Secretariat (2010)
Certified: U
Duration: 116 minutes
Directed by: Randal Wallace
Starring: Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Amanda Michalka, James Cromwell
KRS release

Made under the Disney banner, Secretariat is the true story of a horse, the woman who believed in him and of how the same woman defied a male-dominated system to come out on top.

The film kicks off in 1969. Diane Lane plays the part of Penny Chenery, a Denver housewife who is married to Jack (Dylan Walsh), an attorney. When her mother dies, she returns to her home town Doswell. There she finds out that her parents’ successful horse breeding farm is now a financially struggling enterprise.

Her father Chris (Scott Glenn) is suffering from dementia and is not in a position to bring the farm back on its feet.

Penny must decide what to do with the farm: Her brother Hollis (Dylan Baker) is a Harvard economics officer and is inclined to sell the farm but Penny wants to keep it. She tries to get Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich), a successful trainer, to work on the farm. But he will only accept if she has top horses for him to work with. And it is only when he learns that a new foal could be a champion that he agrees. Penny calls the horse Big Red, however it is renamed Secretariat by her dad’s secretary Elizabeth Ham (Margo Martindale), who like some others has stayed on to help Penny.

Secretariat’s debut in horse racing is not exactly scintillating but when jockey Ronnie Turcotte (Otto Thorwarth) is enlisted, the wins start piling in. However, when Penny’s father dies, she faces rough times as the estate tax she needs to pay may lead to foreclosure. Everything is pinned on Secretariat’s races and on the attempt to win the Triple Crown.

The film’s racing sequences are simply breathtaking, with each race having an excellent build-up. Anyone who enjoyed Seabiscuit or is interested in any kind of sports will find a lot to like in the way these sequences were shot. As for the subject matter itself, the horse portraying Secretariat is simply majestic. In fact, ESPN listed this horse (the highest non-human) as the 35th greatest athlete of the 20th century.

The film goes beyond being just a racehorse movie by also telling the story of Penny, a stubborn woman who was ready to sacrifice a lot in order to succeed. The film focuses a lot of the housewife element and ignores the fact that before being a housewife, Penny was also a graduate. However, under the Disney mantle, the film’s traditional set-up is aimed to inspire and it manages to do so through Ms Lane’s performance.

John Malkovich is also quite convincing while James Cromwell as investor Ogden Phillips makes the most out of his supporting role.

Director Randall Wallace, who had scripted Mel Gibson’s Braveheart, brings a sense of style to the proceedings, even though he prefers to let the story tell itself.

I love movies about four legged/hoofed heroes but they do not come bigger than this horse whose accomplishments still stand after all these years.