On this Father’s Day weekend I’m thinking of the movie Secondhand Lions from 2003. The movie lovingly shows the unexpected path of two-Great Uncles raising their great nephew. He comes to visit for the summer in 1962 at their rural Texas farm. You will love watching Michael Caine and Robert Duvall; they are cast as Haley Joel Osments Great-Uncles.
While the two Great-Uncles are unconventional characters they do provide a nurturing and fathering environment. His mother has pawned him off on them for the summer, he does receive one letter from her. The story follows their escapades and a heartwarming story unfolds. This movie I enjoyed so much I bought the DVD, it includes the original ending. Both of the ending scenes are great!
Secondhand Lions
“A coming-of-age story about a shy, young boy sent by his irresponsible mother to spend the summer with his wealthy, eccentric uncles in Texas.”
– IMDB – Secondhand Lions (2003)
Secondhand Lions has many plot lines including scenes of a rustic, beat-up old mailbox, and a steady stream of travelling salesmen who stop by making sales pitches. There are lots of dogs and family livestock on the grounds including the arrival of a lion. There are greasers and a bar fight scene. The tall tales of the Great-Uncles being shanghaied into the French Foreign Legion have you wanting to know along with the nephew if it is true or not. There are mooching relatives checking in who are jealous of the nephew visiting. Woven throughout the movie is a hinted at fabulous fortune buried somewhere which only adds to the allure of the Great-Uncles. And there is an endearing “What Every Boy Needs to Know …” speech, partially shared in the movie.
This is a movie that is fun to re-watch. If you have already seen the movie you will enjoy checking out the Secondhand Lions trivia page at IMDb including “According to the postage stamp on the envelope of the letter Walter gets from Mae, the movie takes place during the summer of 1962.”
In conclusion, if you haven’t seen the movie I hope you will make the time to see it soon. Once you have watched it I know you will smile when its revealed just how they had so many travelling salesmen calling on them all those years!
Anchors Aweigh,
Helen
Secondhand Lions – Attribution &
Thank you to those referenced today
IMDb Secondhand Lions (2003), and excerpt trivia page at IMDb Secondhand Lions (2003)
YouTube Secondhand Lions Official Trailer posted by EJ2012at, published on Sep 23, 2012
