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Secondhand Lions: Movie Analysis

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Secondhand Lions is a movie that, to quote cliché reviews, is fun for the whole family. It tells the story of a young boy named Walter who is abandoned by his floozy mother to live with his eccentric great-uncles, a pair of brothers named Hub and Garth. It was released in 2003, written and directed by Tim McCanlies (Secondhand Lions, 2003), starring Oscar Nominee Haley Joel Osmet (Haley Joel Osmet), Oscar Winner Michael Caine (Michael Caine (I)), Oscar Winner Robert Duvall (Robert Duvall), and Golden Globe and Emmy winner Kyra Sedgwick (Kyra Sedgwick). This brilliant movie is both comedic and serious, with wonderful actors and settings that tell a poignant story. Walter’s story begins when his mother abandons him with Hub and Garth. They are initially displeased with being …show more content…

What makes Secondhand Lions such fun is the comedy used throughout. Starting with when Walter first arrives at his Uncles’ house to the end of the movie where they manage to crash a plane, upside down, in the side of a barn. When Walter first arrives at the beginning of the movie he quickly realizes that his uncles do not approve of visitors and have no idea how to take care of a child. They even go so far as to warn him that they don’t know anything about kids and if there is something he needs he will have to find it himself or learn to do without, and if they “kick off in the middle of the night” (McCanlies, 2003), he’s on his own. The only other people Walter meets while living with his uncles are the various traveling salesmen that his uncles see as their personal form of entertainment, shooting their shotguns at them to see how quickly they will run away, distant cousins who want Hub and Garth’s money (part of the reason they tell Walter they want to keep him around when he attempts to run away to find him mother is that the other relatives will hate it), and greasers that Hub resoundingly beats up once he breaks out of the hospital after a heart

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When Walter comes home in a bad mood, he begins to take it

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In the beginning Walter is basically perceived as a jerk-he doesn’t seem to get along with anyone, not even his own family. His character likes to turn discussions into fights, make rude comments to his wife, and act all around immature. A part that accurately shows the way Walter conducts himself is when he is arguing with Ruth and says “Man say: I got to change my life , I'm choking to death, baby! And his woman say- Your eggs is getting cold!”

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973 Words | 4 Pages

Mama made a decision that put Walter in charge of the remaining money, however she did not know that this decision might not have been the best for the Younger family. Walter was hesitant in taking the money, but Mama reassures Walter by saying, "I ain't ever stop trusting you" (Hansberry 546). This line from Mama foreshadows the possibility that Walter will not obey her and do something foolish with the money. Walter proves this foreshadowing as he is talking to Travis and says, "... your daddy's gonna make a transaction... a business transaction that's going to change our lives" (Hansberry 547).

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600 Words | 3 Pages

He wants to be a businessman and own a liquor store. He wants to be able to provide for his family and give them what they have never had. Walter also wants to take his mother’s position as the head of the house and make the financial decisions for the family. Walter can be seen as selfish as instead of putting the money for him and his sister in the bank he uses it all and loses it trying to fulfill his own dreams with no regard to his sister’s dreams or the rest of the family’s.

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1243 Words | 5 Pages

Walter feels his job is more than unsatisfying, and can not make Mama understand, since her simplistic views are just like Ruths. In spite of his personal inadequacies with his job fulfillment, Walter shines in the end of the story with understanding and growth of his own fathers not so wonderful job. Walter seems to be reflecting on his own status as a

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Some awful pain inside me.” (95) Additionally, Walter even decides that he can’t trust anybody anymore, “.. Mama you know it’s all divided up. Life is. Sure enough.

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Unforgiving Life… Everyone learns lessons in life. These lessons can come from a book, experience and legends. Books have a theme that you can learn from that is what make books important. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry both have the themes of responsibility, family and dream that runs through the main characters Tom Wingfield from The Glass Menagerie and Walter Lee Younger from A Raisin in The Sun.

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861 Words | 4 Pages

Walter states that the Youngers are a calm, good family who “don’t want to make no trouble for nobody,” and are not looking to stir up trouble. All they intend to be is hard working, peaceful “good neighbors” and that give them every right to live in Clybourne Park. Afterwards, Mama, talking to Ruth about Walter, states that, “he finally come into his manhood today,” (151). Walter made his family proud and after much struggle they feel that he has matured. For Mama proudly exclaims that Walter “come into his manhood” by doing the morally right thing “finally.”

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1487 Words | 6 Pages

Walter further shows his false pride when he flaunts his newfound sense of power when Mr.Lindner, one of the Younger’s soon-to-be neighbors, offers him an unjust deal. Now that Walter has control over the family 's money, he considers himself the head of the family and decision maker; this plays an important role towards how Walter treats others now that he holds himself to a higher standard. This theme applies to Walter when the chairman of the “welcoming committee” (115) named Mr.Lindner pays a visit to the family a couple weeks before they 're supposed to move into their new home in Clybourne Park. During this visit, Mr.Lindner makes the offer of the Clybourne Park community “buy[ing] the house from [them] at a financial gain to [the] family” (118). Mr.Lindner’s offer represents the racial oppression and how the white community looks down upon and doesn’t want African american people dirtying their communities.

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1664 Words | 7 Pages

Walter often storms off after an argument or a conversation that did not go this way, and it is in this time that he hurts the most over the family’s financial situation and over the way that nobody else understands his position and his reasoning behind his actions. The segregation during the 1950s

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879 Words | 4 Pages

Macbeth, one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays, is a tragedy about one man rising to the top to subsequently fall. The Lion King is an animated Disney movie about a lion cub learning about life while on the run following his father’s death. The Lion King and Macbeth compare to certain multitudes, as well as contrast to a certain degree. Similarities and differences between the movie and play are shown between Duncan and Mufasa, Malcolm and Simba, Macbeth and Scar, the three witches and Rafiki, and the theme of appearance versus reality. Similar to King Duncan, Mufasa was a fantastic king.

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466 Words | 2 Pages

Despite the fact that dreaming of a liquor store is shallow, Walter’s motivation to be able to support his family helps reconcile his somewhat immoral hopes. Later, Walter shows the idiocy of his plan to own a liquor store when he gets drunk. In act 2, scene 2, Walter borrows Willy Harris’s car and drives around Chicago for two days, then “just walked”, and finally “went to the Green Hat” (2.2 105). Through his actions, Walter shows that he is immature and cares more about pretending to be rich than his job that would allow him to provide for his family.

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779 Words | 4 Pages

Walter’s statement tries to tell the women that he didn’t try to make the world the way it is now. Yes, he wants luxurious items for him and his wife. However, even though he seriously messed up, he’s still the man in the family and will continue to make the decisions for the

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912 Words | 4 Pages

Thus, as the movie advances Walter through his first experience of the picture, learns and adapts to this great uncle’s odd habits, while listening to his great-uncles adventures when they where young. Thus, without knowing this gaining

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837 Words | 4 Pages

Lion, directed by Garth Davis, is a compelling interpretation of a remarkable true story of Saroo Brierley, lost as a child and reunited with his family 25 years later. Throughout Davis explores the unique circumstances under which Saroo is separated and reconnected with his family and his journey along the way. At some points of the film, I was confronted by how Saroo, a five-year-old boy, expertely navigates, with great instinct and genuine innocence, through an extended, yet life threatening ride. To put it in other words, Lion is a journey that grabs you entirely; whether you want it or not, and you are involved in each and every scene. I instantly fell in love with the connection and relationship between Saroo and his older brother

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