Cover from IMDb I haven’t reviewed an American movie lately. Last night I watched “Secondhand Lions,” a fun movie. I’m not sure how I missed this when it came out. I enjoyed the even though it is part fairy tale, part soap opera. Regardless, how can you go wrong with Michael Caine and Robert Duvall?
The story is about Garth and Hub, two eccentric wealthy bachelor brothers, who spend their days drinking ice tea in front porch of their rundown home, shooting shotguns over the head of traveling salesmen who happen by. Everyone is hoping to help themselves to some of their money. The uncle’s lives are shook up when Mae drops off Walter. She tells Garth and Hub she needs someone to watch her son for the summer so she can go back to school, but has prepared Walter to find out where the money is hid. Slowly Garth and Hub take to the boy, especially when they find him an unusual ally in keeping away other relatives trying to get into the fortune they supposedly have. Piece by piece, Walter learns about his uncle’s grand adventures in Africa at the beginning of the First World War and on into the Second. He’s enchanted by Jasmine, Hub’s exotic wife from the Sahara, who he later learns had died in childbirth, a woman that Hub hasn’t forgotten. The stories of Hub’s bravery, mostly told by Garth, are mythic in nature. Are they true? When he asks Hub, he doesn’t get a direct answer. Instead, he receives part of his uncle’s “growing up” speech.
Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.Yeah, I want to believe in those things. I recommend the movie.
What a great line about what is important, and how to live an honorable life!
ReplyDeleteI love this movie, ... and your review makes me want to watch it again.
ReplyDeleteSo you should always believe in true love even if it's not true? That doesn't make any sense but it's refreshing to see you watch a movie whose first language is English. Have you ever seen 'The Great Outdoors' with John Candy?
ReplyDeleteHere from Micheles,
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen Secondhand Lions yet but it does sound good! I never seem to have time to watch movies, keeping up with the news & the 2 or 3 tv shows I actually watch seems to be more than enough.
Diane, although there was sadness in the movie, there was also things to feel good about.
ReplyDeleteKevin, Glad to hear that you recommend it too
Murf, if true love is not true then it is not true love.... Instead of believing in a particular incident, I think it means more that true love is possible.
Becky68: Watch it!
This is a really good (feel good) movie, Sage. My cousins showed it to me when we visited them 2 summers ago, and I have seen it twice since then.
ReplyDeleteOH..so he's talking about believing in the possibility of true love whether you are experiencing it or not? Leave it to a guy to make something so fundamentally simple confusing. ;)
ReplyDeleteSage I agree that this is a good movie. The characters were obviously fictional but somehow it seems the SHOULD be real.
ReplyDeleteI missed this one when it came out in the theaters but have seen it since curtesy if Netflix. It was an excellent movie.
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