I knew the story of Secretariat, but the particulars were tucked away so far in my mind that each turn in this horse tale was a surprise. I don’t care much for horse racing although I do dedicate a couple hours of my life to the sport three times a year and on the off chance I take to the local track about 30 minutes south of Seattle. However, when told right, a story such as this can truly succeed on the big screen and Secretariat is an in-betweener when it comes to overall satisfaction. The race sequences are spectacular and the facts of the story are undeniably impressive, but the overall telling of the story is a bit whitewashed to the point the intrigue isn’t really there until you hit the racetrack.
Opening in 1972, the film begins as Penny Chenery (Diane Lane) takes over her father’s horse farm. As a result she can’t bring it upon herself to abandon the property and the connection it shares with her past. The end result finds Chenery securing the talents of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich) and taking the horseracing world by storm on the way to winning the 1973 Triple Crown with Secretariat, a horse so fast his records at the Kentucky Derby and Belmont still stand today.
This is Filmmaking 1o1 from a story aspect. A tough as nails woman enters the men’s club of horse racing and along with her horse, succeeds in a way no horse had managed in 25 years. The story writes itself and Mike Rich doesn’t strive for much more than typical storytelling and average character development leaving only the racing and a couple of lively performances to keep the story alive.
Malkovich and Nelsan Ellis deliver the only energy the film has to offer from a human standpoint when Secretariat isn’t racing toward the finish line. Malkovich’s eccentricity is devoted, for the most part, to his wardrobe as well as a couple of choice one-liners that rarely feel natural. Ellis, whom most will know as the always entertaining Lafayette from HBO’s “True Blood”, serves as Eddie Sweat, Secretariat’s groom. His excitement is palpable turning in one of the only truly genuine performances in the film alongside Margo Martindale who plays Miss Hamm, Peggy’s father’s secretary and the one responsible for naming the mighty stallion.
Lane, however, plays Chenery with confident determination and none of my criticisms have to do with her performance as much as the material she’s working from. Her performance is fine, but she’s rarely given an opportunity to do much with the character. It may be a perfect depiction of who Chenery was in reality, but as a movie character it doesn’t give the film much of a heartbeat. To milk that metaphor, it’s said Secretariat had a heart two times the size of other horses, which allowed him to run so much faster. That heart comes through for this film as the race scenes are the true high point while the rest comes across as a bunch of people talking in between.
Secretariat is only director Randall Wallace’s third film after two lackluster prior features; The Man in the Iron Mask, which isn’t altogether bad and We Were Soldiers, which is a film I’d prefer to never see again it is so boring. Wallace does well here with the racing sequences, and along with cinematographer Dean Semler (Appaloosa) turns in some spectacularly golden imagery. But Mike Rich’s script doesn’t give him much opportunity elsewhere but to point and shoot in one general direction as the lackluster dialogue plays out.
Rich’s screenplay can’t live up to the achievement’s of its subject. When Secretariat isn’t on the track or finally digging his face into a bag of oats the story limps along until we get to the next horse racing high. Even though we already know how everything turns out the achievements of Secretariat are still impressive on screen and Wallace makes a good decision to show the Preakness Stakes from the Chenery’s Denver home in an effort to break things up. While Peggy’s husband (“nip/tuck” star Dylan Walsh) is home with the kids she’s off risking it all on a horse.
Secretariat is one part about a great horse and another part about rich white people and their problems. Yet, with the beating heart of a champion horse at its core it is well worth a watch merely for that final race alone.
