| Secondhand Lions | |
|---|---|
Secondhand Lions film poster |
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| Directed by | Tim McCanlies |
| Produced by | David Kirschner Scott Ross Corey Sienega |
| Written by | Tim McCanlies |
| Starring | Haley Joel Osment Robert Duvall Michael Caine Kyra Sedgwick |
| Music by | Patrick Doyle |
| Cinematography | Jack N. Green |
| Editing by | David Moritz |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | September 18, 2003 |
| Running time | 111 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million[1] |
| Box office | $47,902,566[1] |
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.
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In the summer of 1962, 12-year old Walter Caldwell (Haley Joel Osment) is taken by his fortune-hunting mother, Mae (Kyra Sedgwick), to live with his bachelor great-uncles, who are said to have a secret fortune. When they first arrive, they are greeted by a dog pack, (a French Bulldog, a Bloodhound, a Dachshund, a Portuguese Podengo and a mutt)the pig, and Hub and Garth McCann (Robert Duvall, Michael Caine respectively). Hub and Garth are knee-deep in their pond, shooting at a catfish with their shotguns. Upon Walter's arrival, neither they nor Walter are initially pleased to see each 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 lioness 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 duels 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 African 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."
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 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.[3]
The comic strips drawn by the adult Walter in the film were drawn by Berkeley Breathed, creator of Bloom County.[2]
The film score 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).
Reviews for the film were mixed. Based on 129 reviews collected by the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 59% 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 North America and $5,831,627 for the rest of the world, adding up to a total worldwide gross of $47,902,566.[1]