Secretariat (2010)

Penny Chenery Tweedy and colleagues guide her long-shot but precocious stallion to set, in 1973, the unbeaten record for winning the Triple Crown.

Director:

Randall Wallace

Writers:

Mike Rich, William Nack (book)

Stars:

Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Margo Martindale

3 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Diane Lane	...	Penny Chenery
John Malkovich	...	Lucien Laurin
Dylan Walsh	...	Jack Tweedy
Margo Martindale	...	Miss Ham
Nelsan Ellis	...	Eddie Sweat
Otto Thorwarth	...	Ronnie Turcotte
Fred Dalton Thompson	...	Bull Hancock
James Cromwell	...	Ogden Phipps
Scott Glenn	...	Chris Chenery
Michael Harding	...	E.V. Benjamin (as Mike Harding)
Richard Fullerton	...	Robert Kleburg
Tim Ware	...	John Galbreath
Nestor Serrano	...	Pancho Martin
Keith Austin	...	Laffit Pincay
Kevin Connolly	...	Bill Nack

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

triple crown | horse | horse racing | horseback riding | horse owner | 

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Taglines:

The Impossible True Story

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Family | History | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for brief mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Disney [United States] Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 October 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Secretariat

Filming Locations:

Churchill Downs - 700 Central Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,694,770, 10 October 2010, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$59,713,955

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$60,251,371

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Pictures, Fast Track Productions, Mayhem Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Some of the close-up shots of the racing horses were achieved by attaching lightweight digital cameras to sticks and positioning them close to the horses as they galloped around the track. The horses got used to it, but the jockeys were sometimes startled by them.

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Goofs

When Penny and her rival owner trade barbs at a press conference, Penny says the other owner's horse has as much chance of beating Secretariat on the track as he, himself, has of beating Muhammed Ali in the ring. In spring 1973, George Foreman was the boxing champion, and Ali was considered quite vulnerable.

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Quotes

Triple Crown Race Announcer: [Secretariat is leading by 11 lengths and still accelerating] Entering the final turn, Secretariat is moving like a tremendous machine!
Pancho Martin: That's impossible.

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits past the title.

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Connections

Referenced in Entourage: Tequila and Coke (2010)

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Soundtracks

Oh Happy Day
Written by Philip Doddridge and Edward F. Rimbault
Arranged by Edwin Hawkins (as Edwin R. Hawkins)
Performed by The Edwin Hawkins Singers (as Edwin Hawkins Singers)
Courtesy of Buddah Records, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

The film 'Secretariat' would have had to be awful for me not to Love it

I remember seeing the Belmont Stakes on TV in '73 and knowing I had seen a remarkable achievement by an equestrian (or any) athlete. Since that day 37 years ago the mystique of that horse, "Big Red" has only grown in my heart. I still cannot watch Secretariat run that day, without tears coming to my eyes. Thank god that U Tube exists and I can watch every race that wondrous stallion ran and see footage of him running in his paddock, filled with himself and his power. I don't know about Man of War but I do know about Secretariat and I have a hard time believing there was ever a greater Racehorse than he.

When I learned that a film was coming out about Secretariat, I could only hope it would do him justice. I am not a great fan of the genre of sport films, with 'Raging Bull' being one of the few exceptions. All I felt I could hope for was that they would not demean the memory of the great Secretariat. I have waited until the film showed at my favorite local cinema to view it.

I was planning to see it on the day that the equally wondrous filly Zenyatta was attempting to conclude her remarkable racing career by winning the Breeders Cup Classic for the second year in a row a feat almost as remarkable as Secretariat breaking the record for a 1 ½ mile race by 2 2/5 seconds, a record which still stands and which will not be broken, at least, in my lifetime. I would like to think that Zenyatta is a candidate for another equestrian cinema biography.

When Zenyatta made another of her great stretch runs from far behind (not unlike Big Red's usual mode of running) but this time came up a nose short I found myself again in tears and unable to go see 'Secretariat'. But the next day I decided to see 'Secretariat..' I'm glad I saw it and while it is certainly not perfect, and is a Disney product with designs to sell it as a Christian media event, the story is actually accurate from what I know, to the achievement that Secretariat, Penny Chenery, Ron Turcotte, and Lucien Laurin were able to pull off.

Diane Lane and John Malkovich were really fine. I wondered how Secretariat would come across. In the film he's a cipher just as he was in my mind in real life. How was he able to accomplish what he did in the Belmont Stakes? We'll never know.

So here's to the film makers for not totally screwing up Secretariat's life as they did with that Seabiscuit film..

Long Live King Secretariat (Big Red) and Long Live Queen Zenyatta!!