The TCM Remembers video on Robert Duvall includes audio clips from Secondhand Lions (Tim McCanlies, 2003) and stirred my curiosity about the scene where Duvall tells Haley Joel Osment:
“Sometimes the things that may or may not be truths are the things that man needs to believe in the most. People are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything, ..that good always triumphs over evil. I want you to remember this, true love never dies.”
The full quotes:
“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 money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil.”
“True love never dies. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. A man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.”
Just over twenty years after its release, I watched this film on DVD and was surprised by how much I liked it (even though it’s ludicrously structured and neither the final cut ending nor the alternate ending from the special features sit well). Michael Caine and Robert Duvall are so good as Haley Joel Osment’s great-uncles. Kyra Sedwick is convincingly ill-suited to be the youngster’s mother. Lots of parents get criticized for not knowing what to do with their child once they start getting older and can no longer be carried around like a satchel and develop a mind of their own. Sedgwick drops off Osment to spend the summer with his great-uncles (and to find out whether or not there really is a cache of money on their property), which becomes the best thing she could have done as a mother.
Caine and Duvall don’t know what to do with a young boy and do their best by telling him stories of their past (once prompted by Osment’s discovery of a picture of a woman with dark hair). Whether or not writer-director McCanlies purposefully tried to capture the spirit of The Princess Bride‘s (Rob Reiner, 1987) narrative structure and whimsy, it doesn’t hit the mark. Strictly as a viewing experience (and not assessing the function of intercutting present-day with visualization of the past), I had zero interest in watching the past. Every time the film went there, I was tempted to fast-forward to get back to Caine or Duvall relating the tales.
Nevertheless, what Secondhand Lions does well is to suggest that the duty parents, other relatives, and trusted adults have in the upbringing of kids (to teach them basic life skills and a sense of decency) can be less daunting when the supervision and living are framed as “what shall we do today?” rather than “and now you must eat your veggies or stay out of the way or be nice to your sibling.” I would not be surprised at all if some parents already “rebrand” questionable or disheartening behaviors or realities of life as “we’re going on an adventure.”
Sitting Pugs: Sports Movies 