SECONDHAND LIONS
US, 2003, 111 minutes, Colour.
Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Haley Joel Osment, Kyra Sedgwick, Nicky Katt, Josh Lucas.
Directed by Tim Mc Canlies.
It is not hard to predict all that happens in Secondhand Lions. Enjoying it will depend on liking for the stars and how they act out what you know is coming. Kyra Sedgwick plays a flamboyant, irresponsible mother whose ultra-serious young son (Haley Joel Osment) is an impediment to her living the good life. She decides to dump him in Texas at the home of her mother's two old brothers (who reputedly have a fortune hidden away in their house). Needless to say, the brothers are not very happy in inheriting a teenager, even one as well-mannered as this one.
Needless to say, he wins them over and they have a very happy summer together despite other relatives often visiting to get inherit the money, despite one sleepwalking searching for his lost love, despite their planting corn when they thought they had planted other vegetables, despite the fact that the lion they bought is an old, secondhand lion (who does have a moment of leonine glory) and despite other setbacks.
It all depends on how you like Haley Joel Osment and feel sorry for him for having such a mother and hope that he will become friends with his uncles. It all depends as well on how you like Michael Caine and Robert Duvall. They seem to be enjoying themselves as two old codgers who have a mysterious past and who delight either in sitting on their porch without benefit of telephone or television or who want to indulge in daredevil stunts. They also have a history which is offered whether we believe it or not - a trip to Europe in 1914 which ends up with their being hijacked into the Foreign Legion, fighting wars in Africa for forty years, opposing an evil sheikh and taking his woman - all of which is visualised for us. By the time we meet them, they are secondhand lions but get a new lease of life in caring for their nephew.
It's all a bit of a shaggy dog, shaggy lion story which depends on the presence and charm of the stars to make it work.
1.A popular film for a wide audience: crusty old uncles, young nephew finding himself, abandoned by his mother? The comedy, the serious tones?
2.The title, the actual lion in the film, old, in the cage, inert, Walter having it as his pet? Its coming to his defence against Stan? Dying of a heart attack? A symbol of the two old uncles?
3.The Texas settings, the farm, the plains, the corn crops, the vegetables? A homely atmosphere? The musical score?
4.The framework of Walter as a cartoonist, getting the news that his uncles had died? At the end, going to the house, his inheriting it? The grandson of the sheikh and his son arriving, sharing memories?
5.The young Walter, his relationship with his mother, her leaving him with his uncles? Their wariness, not wanting him? His reaction, his mother trying to make him smile? Failing? The question of the phone, the television? The cousins arriving, their wanting the money, their animosity towards Walter? The uncles deciding to keep him even though he wanted to run away and they had given him a map? His staying, upstairs, the key, the chest, the photo of Jasmine? Seeing Hub and his sleepwalking? Garth and the explanations? His joining in work with them, the overalls, in the fields, the gardens? Listening to Garth’s stories of the Foreign Legion, the sheikh, Jasmine, the race on the sea, the fights, Garth to the rescue? The Foreign Legion? Believing the stories or not? His change of heart? Garth explaining the sleepwalking? His waking up Hub? His mother’s arrival, with Stan, Stan wanting the money? Walter and his having discovered all the money in the basement? The lion attacking Stan? The cousins arriving, their animosity, frightened of the lion? Hub and his time in hospital, getting out, fighting with the young men? Walter and his going away with his mother and Stan, getting out of the car, going back to the uncles, laying down the law, their accepting his conditions? Growing up with them?
6.Hub, crusty, older, the sleepwalking? The stories about Jasmine? The visualising of the flashbacks, his race along the shore, love for Jasmine, her father? The plots, the fights? The experience of the Foreign Legion? Coming back home? The decision to spend the money against the cousins? Buying the shooting range? The other goods? The lion? His time in hospital, clashing with the staff, fighting with the men, giving everybody his lesson on becoming a man?
7.Garth, more sympathetic, his stories, his friendship with Walter, the background of the Foreign Legion, the stories, his own derring-do?
8.Mae, irresponsible, leaving Walter with the uncles, deceiving him about where she went? Picking up with Stan, his pretending to be a detective, wanting the money? The lion attacking him? Mae and her deciding to drop Stan off at Las Vegas? Her always looking for a partner and failing? Walter asking her to do something for him?
9.The cousins, their arrogance, wanting the money, disdain of Walter? The brothers urging them to go? Coming to the hospital, thinking Hub was dead? The incident with the lion?
10.The flashbacks, the Foreign Legion, the sheikh? Jasmine and Hub’s love, marriage, death in childbirth? The sheikh’s grandson coming and telling the stories to the adult Walter?
11.A film of relationships, friendship and love, growing up, coming of age?
