SECRETARIAT

US, 2010, 100 minutes, Colour.
Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Dylan Walsh, James Cromwell, Dylan Baker, Margo Martindale.
Directed by Randall Wallace.

Not a film about bureaucracy. Secretariat is the name of an American racehorse of the 1970s. It was a great champion. Secretariat was not the name the owners wished for it. It was imposed by the racing regulations for naming horses. Modern US audiences may not know the horse. Non-American? audiences may well never had heard of it. The film joins the list of films about champion horses and jockeys like National Velver, Phar Lap and Seabiscuit.
While writer-director Randall Wallace wrote the heroics of Braveheart and directed The Man in the Iron Mask and We Were Soldiers, this is a fairly standard picture of racing, training, opposition and rivalries and the emergence of a horse which won the Triple Crown of the Kentucky Derby... and was the horse of the year.
Not that Secretariat showed its qualities from the start. It was also idiosyncratic, staying at the back and then making spectacular runs to the finish. The human story involves Diane Lane as the horse’s determined owner and, of all people, John Malkovich as its French trainer. Dylan Walsh is the husband who tends to agree with his brother-in-law, Dylan Baker, that it would be better to sell the horse to pay off family debts. James Cromwell is a potential buyer. Nestor Serrano is a very loud-mouthed, vain and misogynist owner who is particularly offensive during press conferences.
So, while there is domestic drama in the background, the family learning to support their mother, the main action is how Secretariat fares in the initial races and the question whether it has the capacity to take on longer distance races, let alone win. But, because we are sitting watching a film called Secretariat, we know that the horse will triumph before the final credits. There is quite some excitement, as always, in watching the actual races and seeing how the horse triumphs.

1. A piece of Americana? Popular racing history?

2. Audiences and racing films, the horses, training, performance, difficulties, the actual races, winning and achievement?

3. The atmosphere of the 70s, the look of the period, clothes, cars? America at the time, the background of the Vietnam War, protest?

4. The title, the horse, the explanation of how it got its name?

5. Penny Tweedy and her situation, the law, the property, the horse, her accepting it?

6. The portrait of the Tweedy family, the family important for the film, Penny and her being known by her maiden name, asserting herself as Mrs Tweedy? A strong woman, her father and the stroke, caring for him, explaining the success of Secretariat? Love for her husband, the meal sequences, the bonds, disappointed at his siding with her brother, the brother and the issues of money, wanting to sell the horse? Penny’s defiance? Her help from Seth? The plan for the participants for the use of Secretariat for breeding? Her children, permissions, the performance and listening to it on the phone, the boys? The family following the races, on the television, going to the Belmont ball, a united family? The information at the end?

7. Lucien, his French background, personality, the clippings about his losses? At the house, employed, at the birth of the colt, his talking it down, its eating and sleeping, the race and the jockey’s fall? The interactions with the jockey, his angers? The audience not seeing him do much training? Credible as a trainer? His clothes and his eccentric hats? At the races, confident in watching or not? The press conferences, the confrontation with Penny? The decisions about Secretariat, the discovery of the abscess, whether to train him hard or not for the final race? Burning his loss clips? His sense of achievement?

8. Eddie, in the stables, the devotion to Secretariat, handling the horse, watching its success?

9. The millionaire, not having the horse, the decision about selling it or not, the financial difficulties of the Tweedys, the taxes and the estate? The millionaire’s offer to buy the horse? Penny’s firm stand? His gentlemanly behaviour – at the later races?

10. Ronnie, the tough jockey, Penny interviewing him? With Penny, with Lucien, with Secretariat? The initial fall? The success? Dejected after the failure with the abscess? The final triumph?

11. The horse itself, its birth, growth, the name, the big red, its hesitation at first, always at the back of the race, coming forward and winning by lengths, the collage of its range of wins, the increasing lengths? The abscess and its failure? The final race, streaking ahead of everyone else? The achievement? Horse of the Year?

12. Penny’s opponent, his boasting, the press conferences, brash, sexist comments? His amazement at his horse not beating Secretariat?

13. Miss Hale, continued support, family friend, witness to the will, sharing in the triumph?

14. The film as drama, stirring, Americana, the achievement of Secretariat? The PG style for a general audience?