Saturday, January 29, 2011

Secretariat Revisited

I was SO excited this afternoon.  I got my copy of Secretariat in the mail.  I loved this movie when I saw it at the theater, and now I can watch it any time I want.  Of course, I had to pop it in the DVD player and watch it again.  It made me cry, again.  Of course, we already knew what the outcome was.  He was probably the greatest racehorse of all time.  No horse has matched his speed at the Belmont -- ever.  The bonus of having the DVD is watching the interviews of the people who actually watched him win the Belmont.  They said his conformation was perfection, and that his intelligence was only outmatched by his speed and his love of running. He loved attention and actually puffed up his body and posed for the cameras.  What a horse!


At the very beginning of the movie and again as Secretariat finishes the last of the triple crown races at the Belmont, Diane Lane who plays Penny Tweedy, his owner, recites several lines from the Book of Job, Job 39: 19-24.  I didn't hear these words when I saw the movie at the theater because the movie was so emotional.  I don't know how I missed the quote because it is so absolutely beautiful.  I wanted to share it with all of you:


            Do you give the horse his strength
or clothe his neck with a flowing mane?
Do you make him leap like a locust,
striking terror with his proud snorting?
He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength,
and charges into the fray.
He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;
he does not shy away from the sword.
The quiver rattles against his side,
along with the flashing spear and lance.
In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground;
he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.

If you get a chance to see Secretariat, take the time.  You will love it.

Original photo taken by Ken Mist at Kentucky Horse Park

6 comments:

Verde Farm said...

Oh Genny-I have to see it. I still haven’t and just reading this gave me chills. What an animals--truly gifted and touched to be exceptional in this world :)

Farm Girl said...

I saw you blog about Secretariat and I just had to comment. When I saw it in the theater and that verse from Job starts the movie, I started crying and I cried though the whole movie. I can't wait to get my copy. I really loved that movie, I am only sorry that I didn't keep all of the News Paper clippings and all of the stuff I collected when I way 12 years old and it all happened. I even had the racing papers.
It is really such a great movie, thanks for sharing about it. It made me happy someone else loved like I did.

Genny said...

Amy: You will not regret watching it. It gives me a thrill every time I watch it.

Kim: I do LOVE this movie as much as you do. It's very emotional, especially when you see him win those races. I think it's amazing that you had clippings of all of those events. Wow! I wish you still had all of those pieces about Secretariat so you could share them with all of us. Thanks so much for visiting and commenting about this post.

Jayne said...

My parents LOVE the races, and my dad's birthday is coming up... hmmmmm....

Genny said...

Jayne: He will love this movie. I promise.

Unknown said...

He was truly a one of a kind. We saw this in the fall and loved it! Can't wait to watch it again.