TIM McCANLIES of Secondhand Lions

July 16, 2004 | yosemitest

[Yosemitest]

Tim McCanlies wrote an outstanding movie called "Secondhand Lions" and it was a really great story.

I wonder where he got the idea for the storyline? Could it have been from here at Free Republic?

[mabelkitty]

That was a warm surprise.

[timydnuc]

We saw the movie once and bought it for the lake cabin. You see, we only get 3 channels at the cabin, one of which is PBS. Therefore, auxillary entertainment, by way of a CD player, is required for evenings. The rest of the collection includes "Braveheart", "The Patriot", "Caddie Shack", "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", "The Cheyenne Social Club", and an interesting collection of The Three Stooges.

To anyone that would look at this list and say, "this guy is nuts" I'll have you know that many of our lake cabin neighbors love to borrow my Three Stooges collection.

[LadyPilgrim]

You're making me giggle this early in the morning!
I usually don't start that, until in the afternoon!

[Warren_Piece]

The Long Way home! I can't believe another Freeper has seen it! That's one of my favorite movies!

[mabelkitty]

My husband and I do the secret chicken wave whenever something "sucks".

[Warren_Piece]

Hee, hee. Kentucky Chicken!

BTW, I took a look at the DVD case; the actual title is "The Way Home".

[Yosemitest]

The Arab at the end with his son... there is alot of potential here. He could take the boy to meet his father and the father could tell stories of the uncles' adventures as "worthy adversaries", then the boy could do more comic strips about those stories.

Or the Boy could start telling the Arab's son about the uncles, move back to that old house, rebuild the crashed airplane, and fly the Arab's son, to create his uncles' spirit of adventure in the Arab's son. With the Arab's love of the uncles, he could allow his son to stay with the boy for a year or two.

The boy could take the ship from the pond and start an adventure around the world with the Arab and his son.

This could really make a good series, as long as they stick to the positive side of life. It could teach values that we so desperately need today. It could be as great as "Gunsmoke" or as "M.A.S.H" by teaching us that "life is worth living."

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

What was it about?

It's one of those rare Hollywood gems where a boy learns how to become a man without all the B.S. political correctness.

Though I don't care for Michael Caines...he's a lefty but nevertheless a great movie.

[LadyPilgrim]

Hey!
I think you need to write some stories. You sound very talented. Already have some great story lines!

You know, that's one of the things I love about FR. You find all kinds of great folks here!

[Yosemitest]

Rush has spoken of a search engine called "Lex Nexus", but I don't subscribe to it. The post is in the archive files of Free Republic, somewhere around Sep 02 thru Jan 03, but I don't remember exactly when. Look for "Buy a old Lion from a zoo that's being put to pasture" or "Buy an old Lion from a zoo" with "Tiger Moth".

[litehaus]

Great entertainment? Yep, sure was. But as to Forest Gump line I think the old one-"Being There" was the idea for Gump.

[Yosemitest]

I just suggest an outline. Let others fill in the details, and they can take the credit.

[LadyPilgrim]

Well, it sounds to me you have a "creative talent".
Not everyone can do that.

But, all in all, the jist of the movie was "good".
It could have been just as well a "G" rated movie if they had of left out the language.

And yes, I know, there was only a couple of words. But when you have grade school age kids watching, it gets a little uncomfortable. We had to do some explaining. Especially when they look at you with those big eyes!

[Yosemitest]

If you were writing an episode, where would you take this story?

Perhaps, let Jasmine's baby be recovered and not dead, and let him be the Arab in the helicopter?

[SoDak]

I watched "Big Fish" a week ago. I really liked that one too. I generally dislike people who are disrespectful to their parents, but that guy's kid came around in the end, so I was happy with it. I'm a sucker for movies with good symbolism.

[LadyPilgrim]

I'm going to have to think on it.
My Sweet Baby is taking me out for catfish, tonight.

But I will get back to you.
And remember............you are the creative one! &;-)

[Yosemitest]

I finally bought the DVD, and I'm a little agrivated with Tim McCanlies. His story about how he came to write this movie, is full of holes. I just wished he'd been more truthful. But what can you expect.

He did some great things with the outline, and I watched the outtakes, where he had tried to take the movie into slightly different directions, but he kept coming back to the original story line.

I appreciate the strong determination he had in sticking to the plot, and not compromising on the two main actors Robert Duvall and Michael Caine. He chose well with Haley Joel Osment. And I liked the funeral scene he considered with the French Soldiers and the riderless horses at the end, but I agree that the helicopter scene was the best choice.

However there is potential for a second or third movie to come from this, but I'd have to think on the outlines.

I'd really like to talk to Tim McCanlies, but I work as an air traffic controller and don't have time to track him down.