Secretariat

“Please and thank you go a long way with a horse.”

- Actress Diane Lane, who plays Penny Chenery in the new film, “Secretariat”

The other day I wrote about a football movie. Today I’m writing about a horse movie.

This Friday, Disney releases “Secretariat,” a film about one of the greatest horses in the history of racing. Diane Lane plays Secretariat’s owner, Penny Chenery and John Malkovich plays trainer Lucien Laurin. Many of the scenes were filmed in Kentucky.

If you’ve read my blog long enough, or even for a brief time, you know my love of horse racing and Kentucky. So, as you can imagine, Secretariat is near and dear to my heart, as well as the hearts of many Kentuckians.

“Big Red,” as he was also known, won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont, thus capturing the elusive Triple Crown. He won the Belmont by 31 lengths on June 9, 1973. I was born on June 10, 1973.

Last Sunday, Diane Lane attended the premiere of the movie at the Kentucky Theatre in downtown Lexington. She has endeared herself to Kentuckians through her kind and gracious attitude; never the diva. In addition to flying in from Los Angeles for the premiere, she served as the Grand Marshall for the Kentucky Derby Festival Parade this year and attended the Derby (in a lovely hat, I might add).

Now, before you think that all I watch is schmaltzy, light-weight films, know that I do enjoy independents, art house films, character studies and psychological thrillers as well. But every once in a while, you need to watch a movie that brings back your faith in human kind; that makes you cheer for the underdog (although in the case of Secretariat, he wasn’t the underdog, he was a champion; Chenery was the one who had to fight against the giants, holding her own in the Good ol’ Boy club. So we cheer for her as much as the horse in this picture).

This weekend, consider watching a light-hearted, feel-good Disney film. Put a smile on your face and forget about the world for a couple of hours (or 116 minutes to be exact).

Seen any good movies lately? If so, what would you recommend?
Images courtesy of chamiongallery.com and Disney