World Premier

This is Sandi walking down the red carpet at the World Premier of  Disney's "Secretariat" last night at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood.  No one does movie premier's like Disney and there is no place like downtown Hollywood for a movie premier. I am not often invited to these sort of events but I am always dazzled by the spectacle when I do get the chance.

We entered the theatre through an actual racetrack starting gate with the scoreboard depicting Secretariat's win at Belmonte reproduced in full scale.  The premier and the party afterwards can sometimes be better than the movie.  Not in this case.  I thought the movie was great.  Directed by Randall Wallace it is a true life story of the greatest athlete in history, the last Triple Crown winner, Secretariat.  It is also the story of his owner, the woman who smashed the male dominated glass ceiling of horse racing. 

I think Wallace and Disney were a good fit for this story.  Randy with a sense of honor and heart working for the studio that lends its name only to those ideas worthy enough for the Disney name above the title.  

There are some shots of this beautiful Big Red horse that are glamorous enough to even get the attention of a non-horse person like myself.  And even though the outcome of some of Secretariat's races are well known, Randy was able to create the tension of pulling for the horse who always came from behind like you were actually there.  In one case Randall decided to show the actual television footage of one of Secretariat's wins, which is great.  It lends to the legitimacy of the entire story. 

There are great performances by Diane Lane and John Malkovich the owner and trainer of the horse respectively, but for me the stand out was the performance of Nelsan Ellis who plays Eddie Sweat the handler/groomsman of Big Red. His love for this horse lights every second of the film as he becomes the personified consciousness of the Champ. 

I really have no objectivity since I am a Randall Wallace friend and fan, and a premier audience is stacked to be positive, but I liked it and hope is does really well for everyone involved.  I had a great time, so did Sandi and the Boys. A rare family outing to a traditional Hollywood event.

As you were,

Jay