 'save the farm" but in real life the breeding shares for Secretariat sold like hot-cakes and Penny played no role in selling them. Its a shame, because the movie fails to do justice to real-life events that were genuinely dramatic and moving - and then relies on fictionalized situations for its storyline.
If you enjoy Plan 9 from Outer Space and My Mother,the Car then I recommend this movie to you.