Secretariat movie, a dissapointment - Sorry but thats the way I feel

[farmgirl88]

[QUOTE=mighty mite;5168552]
Well then you wanted to see the Penny Chenery story and you got it. I wanted to see the Secretariat story and got only a part of it. And I did say in my post that I did NOT think it should have been called Secretariat. In case you didn’t know, Bold Ruler, Sham and Riva Ridge were all a very big part of the Secretariat story. Heck, without Bold Ruler there really would not have been a Secretariat, don’t ya think? And I do think it was very much about Laffite Pincay and the Belmont. Geez, the Belmont is probably his most famous race so a little more insight into how that played out would have been interesting to the people who wanted to see more of Secretariat’s story. And yes, one little line about him liking to pose for cameras. If you’d seen this horse live, you would have understood just how much he liked to pose for the cameras. Blinked and you would have missed it in the movie. And as for Penny wanting to fire Ron Turcott (I did see that in the movie,by the way), It was only Ron. Lucien Lauren had to really convince Penny to keep him. They completely changed that story around.

And no, I didn’t want to know all about Penny’s kids who had nothing whatsoever to do with Secretariat. But apparently you do so you got what you wanted and I’m very happy for you. I wanted to see the Secretariat story and didn’t get it. And I know there are a lot of people out there who feel the same way as I do. Yes, they are mostly people who have been following racing for numerous years and many also remember how it was when Secretariat ran the triple crown. I’m sure that the general public who knows not much about racing probably enjoyed the film but my gripe is that they didn’t really get to know this great horse. And if you’d been following racing the years prior to Secretariat’s wins and then saw him race, you’d know what I’m talking about.[/QUOTE]

In my opinion, Bold Ruler was in the movie no more and no less than he should’ve been. They made sure his sire was known in the movie to be “something special” and one of the most highly regarded stallions of his time. They didnt need to go into details about the stallion. It was obvious that these 2 foals were going to be something special, and were expected to be because of their sire…and it used through the entire coin toss scenario.

As for the penny’s family scenario…you need to understand they they played that much of an importance in Penny’s decisions and life with Secretariat as Eddie Sweat did with him.

Like i said; if you wanted a Secretariat documentary then go watch one…Documentaries on horse racing are boring to almost 95% of all non horse people. FYI

[Pronzini]

@WhiteCamry;5168772

How? Jack Whittaker was at Belmont, covering the race live for CBS.

Jack Nicklaus per ESPN

[mighty_mite]

[QUOTE=farmgirl88;5168794]
In my opinion, Bold Ruler was in the movie no more and no less than he should’ve been. They made sure his sire was known in the movie to be “something special” and one of the most highly regarded stallions of his time. They didnt need to go into details about the stallion. It was obvious that these 2 foals were going to be something special, and were expected to be because of their sire…and it used through the entire coin toss scenario.

As for the penny’s family scenario…you need to understand they they played that much of an importance in Penny’s decisions and life with Secretariat as Eddie Sweat did with him.

Like i said; if you wanted a Secretariat documentary then go watch one…Documentaries on horse racing are boring to almost 95% of all non horse people. FYI[/QUOTE]

Obviously, there’s no point in debating this with you any further. You like the Penny Chenery story and that’s great. I simply do not. I can enjoy the film for a fictional, feel good Disney movie and that’s about it. I just think Secreatariat, the horse, deserved better.

[Larksmom]

the Black Stallion vs. Secretariat

Well, I went out to see it on Monday afternoon, and to my delight, Monday night there was a replay of The Black Stallion, which to my mind is THE best racing movie ever. Putting aside, a too young jockey and the atrocious plume. :o

The racing footage is breathtaking. The book was a favorite of mine, and while I agree, Kelly Reno was too young to be Alec, I think they were looking for a kid that could stay ON a bareback bridleless STALLION running at liberty on a beach! Plus, for the general public, Kelly was a cute kid. That was the only part I think they got really wrong.
As far as Secretariat, I LIKED but didn’t LOVE it. I kept reminding myself, it is a movie, not a documentary… over and over. I was with my non horsie cousin, who INSISTED we go see it! She loved it:yes: but didn’t really remember it at all. She and I were 20 when he won the TC. I am getting tough in my old age, but the only time I puddled up was at the end when the graphics said that no horse had ever come close in 37 years to his time or lengths of victory. That is what still so amazes me. I also LOVED putting the shot of Penny, and all the principals in. That was touching.
Diane Lane will probably get an Oscar nod for this. But who knows? Mostly you only get an Oscar for playing a 'ho, or a destitute person, so it might be a nice change.

[dressagetraks]

If we’re going to start handing out the title of best racing movie ever, I must put in a plug for Phar Lap.

I LOVED the fact that the movie producers chose to leave the death of the horse as it was then, a much-debated mystery. I realize the temptation that must have been there to create a villain whose dastardly deeds deliberately killed the horse. I mean, what a great movie element! Drama, intrigue, gets the audience going, never mind the detail that it would have been completely inaccurate. Kudos to that movie production team for letting the final chapter in the horse’s life, as it happened in the 1930s with full mystery, stand without Hollywoodizing it. Also loved the real pictures at the end of the horse himself and the people involved. Some great cinematography. Some interesting people. Also A GREAT HORSE, who was rightfully the central figure in the movie, and who would have been the most memorable figure from it when John Q. Public walked out, having received an idea of how great Phar Lap was, how much the Aussies loved him, and what made that horse special. The movie could not have been titled correctly by any other character. It was about the horse. And the audience, many non horsey general public, with whom I first saw it were many of them cheering in spots and many of them crying at the end, completely into it, and the ones around me, at least, clearly nonhorsey by COTH standards, walked out talking about the horse. I guess they missed the memo that a story about a horse just can’t be interesting to them.

Phar Lap: My candidate for best racing movie of all time.

[danceronice]

[QUOTE=WhiteCamry;5168789]
Which reminds me of the release of Apollo 13, way back just before the dawn of the internet as we know it. To some deservedly anonymous journalist’s remark about how people were saying the movie wasn’t all that accurate, Tom Hanks replied, “for every one thing we didn’t get right, we got two things right.”[/QUOTE]

My dad was in aerospace engineering in the 1960s (he worked on the Gemini at McDonnel, among other things–yeah, all those skinny-tie geeks with pocket protectors!) The only thing he REALLY laughed at as wrong in “Apollo 13” was someone using a slide rule for the equations when they’re worrying about gimble lock–he pointed out that you can’t in fact use a slide rule for the kind of math they were doing! Since I, like most people who grew up on calculators, am vague on what you CAN do with a slide rule, I never noticed! Obviously, the director and actors didn’t know, either.

[Foxtrot_s]

Eleven of us went to see Secretariat last night. I went with reservations after reading these posts. We all loved the movie, took the Disneyishness of it with a grain of salt and did not let it spoil our enjoyment of a feel good movie. I’ve been with racehorses since birth and still enjoyed myself. Except I could not resist checking the make up - the little spot that kept appearing and disappearing on his lower lip, and how the star changed shape. That could have been an easy fix, especially since there was a photo of Big Red in the studio.

I had been to the Derby and Keenland this year - it was fun revisiting the exact places the movie was shot in.

A documentary of Secretariat would be a great idea.

Anything with horses in it is not a bad thing - go see it if you have not already.

How is the book - can I give it as a Christmas present?

[Foxtrot_s]

P.S. What do you know about Sham’s connections - was there that rivalry between the two camps and the verbal jostling?

[Foxtrot_s]

P.S. What do you know about Sham’s connections - was there that rivalry between the two camps and the verbal jostling?

[mighty_mite]

[QUOTE=dressagetraks;5169120]
If we’re going to start handing out the title of best racing movie ever, I must put in a plug for Phar Lap.

I LOVED the fact that the movie producers chose to leave the death of the horse as it was then, a much-debated mystery. I realize the temptation that must have been there to create a villain whose dastardly deeds deliberately killed the horse. I mean, what a great movie element! Drama, intrigue, gets the audience going, never mind the detail that it would have been completely inaccurate. Kudos to that movie production team for letting the final chapter in the horse’s life, as it happened in the 1930s with full mystery, stand without Hollywoodizing it. Also loved the real pictures at the end of the horse himself and the people involved. Some great cinematography. Some interesting people. Also A GREAT HORSE, who was rightfully the central figure in the movie, and who would have been the most memorable figure from it when John Q. Public walked out, having received an idea of how great Phar Lap was, how much the Aussies loved him, and what made that horse special. The movie could not have been titled correctly by any other character. It was about the horse. And the audience, many non horsey general public, with whom I first saw it were many of them cheering in spots and many of them crying at the end, completely into it, and the ones around me, at least, clearly nonhorsey by COTH standards, walked out talking about the horse. I guess they missed the memo that a story about a horse just can’t be interesting to them.

Phar Lap: My candidate for best racing movie of all time.[/QUOTE]

Agree! This was a great movie ABOUT THE HORSE. I walked away from that film thinking I had seen a movie that told me all about Phar Lap. Not the owners or the kids of the owners.

[danceronice]

I’ve seen the Phar Lap movie, but to be honest, I don’t remember a thing about it except Tom Burlinson’s “acting” when the horse is dead/dying. (Tip: Don’t cry on camera, hon. Some people can, some people can’t, you…well. Does he even still act at all?) “The Man From Snowy River” made a much bigger impression (though to this day I’m still too chicken to try even much shorter steep slope than the film at a walk, let alone a canter. Guy’s acting is suspect, but MAN, he can ride.

Funny, no one’s mentioned “National Velvet” (don’t hit me! Don’t hit me! Kidding.)

And odd little movie that I sort of liked (at least parts of) was “A Horse For Danny”, starring a very young Leelee Sobieski as a girl whose…uncle? Father? Don’t recall…is a trainer at of low-end horses. Setting aside some of the drama, and some dubious ‘veterinary diagnosis’ at the end, the film is interesting in the girl uses wagering to get the money for the horse, they get him by claiming him…it includes all the elements of racings movies usually ignore, when really, gambling and claiming are the backbone of the industry and most people are never going to get rich off racing, but keep working at it anyway. It has some of the usual horse-movie cliches, but it did at least portray the gritty bits (down to being in the Steward’s office and handling two claim slips on one horse.)

[useventers]

Anyone seen “Champions”? The story of Bob Champion and Aldaniti winning the Grand National. Hollywood can’t make-up stories that are this good. It’s a real tear jerker, but one of my favorite horse movies. Even if you’re not into horses, this is just a good movie.

[danceronice]

I’ve heard of that movie, but it only seems to be available as a used VHS tape on Amazon…

[SunkenMeadow]

Casey’s Shadow was by far my favorite horse racing movie…

[DMK]

@useventers;5171203

Anyone seen “Champions”? The story of Bob Champion and Aldaniti winning the Grand National. Hollywood can’t make-up stories that are this good. It’s a real tear jerker, but one of my favorite horse movies. Even if you’re not into horses, this is just a good movie.

You beat me to it! Total tear jerker WITH a better than happy (you can’t make this up) ending. The most awesome movie, best race and gallop footage evah, capped off by the fact that the gallop scenes were done by Aldaniti himself. I saw it about the same time Phar Lap came out, and Phar Lap was good, but paled in comparison to Champions.

[useventers]

Casey’s Shadow is a classic. This move is so “real”, I don’t think they could make it today. I loved Walter Matthau and his “coon-ass colt”.
The movie was based on the Romero family and Rocket’s Magic. If you’ve been in racing or been on the backside, you know this one really gets it right especially for the time period, QH racing and LA.

[haligator]

Hi All,
Loved ‘Casey’s Shadow’ - just thought it was a nicely told racing tale that stayed fairly accurate to the QH racing life.

‘Champions’ is a finely crafted movie with wonderful racing, jumping, and riding sequences. I began sobbing the moment the movie started (you can’t take me anywhere…)!

And, ‘Lost in the Fog’ has been back-ordered on NetFlix forever!

Hallie

[WhiteCamry]

@danceronice;5171460

I’ve heard of that movie, but it only seems to be available as a used VHS tape on Amazon…

I have it [Champions] on DVD. But it’s British so I also bought a DVD player on which I could reprogram the region code to Region 0.

[danceronice]

[QUOTE=WhiteCamry;5172943]
I have it [Champions] on DVD. But it’s British so I also bought a DVD player on which I could reprogram the region code to Region 0.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that’s going a bit far for me (especially as most new DVDs are going compatible.)

I don’t think Casey’s Shadow or King of the Wind (which I’d like to see out of morbid curiosity if nothing else) are on DVD, either. For crying out loud, if they can put “The Derby Stallion” out…

[JGHIRETIRE]

I love this movie!!!

[QUOTE=useventers;5171203]
Anyone seen “Champions”? The story of Bob Champion and Aldaniti winning the Grand National. Hollywood can’t make-up stories that are this good. It’s a real tear jerker, but one of my favorite horse movies. Even if you’re not into horses, this is just a good movie.[/QUOTE]