Secondhand Lions on DVD

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*by KEES BOER*	Next Film

DVD

What’s a guy to do? Fourteen-year-old Walter (Haley Joel Osment) is forced to spend the summer on a ramshackle Texas farm with his cranky uncles Garth (Michael Caine) and Hub (Robert Duvall). But the experience is anything but boring, especially after the grizzled geezers vow to make a man out of their nephew.

Walter’s mother drops the boy off at her uncles’ ranch in the middle of nowhere while she heads off to school. Uncles Garth and Hub are rich beyond belief and part of the reason why Walter is dropped off at the ranch is to discover where his uncles have the money stashed.

Hub and Garth are at first quite indifferent to their nephew. Isolated on the prairie, they have no experience in taking care of a young man, nor do they have much of a desire to do so.

Walter is not particularly pleased with the arrangement either, especially when he finds out his uncles are so backwards that they don't have a telephone or a television. His uncles have tons of money and are a magnet to every salesperson around, eager to make a huge sale. The reclusive uncles are less then eager, running them off with shotguns.

As the summer passes, an appreciation grows between Walter and his uncles. Walter discovers that his uncles have traveled the world, fought together with the French Legion and battled a sheik as well.

Scriptwriter Tim McCanlies admits a great deal of the characters, who appeared in Secondhand Lions emerged from his own past. "As a kid I spent a lot of summers with my grandfather, who was a crusty character much like the uncles in the movie." He continued by saying that while his grandfather was tough, there was always a tender side to his grandfather.

This is a great film about the importance of family and not prejudging people by their circumstances. At first glance I would not have guessed the "uncles" to be what they really are. I think you'd enjoy the film in the theater.

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