FILM STUDY

Screenplay
In the impossible true story, housewife and mother Penny Chenery decides to take over her father's racing stables when he can no longer run them. Against all odds, she and veteran trainer Lucien Lauren guide a promising colt named Secretariat to the first Triple Crown victory in 25 years and shake the racing establishment to its core.

Theme
Very uplifting, inspiring, exciting movie about a true story of one of the most successful racehorses of all time. Responsibilities of a woman-as a daughter, sister, wife and a mother Explores different family relations Contrast of the country-city life Understanding animals The theme of "girl power", Penny finds herself a woman taking on a male-dominated world

The Story
The different roles a woman has to take up due to change in circumstances. Making a way in the male chauvinist world against all odds How to make it big even when others consider u an underdog

Direction
William Nack (author of Secretariat: the making of a champion), Penny Chenery, Bill Nack (turf legend), and Rusty Hendrickson (horse wrangler) were consulted Complete accuracy in regards to the precise physical aspects of the races. Horses were filmed in the exact positions, at the same speed and the distance they held in the actual race.

Setting
Part of the film was shot on location in both Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky for three weeks then moved to Louisiana to reproduce the Triple Crown infields at Evangeline Downs, located in Carencro, Louisiana

Characters
SECRETARIAT PENNY CHENERY TWEEDY (Diane Lane) LUCIEN LAURIN (John Malkovich)- trainer OGDEN PHIPPS (James Cromwell )- opponent CHRISTOPHER CHENERY (Scott Glenn ) owner

Secretariat- The horse

Several horses were used to depict Secretariat in the film, chief among them Trolley's Boy, whose great-great-grandsire was the real-life Secretariat, and Longshot Max, whose bloodline includes Secretariat's sire, Bold Ruler.

 Known to those who loved him as Big Red. Red enjoyed eating, snuggling up to his owner Penny and getting his picture taken, but most of all, he liked to runfast. He was the first horse in 25 years to win the Triple Crownwhich consists of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. He won the latter by an extraordinary 31 lengthsjust to make sure his doubters believed.

Critical reaction
Secretariat has received mixed to positive reviews. The critical consensus is: "Rousing, heartwarming, and squarely traditional, Secretariat offers exactly what you'd expect from an inspirational Disney drama. 63% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 109 reviews, with an average score of 6.2/10.

Box Office
The film opened in third place at the box office in its opening weekend, grossing $4 million on opening day and $12,694,770 over the threeday weekend, just falling behind The Social Network and Life as We Know It. The film was a relative box office success, grossing $60 million by the end of its run.

Comparison
Seabiscuit excels in the ability to captivate an audience through the use of story telling, Secretariat falls short. Although the scenes describe the mood of the time, the writers do a poor job of connecting it to the story of Secretariat. The story of Seabiscuit sucked the viewer into the 1930's, dealing them the pain and suffering that was felt by all. Secretariat failed, even, to show the glory of the horse for whom the movie was made.

The Positives
Acting: Lane and Malkovich both gave a great performance. The Story: Overall its a sweet can do film that will definitely have you cheering for Secretariat around those corners! The Action/Race Scene: Much like on a real racetrack, every second counts and they do a great job of building that up for the audience and will have you cheering or crying at the end of it.

The Negatives
Slow progress: Climax seems to be too late to bore the viewers in between. In a way Secretariat was robbed of the glory that the horse truly deserves - there was no build up, there was no suspense, they failed to properly show the struggle and drama that must have incurred whenever Secretariat left the starting gate.

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