The 'biscuit runs again.
Summary: A generally well-done "old-fashioned" sort
of movie, just right as summer fare. It was a little slow and ponderous
getting going, leaving the audience a little impatient to get to the
big payoff scenes — the close-ups of the races. If this movie grosses
over $100 M, I predict that someone will successfully pitch the story
of Secretariat in the next couple of years, perhaps with the (surprisingly
good) Gary Stevens playing the part of Ron Turcotte.
The filmmakers clearly recognize that one of the
most thrilling things to see in all of sport is one racehorse running past
a throng of other racehorses as if they are standing still.
Tobey Maguire is the American Elijah Wood, in
his general looks, his acting fortes, and in his seeming lack of
Hollywood self-absorption. The profile of him in last week's NY Times
Magazine (see the tobeyonline.com
site for a reprint sans pictures) was reassuring to this cynic.
The
American
Humane Association has a
page
on the treatment of animals in this film which mentions that 40 horses
were used, with ten playing Seabiscuit's part.