Secretariat (2010)
2h 3m | PG-13
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 25 years.
Director: Randall Wallace
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Genre: Drama
Video: 720p
Cast
Diane Lane
as Penny Chenery
John Malkovich
as Lucien Laurin
Scott Glenn
as Chris Chenery
Dylan Walsh
as Jack Tweedy
Fred Thompson
as Bull Hancock
Margo Martindale
as Miss Ham
Reviews
Quite decent story telling. Not too big pretensions and nice performance from a well chosen cast. The story is quite stereotypical but it is well done.
I thoroughly enjoyed the performances of Diane Lane and John Malkovich, the film itself may not match those two but it still makes for a pleasant time. This is another sports drama from Disney and another film about horses, of which they have been a fair amount down the decades from the studio. It fails to reach the (very) high levels of 1976's <em>'The Littlest Horse Thieves'</em> and 1991's <em>'Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken'</em>. However, with that noted, <em>'Secretariat'</em> still produces a fine time. Lane and Malkovich are very good together, Lane particularly stands out. Margo Martindale is involved once more, playing a sweet and lovely character as she always does - she's perfect for those roles. Nice to see James Cromwell, also. The cinematography is solid, as is the pacing of events. It does feel a little light of serious story at times, but that's hard to avoid when you're dealing with something as interesting but repetitive as horse racing. In the end, it's a nice story about Secretariat and Penny Chenery.