Secondhand Lions is a family film about a introverted young man who goes to live with his eccentric bachelor uncles.
Plot
In the 1960s, 14-year old Walter Coleman (Haley Joel Osment) goes to live with his bachelor uncles, who are rumored to have a secret fortune. When they first arrive, Hub and Garth McCann (Robert Duvall, Michael Caine) are knee-deep in their pond, shooting at bass with shotguns. Walter's cousins, also strong believers in the fortune, arrive a day after his mother leaves to ingratiate themselves into the good graces of Hub and Garth. They scare Walter away, and he runs to telephone the court reporting school where his mother had claimed to have gone. He discovers that she is not actually enrolled at the school, but has lied — again. With no recourse but to return to his uncles' farm, Walter eventually becomes used to their quirky, socially atypical mannerisms and they become used to him and his shyness.
While encouraging them to eat vegetables and stop shooting at visiting salesmen, he becomes aware of his uncles' mysterious past. Garth reveals to him that he and Hub were adventurers beginning in World War I. Hub and Garth arrived in France the day that Germany invaded the country. Garth believed they should return home, but Hub proposed that they tour Europe just ahead of the invading armies. On their last night in France, after enjoying the local nightlife in Marseilles with two French soldiers, they find themselves shanghaied on a ship, conscripted into the French Foreign Legion. The two brothers fought in many battles, and Hub saved Garth's life several times, in many different battles. Following their army service, Garth became a guide in Africa, while Hub helped anybody who deserved it. Hub meets and falls in love with Jasmine (Emmanuelle Vaugier), a beautiful princess. She, however, was promised to be a powerful sheik's wife. Hub rescues Jasmine from the sheik, who then puts a bounty of ten thousand gold pieces on Hub's head. Garth, disguised as a bounty hunter, turns Hub in for the reward, whereupon Hub duels the sheik and wins. Having earned the sheik's respect, the assassination attempts stop. Later, the sheik makes his fortune in the petroleum trade.
Meanwhile, Hub, Garth, and Walter have adventures of their own. They order an aging lioness from a circus animal dealer. Walter adopts and names the lioness Jasmine, thereby keeping Hub from killing her. Hub and Garth frighten off Walter's cousins and purchase a clay pigeon thrower, a succession of ever-larger boats, and a biplane. Hub gets into a fight with several greasers within an hour after having a heart attack, wins the fight, drives them back to the farm, then feeds them (after hunting for the lioness, which escaped), and gives them a lecture on what it means to be a real man. Walter subsequently finds that his uncles have been hiding their money in a room beneath their barn.
Fresh from Las Vegas (where she had been instead of at the school), Walter's mother and her current suitor named Stan (Nicky Katt), arrive at the farm and demand to know where the money is. Stan tells Walter that Hub and Garth actually were bank robbers, that Jasmine was their accomplice, and the fortune is for the taking. Walter decides he will believe in the tales of his uncles, and Stan begins to beat Walter. Jasmine (the lioness) attacks Stan and seriously wounds him, but the lioness dies of a heart attack in the process. The next day, Walter is taken away by his mother, but after she informs him that she has no intention of leaving Stan, he jumps out of the car. In an emotional argument, Walter asks her to "do something for me for once" and she lets him return to his uncles' house. He gives them an ultimatum that they need to be around through his high-school years (or better yet college) and be there to give him that 'how to be a man' speech.
In the film's epilogue, which takes place several years later, Walter (Josh Lucas), now a successful cartoonist whose comic strip ("Walt and Jasmine") is based on his experiences with his uncles, returns to the farm after learning that his uncles have flown their biplane into their barn and died. The sheriff hands their will to Walter and as he reads it ("The kid gets it all. Just plant us in the damn garden with the stupid lion.") and laughs to himself about his uncles' unique approach to life. A helicopter touches down and a Middle Eastern man steps out. He explains that, while in Texas tending to his oil interests, he heard of the men's deaths on the news and thought they might be the two courageous Americans that his grandfather (the sheik) had told him about long ago. Walter says that, yes, they were, and the two are happy to realize that the stories which had inspired them for so long were true—that the two men "really lived".
Cast
Production
The film had a different ending originally, but it was not well received by the test audience and a new ending was shot.[2] In the original ending to the movie, instead of the sheik's grandson, a tractor-trailer pulls up at the gravesite and a detachment from the French Foreign Legion rides out on horseback and act as an Honor Guard. Shortly thereafter, the sheik himself, now wheelchair-bound and elderly, arrives in a limousine surrounded by his harem to pay his respects. The four greasers that Hub beat up also make an appearance at the funeral, showing that Hub's speech did have an impact, as the men are now mature and respectable.[3]
The comic strip drawn in the film by the adult Walter were drawn by Berkeley Breathed, creator of Bloom County.[2]
Music
The film score was composed by Patrick Doyle and features music by The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ona Onabule, in addition to Patrick Doyle. The film also features "A Lot of Livin' To Do" (performed by Sammy Davis Jr.), "Let Me In" (performed by The Sensations), "Big Balls in Cowtown" (performed by Don Walser), "Rolling Stone From Texas" (performed by Don Walser), "Texas Playboy Rag" (performed by Pine Valley Cosmonauts), "Red Skin Gal" (performed by Don Walser) and "Help Me" (performed by Sonny Boy Williamson). middle eastern music & country music
Reception
Reviews for the film were mixed. Based on 129 reviews collected by the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 60% of critics gave Secondhand Lions a positive review.[4] Film critic James Berardinelli said "Despite flaws that are (for the most part) easily overlooked, this film has enough charm and whimsy to capture the attention and imagination of children and parents alike."[5] Stephen Holden of The New York Times said the film "may be pure hokum, but at least it knows how to spin a yarn."[6]
The Hollywood Reporter's Sheri Linden said "McCanlies has more of an inclination toward schmaltz, but the deft restraint of topliners Michael Caine and Robert Duvall tempers the narrative with a wry, poignant reserve."[7] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times praised the performances of Caine, Duvall and Osment but said "Almost all the film's peripheral characters, from Walter's mother and her boyfriend to a family of grasping relatives, are clichéd in an overly broad, unfunny way that is unpleasant in itself and a marked contrast to the more nuanced performances of the trio of leads."[8] The Boston Globe's Wesley Morris criticized the film's portrayal of Arab people and women, describing it as "uncomfortably retrograde" and "troubling".[9]
The film grossed $42,070,939 in the United States and $5,831,627 for the rest of the world, adding up to a total worldwide gross of $47,902,566.[1]
References
- ^ a b "Secondhand Lions (2003)". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=secondhandlions.htm. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
- ^ a b Epstein, Daniel Robert (2004). "Tim McCanlies Interview". UGO Networks. Archived from the original on August 19, 2009. http://www.webcitation.org/5j8Q0Z4yL. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
- ^ Secondhand Lions. [Motion picture (Deleted scene)]. New Line Cinema. 2003. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt327137/. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
- ^ "Secondhand Lions (2003)". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/secondhand_lions/. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
- ^ Berardinelli, James (September 16, 2003). "Review: Secondhand Lions". Reelviews.net. Archived from the original on August 19, 2009. http://www.webcitation.org/5j8OS6mpZ. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
- ^ Holden, Stephen (September 19, 2003). "Secondhand Lions (2003)". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9907E6DB123AF93AA2575AC0A9659C8B63. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
- ^ Linden, Sheri (September 12, 2003). "Secondhand Lions Review". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1978598. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
- ^ Turan, Kenneth (September 19, 2003). "'Secondhand Lions' Movie Review". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 19, 2009. http://www.webcitation.org/5j8PDNm8I. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
- ^ Morris, Wesley (September 19, 2003). "Distressing images keep 'Lions' from roaring". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on August 19, 2009. http://www.webcitation.org/5j8PJfsnA. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
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