about what I expected

Secretariat movie

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My Review 

SECRETARIAT is about what I expected. Definitely not Oscar material but a nice movie.

The film's big flaw is its depiction of the races. The most glaring example is the Preakness which we see on the Tweedy family's TV. This ploy undoubtedly saved the studio a lot of money since they didn't have to re-stage the race or even edit existing footage, just get the network to let them use archival footage.

Secretariat's debut race also cheats the audience. Immediately after the gate opened the film cuts to post-race lamentations over the loss and the race becomes an off-camera event described by the cast. It's the most egregious violation of the "show it, don't tell it" mantra of film making since Richard Pryor described Superman saving the world in SUPERMAN III.

What production value the movie has was spent on the Kentucky Derby scene, the best racing footage in the movie. But if they had to put most of the money into depicting one race it should have been the Belmont Stakes. Not only was the Belmont the most exciting of the Triple Crown races that year, but a filmmaker should know that if you only have resources for one big scene you put it at the end of the movie, not in the middle. As is, the Belmont stakes footage is the most disappointing. One can get a more stirring view of the race on You Tube. Most of the race is shown in claustrophobic closeup. Some close ups would be OK; the one with Turcotte looking back is appropriate, but the Belmont was an event worthy of the wide screen camera. Blinkers are for horses, not CinemaScope movie cameras.

This definitely looks like a champagne movie with a beer budget. Either Disney should have given the filmmakers the money to film the movie the way it should have been filmed, or else the filmmakers need to go back to film school.

Another, somewhat minor negative: I never got into the subplot about the daughter's war protests.

Okay, having been negative up to now, I must say that on balance the film is a good movie and I enjoyed it, although someone who is not into horse racing as I am might not agree.

I can forgive the historical inaccuracies simply because such is the nature of movie storytelling. Movies such as PATTON and THE LONGEST DAY are great movies but anyone who thinks they are historically accurate is going to have a slightly warped understanding of WWII.

The casting is right on and the performances are great, particularly Malkovich, who always delivers.

Would you recommend this to a friend?