Secretariat

"The Impossible True Story"

2010 2h 3m EN

👍

7.4

SOLID

★7.4TMDB · 654

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Housewife and mother Penny Chenery agrees to take over her ailing father's Virginia-based Meadow Stables, despite her lack of horse-racing knowledge. Against all odds, Chenery - with the help of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin - manages to navigate the male-dominated business, ultimately fostering the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years.

“The Impossible True Story”

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Cast

Diane Lane
Penny Chenery
John Malkovich
Lucien Laurin
Scott Glenn
Chris Chenery
Dylan Walsh
Jack Tweedy
Fred Thompson
Bull Hancock
Margo Martindale
Miss Ham
Nelsan Ellis
Eddie Sweat
James Cromwell
Ogden Phipps

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Randall Wallace
Writers: Mike Rich
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 16 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Randall Wallace, shot by Dean Semler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Nick Glennie-Smith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor John Wright shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Diane Lane and John Malkovich and Scott Glenn carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The Impossible True Story".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt1028576 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Randall Wallace directs. Dean Semler behind the camera. Nick Glennie-Smith scores. John Wright cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 16 years ago.
2Directed by Randall Wallace, shot by Dean Semler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Nick Glennie-Smith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor John Wright shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Diane Lane and John Malkovich and Scott Glenn carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "The Impossible True Story".
7IMDB entry: tt1028576 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 9 themes, including "horseback riding", "horse race", "1970s", "biography".
9Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Dean Semler
Original score: Nick Glennie-Smith
Editing: John Wright
Production design: Donald Dowd
Costume design: Michael T. Boyd
Makeup / hair: Michael Mills
VFX supervisor: Ray McIntyre Jr.
Sound: Benjamin L. Cook
Stunt coordinator: Rusty Hendrickson
Runtime: 123 min · 2h 3m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $35,000,000
Box office: $60,300,000
Return: 172% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Secretariat (2010)

Also by

Randall Wallace

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Andres Gomez2014-11-24
★ 7/10
Quite decent story telling. Not too big pretensions and nice performance from a well chosen cast. The story is quite stereotypical but it is well done.
r96sk2020-11-10
★ 7/10
I thoroughly enjoyed the performances of Diane Lane and John Malkovich, the film itself may not match those two but it still makes for a pleasant time. This is another sports drama from Disney and another film about horses, of which they have been a fair amount down the decades from the studio. It fails to reach the (very) high levels of 1976's 'The Littlest Horse Thieves' and 1991's 'Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken'. However, with that noted, 'Secretariat' still produces a fine time. Lane and Malkovich are very good together, Lane particularly stands out. Margo Martindale is involved once more, playing a sweet and lovely character as she always does - she's perfect for those roles. Nice to see James Cromwell, also. The cinematography is solid, as is the pacing of events. It does feel a little light of serious story at times, but that's hard to avoid when you're dealing with something as interesting but repetitive as horse racing. In the end, it's a nice story about Secretariat and Penny Chenery.