![\"diane](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flovalleynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/diane-lane-pg-4-242x300.jpg?resize=242%2C300\" "\\"diane")
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DIANE LANE<\/strong> portrays\u00a0 Penny Chenery Tweedy , the owner who believes in Secretariat in the Disney\u00a0 film.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n By Maggie Scott<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Secretaria<\/em>t, the story of the most magnificent piece of horse flesh to ever tear up a racetrack in the last century, gets the Disney treatment; which nearly turns the dashing stallion into a plodding gelding.\u00a0 Short on the details of what made the colt out of Bold Ruler such a phenomenon and long on the eccentricities and intricacies of its human characters, the film directed by Randall Wallace (We Were Soldiers) is in the studio\u2019s classic family-friendly mold of can-do.<\/p>\n Other than its leading man\u2014or, rather, men; as there were five horses used to portray Secretariat during the filming\u2014there is another key character who gives the horse a run for its money. When it comes to rooting for a winner that’s\u00a0 Penny Chenery Tweedy (Diane Lane), the daughter of the incapacitated owner of a Virginia thoroughbred racehorse farm.\u00a0 One of its two pregnant mares holds the key to the farm\u2019s survival.<\/p>\n Penny has checked the blood lines, and believes the foal by Bold Ruler is going to have championship speed. But, first, she\u2019s got to take control of the farm. Then she must\u00a0 replace the corrupt trainer and, eventually fight to convince her practical husband and skeptical brother (that the big red colt who stood on his hooves at birth faster than any other the groom Eddie Sweat (Nelsan Ellis) had ever seen, has the stuff to take the Triple Crown.<\/p>\n Penny sees in “Big Red” an almost supernatural majesty; a horse that, in the words of the Book of Job, “eats up the ground” when he runs.\u00a0 In less adoring terms, Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich), Penny\u2019s flamboyant new trainer, sees an animal that\u2019s “lazy, sleeps too much, is slow out of the gate and takes forever to find his stride.”\u00a0 Lucien checked the blood lines, too, when he changed his mind about “losing interest in racing” and being around animals he thinks are as dumb as their owners.\u00a0 He tosses his “retirement” golf clubs in the trash, because Penny stands up to his attitude and shows him she can give as good as she got from the condescending, male-dominated racing establishment.<\/p>\n Together with Eddie\u2019s ability to “feel a horse\u2019s thoughts through his hands,” Lucien\u2019s gruff skills mold Secretariat (named by Penny\u2019s beloved assistant, Miss Ham [Margo Martindale]) into a two-year-old ready to leave the other horses in his dust.\u00a0 Only, it doesn\u2019t quite work out that way, when Secretariat gets “mugged” in the fourth race at Aqueduct in July of 1972, and comes in third.<\/p>\n Lucien and Penney take it in stride and watch as Secretariat begins a winning streak that piles up trophies at Meadow Farm and bestows the Horse of the Year award on the equine who prances and preens for every camera that points his way. Before he and Penny can get too cocky, Lucien warns them both that, astonishing as the horse\u2019s accomplishments have been, “next year\u2019s races are longer, with faster horses.”<\/p>\n With the Kentucky Derby in her sights, Penny\u2019s dreams almost pull up lame when her father passes, leaving a crushing debt of six million dollars of inheritance tax owed the IRS.\u00a0 Even for those who remember the superhorse and his spectacular races, there is still a sense of spine-tingling suspense watching Secretariat go from dead last to the winner\u2019s circle.<\/p>\n Peripheral plot points, like Penny missing some of her charming kids\u2019 school events and her husband missing his wife being home to put supper on their Denver home\u2019s dining table, come across like after thoughts.\u00a0 Even with stiff competition from Malkovich\u2019s strident wardrobe and from her equine co-stars\u2019 muscular beauty, the odds are always in Lane\u2019s favor that she\u2019ll take the acting bit in her teeth and ride her role first across the box office finishing line.\u00a0 Rated PG for mild language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" DIANE LANE portrays\u00a0 Penny Chenery Tweedy , the owner who believes in Secretariat in the Disney\u00a0 film. By Maggie Scott Secretariat, the story of the most magnificent piece of horse flesh to ever tear up a racetrack in the last century, gets the Disney treatment; which nearly turns the dashing stallion into a plodding gelding.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n