Secondhand Lions
Encyclopedia
Secondhand Lions is a 2003 American
dramedy film written and directed by Tim McCanlies
. It tells the story of an introverted young boy (Haley Joel Osment
) who is sent to live with his eccentric uncles (Robert Duvall
and Michael Caine
) on a farm in the U.S. state of Texas
.
) is taken by his fortune-hunting mother, Mae (Kyra Sedgwick
), to live with his bachelor great-uncles, who are rumored to have a secret fortune. When they first arrive, they are greeted by the uncles' pets, a dog pack
, (a French Bulldog
, a Bloodhound
, a Dachshund
, a Portuguese Podengo
and a mutt
) and the pig, Hub and Garth McCann (Robert Duvall
, Michael Caine
respectively) are knee-deep in their pond, shooting at bass
with shotgun
s. Upon Walter's arrival, neither they nor Walter are initially pleased to see the other.
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 do not take kindly to Walter's company and soon scare him away at the proposal of putting him into foster care
, and he runs away 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 yet again. As Hub and Garth find him, and hoping to drive away their pesky cousins, the Uncles offer Walter to come live with them again, trying to warm up to him. With no recourse, Walter returns with them.
Soon Hub, Garth, and Walter have adventures of their own. Hub and Garth frighten off Walter's cousins and purchase a clay pigeon thrower
, a succession of ever-larger boats, and a biplane
with their wealth. They order an aging lion
ess from a circus animal dealer. Walter adopts and names the lioness Jasmine (a name with deep significance to Hub, as Garth reveals to his great-nephew), thereby keeping Hub from killing her. Hub gets into a fight with several greasers, wins the fight, drives them back to the farm, then feeds them and gives them a lecture on what it means to be a real man. While encouraging them to eat vegetables and stop shooting at visiting salesmen, Walter eventually becomes used to their quirky, socially atypical mannerisms and they become used to him and his shyness.
Throughout the film after Walter discovers that Hub sleepwalks, Garth tells Walter the stories about their mysterious past: Garth reveals to him that he and Hub were adventurers beginning in World War I
. Hub and Garth arrive in France
the day Germany
invaded the country. Garth believes they should return home, but Hub proposes that they tour Europe just ahead of the invading armies. On their last night in France, they find themselves shanghaied
on a ship and are conscripted into the French Foreign Legion
. The two brothers fight in many battles and following their army service, Garth becomes a guide in Africa
, while Hub travels the world and helps anybody in need of it. During these travels, Hub meets and falls in love with Jasmine (Emmanuelle Vaugier
), a beautiful young princess. She, however, has been promised to be the wife of a young and powerful Sheik
. After Hub rescues Jasmine from the Sheik, a bounty of ten thousand gold
pieces is put on Hub's head, causing the two to have a rough living condition, always on the run from assassins who want the prize. When Garth, disguised as a bounty hunter
turns Hub in for the reward as a set-up, Hub duel
s the Sheik and wins but spares the Sheik's life. As this earns the Sheik's respect, the assassination attempts end, and eventually, the Sheik makes a fortune in a petroleum
trade. Ultimately, Garth leaves Walter to hear the rest of the story from Hub, as he himself is fed up with constantly telling the stories and secretly, hopes for Walter and Hub to connect to each other.
While Hub is looking out over the pond at night while sleepwalking, Walter awakens him and asks him about what happened to Jasmine. Hub tells Walter that Jasmine and her child (who would've been Mae's cousin, hence Walter's cousin-once-removed) died in childbirth. After their deaths, Hub went back into the service, the only other life he knew. During their moonlight talk, Walter tells Hub that he and Garth need him, and that Hub has to stick around long enough to give him his "What Every Boy Needs To Know About Being a Man" speech. He says that Hub needs to take care of himself because, even though he misses Jasmine, Walter and Garth would miss him just as much if he were to die. Ultimately, a reluctant Hub tells Walter that he'll live long enough to be his "damn uncle", but asks Walter not to expect him to be happy about it. From then on, Walter and his uncles live a happier life than previously before. Subsequently, Walter finds his uncles' wealth in a room beneath their barn.
Eventually, Walter's mother and her current suitor, an "Investigator" named Stan (Nicky Katt
), arrive at the farm and demand to know where the money is. Stan tries to make Walter believe that Hub and Garth were actually bank robbers
, that Jasmine was their accomplice, and the fortune is theirs for the taking. Walter does not believe him and decides he will believe in the tales of his uncles, and thus an incensed, greed-driven Stan repeatedly hits Walter. Jasmine (the lioness) attacks Stan and seriously wounds him, but the lioness dies when her heart gives out from old age. At the same time, Hub and Garth run outside, having heard Jasmine's roars and find them. Hub taunts Stan by telling him that he's lucky Jasmine attacked him and before they could. 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 live with his uncles.
In the film's epilogue, which takes place several years later, Walter (Josh Lucas
), is now a successful cartoonist
whose comic strip ("Walt and Jasmine") is based on his experiences with his uncles. He receives a phone call one day and learns that his uncles have died. Walt returns to the farm to see that they died when they attempted to fly their biplane upside down into their barn 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"), laughs to himself about his uncles' unique approach to life and on his happy reminisces of his time spent with them. A helicopter
touches down and a North Africa
n man (Eric Balfour
) steps out with his little son accompanying him. He explains that, while in Texas
tending to his oil interests, they heard of the men's deaths on the news and thought those two might be the two courageous Americans whose tales his grandfather, (the Sheik), would tell him about when he was a little boy. When Walt affirms it and tells the shiek's grandson that the pair raised him, the three are happy to realize that the stories which had inspired them for so long were true — that the two men "really lived."
and a new ending was shot. In the original ending to the film, 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, elderly and using a wheelchair, 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.
The comic strips drawn by the adult Walter in the film were drawn by Berkeley Breathed
, creator of Bloom County
.
was composed by Patrick Doyle
and features music by The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ola 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
).
, 59% of critics gave Secondhand Lions a positive review. 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." Stephen Holden
of The New York Times
said the film "may be pure hokum, but at least it knows how to spin a yarn."
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." 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." The Boston Globe
s Wesley Morris
criticized the film's portrayal of Arab
people and women, describing it as "uncomfortably retrograde" and "troubling".
The film grossed $42,070,939 in North America and $5,831,627 for the rest of the world, adding up to a total worldwide gross of $47,902,566.
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
dramedy film written and directed by Tim McCanlies
Tim McCanlies
Tim McCanlies is a film director and screenwriter. He has attracted attention for his work writing and directing Secondhand Lions, and wrote the screenplays for The Iron Giant and Dennis the Menace Strikes Again....
. It tells the story of an introverted young boy (Haley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment is an American actor. After a series of roles in television and film during the 1990s, including a small part in Forrest Gump playing Tom Hanks' title character’s son, Osment rose to fame with his performance as Cole Sear in M...
) who is sent to live with his eccentric uncles (Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
and Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
) on a farm in the U.S. state of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
.
Plot
In the summer of 1962, 12-year old Walter Caldwell (Haley Joel OsmentHaley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment is an American actor. After a series of roles in television and film during the 1990s, including a small part in Forrest Gump playing Tom Hanks' title character’s son, Osment rose to fame with his performance as Cole Sear in M...
) is taken by his fortune-hunting mother, Mae (Kyra Sedgwick
Kyra Sedgwick
Kyra Minturn Sedgwick is an American actress.Sedgwick is best known for her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the TNT crime drama The Closer. Sedgwick's role in the series won her a Golden Globe Award in 2007 and an Emmy Award in 2010...
), to live with his bachelor great-uncles, who are rumored to have a secret fortune. When they first arrive, they are greeted by the uncles' pets, a dog pack
Pack (canine)
Pack is a social group of conspecific canids. Not all species of canids - notably the red fox - form packs. Pack size and social behaviour within packs varies across species.-Species which exhibit pack behavior:...
, (a French Bulldog
French Bulldog
The French bulldog is a small breed of domestic dog, related to the English bulldog and American bulldog.-History:The origin of the modern French Bulldog breed descends directly from the dogs of the Molossians, an ancient Greek tribe. The dogs were spread throughout the ancient world by Phoenician...
, a Bloodhound
Bloodhound
The Bloodhound is a large breed of dog which, while originally bred to hunt deer and wild boar, was later bred specifically to track human beings. It is a scenthound, tracking by smell, as opposed to a sighthound, which tracks using vision. It is famed for its ability to discern human odors even...
, a Dachshund
Dachshund
The dachshund is a short-legged, long-bodied dog breed belonging to the hound family. The standard size dachshund was bred to scent, chase, and flush out badgers and other burrow-dwelling animals, while the miniature dachshund was developed to hunt smaller prey such as rabbits...
, a Portuguese Podengo
Portuguese Podengo
The Portuguese Podengo is an ancient multi-sensory hound breed of dog from Portugal. The Podengo comes in three sizes that are not interbred - small , medium and large , each size with two hair coats and its own unique temperament.All three sizes love to hunt, its tradition in their native...
and a mutt
Mixed-breed dog
A mixed-breed dog, also known as a mutt or mongrel, is a dog whose ancestry is generally unknown and that has characteristics of two or more types of breeds. A mixed-breed may be a cross-breed dog, a random-bred dog, or a descendant of feral or pariah dog populations...
) and the pig, Hub and Garth McCann (Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
, Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
respectively) are knee-deep in their pond, shooting at bass
Bass (fish)
Bass is a name shared by many different species of popular gamefish. The term encompasses both freshwater and marine species. All belong to the large order Perciformes, or perch-like fishes, and in fact the word bass comes from Middle English bars, meaning "perch."-Types of basses:*The temperate...
with shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
s. Upon Walter's arrival, neither they nor Walter are initially pleased to see the other.
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 do not take kindly to Walter's company and soon scare him away at the proposal of putting him into foster care
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....
, and he runs away to telephone the court reporting
Court reporter
A court reporter, stenotype reporter, voice writing reporter, or transcriber is a person whose occupation is to transcribe spoken or recorded speech into written form, using machine shorthand or voice writing equipment to produce official transcripts of court hearings, depositions and other...
school where his mother had claimed to have gone. He discovers that she is not actually enrolled at the school, but has lied yet again. As Hub and Garth find him, and hoping to drive away their pesky cousins, the Uncles offer Walter to come live with them again, trying to warm up to him. With no recourse, Walter returns with them.
Soon Hub, Garth, and Walter have adventures of their own. Hub and Garth frighten off Walter's cousins and purchase a clay pigeon thrower
Clay pigeon shooting
Clay pigeon shooting, also known as clay target shooting, and formally known as Inanimate Bird Shooting, is the art of shooting at special flying targets, known as clay pigeons or clay targets, with a shotgun or any type of firearm....
, a succession of ever-larger boats, and a biplane
Biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...
with their wealth. They order an aging lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
ess from a circus animal dealer. Walter adopts and names the lioness Jasmine (a name with deep significance to Hub, as Garth reveals to his great-nephew), thereby keeping Hub from killing her. Hub gets into a fight with several greasers, wins the fight, drives them back to the farm, then feeds them and gives them a lecture on what it means to be a real man. While encouraging them to eat vegetables and stop shooting at visiting salesmen, Walter eventually becomes used to their quirky, socially atypical mannerisms and they become used to him and his shyness.
Throughout the film after Walter discovers that Hub sleepwalks, Garth tells Walter the stories about their mysterious past: Garth reveals to him that he and Hub were adventurers beginning in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Hub and Garth arrive in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
the day Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
invaded the country. Garth believes they should return home, but Hub proposes that they tour Europe just ahead of the invading armies. On their last night in France, they find themselves shanghaied
Shanghaiing
Shanghaiing refers to the practice of conscripting men as sailors by coercive techniques such as trickery, intimidation, or violence. Those engaged in this form of kidnapping were known as crimps. Until 1915, unfree labor was widely used aboard American merchant ships...
on a ship and are conscripted into the French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
. The two brothers fight in many battles and following their army service, Garth becomes a guide in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, while Hub travels the world and helps anybody in need of it. During these travels, Hub meets and falls in love with Jasmine (Emmanuelle Vaugier
Emmanuelle Vaugier
Emmanuelle Vaugier is a Canadian film actress, singer, songwriter and television actress who has had recurring roles as Detective Jessica Angell on CSI: NY, Mia on Two and a Half Men, Dr. Helen Bryce on Smallville, and FBI Special Agent Emma Barnes on Human Target...
), a beautiful young princess. She, however, has been promised to be the wife of a young and powerful Sheik
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
. After Hub rescues Jasmine from the Sheik, a bounty of ten thousand gold
Gold coin
A gold coin is a coin made mostly or entirely of gold. Gold has been used for coins practically since the invention of coinage, originally because of gold's intrinsic value...
pieces is put on Hub's head, causing the two to have a rough living condition, always on the run from assassins who want the prize. When Garth, disguised as a bounty hunter
Bounty hunter
A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...
turns Hub in for the reward as a set-up, Hub duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
s the Sheik and wins but spares the Sheik's life. As this earns the Sheik's respect, the assassination attempts end, and eventually, the Sheik makes a fortune in a petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
trade. Ultimately, Garth leaves Walter to hear the rest of the story from Hub, as he himself is fed up with constantly telling the stories and secretly, hopes for Walter and Hub to connect to each other.
While Hub is looking out over the pond at night while sleepwalking, Walter awakens him and asks him about what happened to Jasmine. Hub tells Walter that Jasmine and her child (who would've been Mae's cousin, hence Walter's cousin-once-removed) died in childbirth. After their deaths, Hub went back into the service, the only other life he knew. During their moonlight talk, Walter tells Hub that he and Garth need him, and that Hub has to stick around long enough to give him his "What Every Boy Needs To Know About Being a Man" speech. He says that Hub needs to take care of himself because, even though he misses Jasmine, Walter and Garth would miss him just as much if he were to die. Ultimately, a reluctant Hub tells Walter that he'll live long enough to be his "damn uncle", but asks Walter not to expect him to be happy about it. From then on, Walter and his uncles live a happier life than previously before. Subsequently, Walter finds his uncles' wealth in a room beneath their barn.
Eventually, Walter's mother and her current suitor, an "Investigator" named Stan (Nicky Katt
Nicky Katt
Nicholas Lea "Nicky" Katt is an American actor known for his role as unorthodox teacher Harry Senate on David E. Kelley's Fox drama Boston Public.-Career:...
), arrive at the farm and demand to know where the money is. Stan tries to make Walter believe that Hub and Garth were actually bank robbers
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
, that Jasmine was their accomplice, and the fortune is theirs for the taking. Walter does not believe him and decides he will believe in the tales of his uncles, and thus an incensed, greed-driven Stan repeatedly hits Walter. Jasmine (the lioness) attacks Stan and seriously wounds him, but the lioness dies when her heart gives out from old age. At the same time, Hub and Garth run outside, having heard Jasmine's roars and find them. Hub taunts Stan by telling him that he's lucky Jasmine attacked him and before they could. 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 live with his uncles.
In the film's epilogue, which takes place several years later, Walter (Josh Lucas
Josh Lucas
Josh Lucas is an American actor. He has appeared in many films, including Glory Road, A Beautiful Mind, and Poseidon.-Early life:...
), is now a successful cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
whose comic strip ("Walt and Jasmine") is based on his experiences with his uncles. He receives a phone call one day and learns that his uncles have died. Walt returns to the farm to see that they died when they attempted to fly their biplane upside down into their barn The sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
hands their will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
to Walter and as he reads it ("The kid gets it all. Just plant us in the damn garden with the stupid lion"), laughs to himself about his uncles' unique approach to life and on his happy reminisces of his time spent with them. A helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
touches down and a North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
n man (Eric Balfour
Eric Balfour
Eric Salter Balfour is an American singer and actor of film and television. He is the lead singer of Born As Ghosts, formerly known as Fredalba...
) steps out with his little son accompanying him. He explains that, while in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
tending to his oil interests, they heard of the men's deaths on the news and thought those two might be the two courageous Americans whose tales his grandfather, (the Sheik), would tell him about when he was a little boy. When Walt affirms it and tells the shiek's grandson that the pair raised him, the three are happy to realize that the stories which had inspired them for so long were true — that the two men "really lived."
Cast
- Haley Joel OsmentHaley Joel OsmentHaley Joel Osment is an American actor. After a series of roles in television and film during the 1990s, including a small part in Forrest Gump playing Tom Hanks' title character’s son, Osment rose to fame with his performance as Cole Sear in M...
as Walter Coleman - Robert DuvallRobert DuvallRobert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
as Hub McCann - Michael CaineMichael CaineSir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
as Garth McCann - Kyra SedgwickKyra SedgwickKyra Minturn Sedgwick is an American actress.Sedgwick is best known for her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the TNT crime drama The Closer. Sedgwick's role in the series won her a Golden Globe Award in 2007 and an Emmy Award in 2010...
as Mae Coleman - Nicky KattNicky KattNicholas Lea "Nicky" Katt is an American actor known for his role as unorthodox teacher Harry Senate on David E. Kelley's Fox drama Boston Public.-Career:...
as Stan - Josh LucasJosh LucasJosh Lucas is an American actor. He has appeared in many films, including Glory Road, A Beautiful Mind, and Poseidon.-Early life:...
as Adult Walter Coleman - Michael O'NeillMichael O'Neill (actor)Michael O'Neill is an American actor.With a career stretching through three decades, he usually portrays senior law enforcement or military officers. He is perhaps best known for his role as Special Agent Ron Butterfield, the head of President Josiah Bartlet's Secret Service detail, on The West Wing...
as Ralph - Deirdre O'ConnellDeirdre O'Connell (actress)Deirdre O'Connell is an American character actress who has worked extensively on stage, screen, and television.O'Connell began her career at Stage One, an experimental theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts...
as Helen - Christian KaneChristian KaneChristian Kane is an American actor and singer/songwriter of Native American descent. He currently stars as Eliot Spencer on the TNT series Leverage. He is best known for his roles in the television shows Angel and Into the West, and the movies Just Married and Secondhand Lions.He is the lead...
as Young Hub - Kevin Haberer as Young Garth
- Eric BalfourEric BalfourEric Salter Balfour is an American singer and actor of film and television. He is the lead singer of Born As Ghosts, formerly known as Fredalba...
as Sheik's grandson - Emmanuelle VaugierEmmanuelle VaugierEmmanuelle Vaugier is a Canadian film actress, singer, songwriter and television actress who has had recurring roles as Detective Jessica Angell on CSI: NY, Mia on Two and a Half Men, Dr. Helen Bryce on Smallville, and FBI Special Agent Emma Barnes on Human Target...
as Jasmine - Adam Ozturk as The Sheik
- Mitchel MussoMitchel MussoMitchel Tate Musso is an American actor, singer-songwriter and musician. Musso is best known for his three Disney Channel roles as Oliver Oken in the Disney Channel sitcom, Hannah Montana, Jeremy Johnson in the Disney Channel animated series Phineas and Ferb and his role as King Brady in the...
as Boy - Marc MussoMarc MussoMarc Thomas Musso is an American actor. He is the younger brother of Disney actor and singer Mitchell Musso and the lead singer of Metro Station Mason Musso.-Life and career:...
as Boy - Jennifer StoneJennifer StoneJennifer Lindsay Stone is an American actress best known for playing Harper Finkle on the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place and Harriet Welsh in the Disney Channel film Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars.-Life:...
as Martha
Production
The film had a different ending originally, but it was not well received by the test audienceTest screening
A test screening is a preview screening of a movie or television show before its general release in order to gauge audience reaction. Preview audiences are selected from a cross-section of the population, and are usually asked to complete a questionnaire or provide feedback in some form. Harold...
and a new ending was shot. In the original ending to the film, instead of the sheik's grandson, a tractor-trailer pulls up at the gravesite and a detachment from the French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
rides out on horseback and act as an Honor Guard
Honor guard
An honor guard, or ceremonial guard, is a ceremonial unit, usually military in nature and composed of volunteers who are carefully screened for their physical ability and dexterity...
. Shortly thereafter, the sheik himself, elderly and using a wheelchair, arrives in a limousine surrounded by his harem
Harem
Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...
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.
The comic strips drawn by the adult Walter in the film were drawn by Berkeley Breathed
Berkeley Breathed
Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed is an American cartoonist, children's book author/illustrator, director and screenwriter, best known for Bloom County, a 1980s cartoon-comic strip that dealt with sociopolitical issues as understood by fanciful characters and through humorous analogies...
, creator of Bloom County
Bloom County
Bloom County is an American comic strip by Berkeley Breathed which ran from December 8, 1980, until August 6, 1989. It examined events in politics and culture through the viewpoint of a fanciful small town in Middle America, where children often have adult personalities and vocabularies and where...
.
Music
The film scoreFilm score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
was composed by Patrick Doyle
Patrick Doyle
Patrick Doyle is a Scottish musician and film score composer. A longtime collaborator of actor/director Kenneth Branagh, Doyle is known for his work scoring such critically acclaimed films as Henry V , Sense and Sensibility , Hamlet , and Gosford Park , as well as noteworthy blockbusters as Harry...
and features music by The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ola Onabule
Ola Onabule
Ola Onabule, a British-Nigerian, soul, jazz, singer-songwriter, musician and producer; born Islington, London 30th March.Ola Onabule has had a career that spans almost two decades defined by his decision to release his music independently on his own label Rugged Ram Records. After a brief...
, in addition to Patrick Doyle
Patrick Doyle
Patrick Doyle is a Scottish musician and film score composer. A longtime collaborator of actor/director Kenneth Branagh, Doyle is known for his work scoring such critically acclaimed films as Henry V , Sense and Sensibility , Hamlet , and Gosford Park , as well as noteworthy blockbusters as Harry...
. The film also features "A Lot of Livin' To Do" (performed by Sammy Davis Jr.), "Let Me In" (performed by The Sensations
The Sensations
The Sensations were an American doo wop group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The group formed in 1954 under the name the Cavaliers, soon after changing to the Sensations. The group scored two hits on the US R&B chart in 1956 with the Atco Records singles "Yes Sir That's My Baby" and "Please Mr....
), "Big Balls in Cowtown" (performed by Don Walser
Don Walser
Donald Ray Walser was an American country music singer. He was known as a unique, award-winning yodeling "Texas country music legend."- Music career :...
), "Rolling Stone From Texas" (performed by Don Walser
Don Walser
Donald Ray Walser was an American country music singer. He was known as a unique, award-winning yodeling "Texas country music legend."- Music career :...
), "Texas Playboy Rag" (performed by Pine Valley Cosmonauts), "Red Skin Gal" (performed by Don Walser
Don Walser
Donald Ray Walser was an American country music singer. He was known as a unique, award-winning yodeling "Texas country music legend."- Music career :...
) and "Help Me
Help Me (song)
"Help Me" is a blues standard first recorded by Sonny Boy Williamson II in 1963. The song, a mid-tempo twelve-bar blues, is credited to Williamson, Willie Dixon, and Ralph Bass and is based on the 1962 instrumental hit "Green Onions" by Booker T. and the MGs. "Help Me" became a hit in 1963 and...
" (performed by Sonny Boy Williamson
Sonny Boy Williamson II
Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
).
Reception
Reviews for the film were mixed. Based on 129 reviews collected by the film review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, 59% of critics gave Secondhand Lions a positive review. Film critic James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
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." Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said the film "may be pure hokum, but at least it knows how to spin a yarn."
The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
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." Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.-Background:...
of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
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." The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
s Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris is a film critic at The Boston Globe where he reviews films alongside Ty Burr. Morris and Burr also make regular appearances on NECN to discuss the latest films and do the weekly Take Two film review video series on Boston.com...
criticized the film's portrayal of Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
people and women, describing it as "uncomfortably retrograde" and "troubling".
The film grossed $42,070,939 in North America and $5,831,627 for the rest of the world, adding up to a total worldwide gross of $47,902,566.
External links
- Secondhand Lions at Allmovie