Secretariat Movie Arriced!
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Secretariat Movie Arriced!
SO excited, my Secretariat on blue ray arrived today. YIPEE!
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I just watched Secretariat and I did enjoy it. The dramatic license Hollywood utilized was apparent. The financial hardship Meadow Farms and the Chenery family endured was hard to swallow considering Riva Ridge won the Kentucky Derby the previous year. The coin flip, to my understanding, was won by the Phipps family but it entitled them to the 1969 foal out of Somethingroyal, a fillie named The Bride, leaving the Chenery's with the 1970 foal, Secretariat. The Bride was not placed in 4 starts and had no significant progeny. Although Secretariat was the greatest racehorse I have ever seen, the movie runs second to the movie"Seabiscuit".
I really enjoyed it, though in typical hollywood/Disney fashion many things were far fetched, and less than realistic. Was also disappointed that there was mroe focus on the human aspect than the horse, but that is just me...however, the footage of the extras after was incredible, the conversations and video of the real Secretariat were amazing. Great movie all round, I am so glad I bought it!
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Derby Lyn
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Shannon- I agree, not nearly enough horse action for me. I enjoy Seabiscuit more. Still a good movie.
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I did buy the DVD but the movie really disappointed me in the theater. There were SO many racing inaccuracies. The coin flip was just about the opposite of how they depicted it, and if they'd taken 30 seconds of film time to explain it correctly, I think it would have been more dramatic. Secretariat wasn't even born when the coin flip happened. I thought they depicted Ogden Phipps and Sham's trainer very meanly. A crowd of people standing around a 3yo colt washing him like you would a human baby, rather than how a racehorse is bathed. And I was so disappointed in the movie music. I was expecting a soaring music training montage similar to "Rudy," but instead we got, "Oh Happy Day" with the choir singing, "When Jesus walked....oh when he walked" as Big Red crossed the finish line. ??? And then there was the big dramatic moment as if the crowd had no idea that he was about to enter the stretch that far in front. In real life, the magnificence of the moment was the building incredulity that he had dueled so fast for the lead, then was out in front so far, going so fast, and yet....NOT SLOWING DOWN. There wasn't a sudden crash of screaming, there was a building upswell of amazement. And I thought they should have used the original call of the race there, not tried to use a voice-over by a person who had no feel for how it really was: "Secretariat is running away from the rest of the horses-- he is building up a TWENTY-TWO length lead! He is going to BE the Triple Crown winner!" The real announcer sounded like he couldn't believe what was happening in front of his eyes.
I guess I am being a downer here, but I knew from the beginning that it couldn't be a good movie for me because I am such a huge Big Red fan. They could search the world over and never find a perfect physical specimen like Big Red to portray him. They didn't even pull that horse's mane properly, and he looked like he needed some vitamins for his coat. And a good movie has to have drama-- what's the real drama here outside of the Tweedy's marriage? He was great, he won, yeah. Secretariat was Horse of the Year as a 2yo. It's not like no one believed in him.
Having said all of that, I think everybody ought to see it. But Seabiscuit and Phar Lap were much better racing movies. I enjoyed it as a Disney movie, and I liked it when the whole theater clapped, but ESPN's documentary about Big Red was better. My vet watched that on the barn VCR one night while we were waiting out a colic, and started bawling.
I guess I am being a downer here, but I knew from the beginning that it couldn't be a good movie for me because I am such a huge Big Red fan. They could search the world over and never find a perfect physical specimen like Big Red to portray him. They didn't even pull that horse's mane properly, and he looked like he needed some vitamins for his coat. And a good movie has to have drama-- what's the real drama here outside of the Tweedy's marriage? He was great, he won, yeah. Secretariat was Horse of the Year as a 2yo. It's not like no one believed in him.
Having said all of that, I think everybody ought to see it. But Seabiscuit and Phar Lap were much better racing movies. I enjoyed it as a Disney movie, and I liked it when the whole theater clapped, but ESPN's documentary about Big Red was better. My vet watched that on the barn VCR one night while we were waiting out a colic, and started bawling.
"When I am on my deathbed, I imagine I will say, 'Thank God I did that'" - Arthur Hancock, on buying back Gato del Sol from Europe after Exceller was killed in a slaughterhouse in Sweden.
Everyone I know that is not a horse person really loved it, especially girls (are there non-horsey girls?). I agree with Shannon that the clips of Secretariat in the credits were wonderful, though. Should have been more of that!
"When I am on my deathbed, I imagine I will say, 'Thank God I did that'" - Arthur Hancock, on buying back Gato del Sol from Europe after Exceller was killed in a slaughterhouse in Sweden.
The promo clips/commercial for the movie convinced me that there was no hope for that movie. They used a bay foal for the dramatic birth scene!
WTF?
How hard could it be to find chestnut colt? It's not like it had to trained to something or perform anything more difficult than just lay down and stand up a few times! If they'd given me $200 and access to craigslist, I could have gotten them a red foal on the set within 24 hours (or less). Jeez. They just didn't care enough.
WTF?
How hard could it be to find chestnut colt? It's not like it had to trained to something or perform anything more difficult than just lay down and stand up a few times! If they'd given me $200 and access to craigslist, I could have gotten them a red foal on the set within 24 hours (or less). Jeez. They just didn't care enough.
"I'll lay me down and bleed a while, and then I'll rise and fight again." Sir Barton
Wasn't it said that Secretariat WAS in fact bay when he was born? Can't recall where I read that, may have been the Disney Secretariat site so possibly made up for their own uses...but I am pretty sure I had heard that somewhere. However, I was still like WTF?? a bay foal. My boyfriend didn't get what I was complaining about throughout the movie (he's not horsey). I voiced my opinion a lot...partly why I didn't go to the theatre to see it.
And that wash scene drove me completely NUTS! As did all the post race pics in the win circle. No sweat, no increased resp, standing flat footed and doe eyed...get real. And the nickering, whinnying and stuff. I plugged my ears several times.
And that wash scene drove me completely NUTS! As did all the post race pics in the win circle. No sweat, no increased resp, standing flat footed and doe eyed...get real. And the nickering, whinnying and stuff. I plugged my ears several times.
A woman needs 2 animals in her life-the horse of her dreams, and a jackass to pay for it!
I heard they went to over a hundred bay mare foalings trying to "catch" a chestnut foaling but when they couldn't they went with a bay. In their defence I think they did try to at least try and get that right.
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Considering that Secretariat has a $35,000,000 budget, it just boggles my mind that they wouldn't be able to find some way to get red foal.
They could have used a bay foal, I think, for the actual birth and very wet first moments, as that makes them darker, anyway, and cut to a red foal when it it dries. In this day in age, it seems like they could have overcome the whole problem of needing to catch a bay mare--or even a real mare at all--actually foaling a chestnut foal; there are filming and sequencing techniques--not to mention special effects--to stage these scenes believably without needing the real thing. That's what Hollywood does!
Not sure why this bothered one, specific inaccuracy bothers me so much. I guess it is because like Disney is either insulting my intelligence in thinking I wouldn't notice that the horse was the wrong color (the horse was Big Red!), or that they are insulting the horse and his story. Possibly both of these things. They just didn't care enough.
They could have used a bay foal, I think, for the actual birth and very wet first moments, as that makes them darker, anyway, and cut to a red foal when it it dries. In this day in age, it seems like they could have overcome the whole problem of needing to catch a bay mare--or even a real mare at all--actually foaling a chestnut foal; there are filming and sequencing techniques--not to mention special effects--to stage these scenes believably without needing the real thing. That's what Hollywood does!
Not sure why this bothered one, specific inaccuracy bothers me so much. I guess it is because like Disney is either insulting my intelligence in thinking I wouldn't notice that the horse was the wrong color (the horse was Big Red!), or that they are insulting the horse and his story. Possibly both of these things. They just didn't care enough.
"I'll lay me down and bleed a while, and then I'll rise and fight again." Sir Barton
In 1968, Chenery sent two mares named Hasty Matelda and Somethingroyal to Bold Ruler, and in 1969, a colt and filly were the result. In 1969, Hasty Matelda was replaced by Cicada, but she did not conceive. As per Wikipedia...
"Only one foal resulted between Bold Ruler and Somethingroyal. As stated in the original agreement, the winner of the coin toss could pick the foal he wanted but could only take one, while the loser would get the other two. Both parties assumed Somethingroyal would deliver a healthy foal in the spring of 1970. The coin toss between Penny Chenery and Ogden Phipps was held in the fall of 1969 in the office of New York Racing Association Chairman Alfred Vanderbilt II, with Hancock as witness. Phipps won the toss and took the weanling filly out of Somethingroyal, leaving Chenery with the colt out of Hasty Matelda and the unborn foal of Somethingroyal.
On March 30, at 12:10 a.m., Somethingroyal foaled a bright red chestnut colt with three white socks and a star with a narrow blaze. By the time the colt was a yearling, he was still unnamed"
"Only one foal resulted between Bold Ruler and Somethingroyal. As stated in the original agreement, the winner of the coin toss could pick the foal he wanted but could only take one, while the loser would get the other two. Both parties assumed Somethingroyal would deliver a healthy foal in the spring of 1970. The coin toss between Penny Chenery and Ogden Phipps was held in the fall of 1969 in the office of New York Racing Association Chairman Alfred Vanderbilt II, with Hancock as witness. Phipps won the toss and took the weanling filly out of Somethingroyal, leaving Chenery with the colt out of Hasty Matelda and the unborn foal of Somethingroyal.
On March 30, at 12:10 a.m., Somethingroyal foaled a bright red chestnut colt with three white socks and a star with a narrow blaze. By the time the colt was a yearling, he was still unnamed"
A woman needs 2 animals in her life-the horse of her dreams, and a jackass to pay for it!