BEFORE: Well, sometimes the universe doesn't live up to my expectations. I'd programmed this film on the day of the Belmont Stakes, in anticipation of a potential Triple Crown winner, only to hear on Friday that I'll Have Another had bowed out of the race due to injury. Haven't the owners of that horse ever seen a Hollywood sports film? Don't they know that the jockey has to tell us what the horse is thinking, the owner has to gently nurse the horse back to health, and the trainer has to devise an unorthodox strategy to re-train the horse at the last minute, with a plan that's so crazy that it JUST might work?
Worse yet, it seems like the horse's trainers don't care about MY needs - don't they care that I've got a movie blog to run, that I like to tie it in to current events? Jeez, some people are so inconsiderate. But I do applaud someone for putting a horse's needs first - kudos for that. Linking from "Seabiscuit", Chris Cooper was also in "Adaptation" with John Malkovich (last seen in "Red") in an uncredited role.
THE PLOT: Penny Chenery Tweedy and colleagues guide her long-shot but precocious stallion to set, in 1973, the unbeaten record for winning the Triple Crown.
AFTER: Whoops, I suppose I should have said "Spoiler Alert" - Secretariat wins the Triple Crown. But you knew that, right? I mean, why else make a film about a horse? Nobody makes a movie about a horse that ALMOST wins the Triple Crown. Truth be told, there are 21 horses that won the first two races (Kentucky Derby + Preakness) but did not win at Belmont. (12 since the last Triple Crown winner, Affirmed). By contrast, there are only 11 horses that won Races 1 + 3 - mathematically, that seems a little odd. If I were a cynical man, I'd take that as evidence that horse racing is fixed - a win in the first 2 races would maximize the betting on that horse, and if that horse were then to lose Belmont, the bookmakers and betting parlors would be able to retain the most money.
However, the stats don't tell the whole story. All things are not equal, since the Belmont is a longer race than the other two, so a horse that wins the shorter Derby + Preakness might not have the endurance to win the third leg. Plus, the three races take place over a short 5-week period, so injuries over that time have knocked out a few contenders, which is what happened today.
Tonight's film presents us with Secretariat, who's portrayed as a fast horse with endurance, in potentially the best combination. It's also the story of a Denver housewife in the 1970's who succeeded in the male-dominated world of horse racing, and an oddball trainer (Malkovich!) who finally succeeded after a long career of losses.
As with last night's film, there's plenty of melodrama, starting with the death of Ms. Tweedy's mother, her father's declining health, the strain of a long-distance relationship as Tweedy manages a horse farm, as well as her missing key moments in her children's lives. But success requires sacrifice, right? I mean, you can always just give up and go home - but no, it's about perseverance, and a belief in, well, believing that things are going to turn out for the best somehow.
I wish there'd been a little (OK, a lot) more emphasis on the mechanics of horse racing - but this is a Disney film, not an ESPN documentary. For every Secretariat, there have to be a dozen or even a hundred horses whose owners believed in them too - so how, exactly, did the pieces come together to produce a win? Besides the owner's faith in the horse, we're led to believe that Secretariat succeeded because people danced to soul music classics while giving him a bath? The main race strategy seemed to be "Let the horse run fast." Gee, I hope none of the other horse trainers think of that one. That's not a strategy, that's the lack of strategy.
I allowed the tie-in between Seabiscuit's win and the need for hope during the Depression, but this film's tie-in with Vietnam-era politics is just confusing. Are we supposed to side with the protesters, symbolized by the teenage daughter's radical high-school play? And if so, how the heck does that relate to the horse? It's very muddled.
Please stick with me, my sports chain is kicking into gear, and next week I'll hit basketball, just in time for the NBA Finals to be cancelled (I'm guessing...).
Also starring Diane Lane (last seen in "The Cotton Club"), Dylan Walsh (last seen in "Blood Work"), Margo Martindale (last seen in "Days of Thunder"), Scott Glenn (last seen in "W."), Dylan Baker (last seen in "The Cell"), Fred Dalton Thompson (also last seen in "Days of Thunder"), James Cromwell (also last seen in "W.").
RATING: 6 out of 10 bags of oats
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