I took Velvet and Lightning McQueen to see "Secretariat" this afternoon. I remember seeing him win the Triple Crown, ergo the title of this post. Seems hard to believe that was 37 years ago!
I have no idea whether the entire backstory to Secretariat's success is exactly as presented in the film, but I'd have to say it's more likely true than not, because if you were writing a story about a horse who won the Triple Crown and wanted him to have an interesting history, you'd be hard pressed to come up with anything even close to that of this horse. The future of the Tweety family, and of the stables where he was foaled, literally rode on Secretariat's back.......and all nearly came to naught at the Wood Memorial, his last outing prior to the Kentucky Derby of 1973, where he only showed (and that poorly).
I think the film is well cast, the characters are believable. And Disney didn't seem to make any great attempt to "p.c." the characters; a few of them are almost caricatures, they are so typical. And the acting is good too; I admit to fighting back tears when Penny sits at her daddy's bedside after he's had a stroke, holding his hand as she tells him about her horse and he passes on.
Even though I knew exactly how events in the second half of the movie would transpire, I was not for a minute bored. I give this movie an enthusiastic thumbs-up, and when it's available on DVD I plan to purchase it for our home video library.
I have heard only good things about this movie. I have no doubt in my mind that I will be crying when I finally do see this movie.
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