was the use of the "Oh Happy Day" chorus song as Secretariat finishes the final race.
A film's score is vital to the viewer's mood; the decision to use this song made the scene not only anti-climatic, but somewhat comedic that it starts so suddenly when most people would expect a rapidly building, triumphant orchestral score (I expected something along the lines of the last 25 seconds of this trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKmuvjL2cVw9)
Thoughts?
yeah, that was a big let down .. such a great score from Lennie Niehaus(or was it Nick Glennie-Smith?) well, anyway the Gospel chorus ruined that moment..
shareI just watched this on blu ray last night and couldn't agree more. It would've been fine if the gospel music fired up for the crowd celebration shots, but as the horse came around the final turn after that silence? Ugh.
shareAgreed. Somehow I get the idea that if it weren't for the token black character(yes I know it's based on a real person), they wouldn't have included it.
shareI understand where you all are coming from, but Secretariat loved to run. It was a joyful moment for him, his jockey, owner, trainer, all horse lovers. If you could watch that scene without smiling, music or not, well, you have more control of your emotions than I do. I felt the song was more about joy than anything else. I also felt the "He" was more about Secretariat than God.
"This isn't sexy. It's aggressive and weird."
I agree with Aim-JE. "O Happy Day" is a joyful song, plus it ties the triumphant end to the earlier scene when we hear the song at a dark moment, a discouraging day. I had no problem with the choice of music.
shareI only saw the last 45 minutues of this movie the other day but I felt JOY and an uplifting of my spirit as I watched that horse run away from the pack and charged toward that finish line in slow motion.
I remember the exploits of Secretariat from my childhood, even though I don't know anything about horse racing.........I had no idea though that Secretariat won that final race by such a huge margin!
Did you feel more joy associating the race with gospel music(the line about Jesus washing sins away and that giving joy is actually part the excerpt they used there), than you would have with an orchestra playing intense symphonic music? Or for that matter, with no music at all?
sharevery strange choice for such a climatic scene I agree that i took a lot away form such an important moment.When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...
If viewers noticed the first part of the movie, there were quotes from the Bible. There was also a part of the film where they were giving the horse a bath and there was religious music being played there too. I think that in using that song it was to go along with the others music choices and the quotes from the Bible.
shareHey folks,
I thought the musical choice was great. "Oh, Happy Day" hit the mark for me; simple yet uplifting.
Dave Wile
I agree. In that moment the war, everything, was forgotten except for that magnificent horse thundering down the homestretch, running for the pure joy of it. If that wasn't a "happy day," I don't know what was. It may sound silly, but that's how I felt when I watched it. So happy I almost cried.
"This isn't sexy. It's aggressive and weird."
I agree davidwile, I LOVED IT!
"Life is Uncertain, Eat dessert first"
Those music choices were strange. They mentioned Job once at the beginning and then that was the end of the religion stuff. They didn't even have to do that. They could have just used the part of the quote about the horses themselves, and no one who didn't know the quote well would have known it was Biblical. If they hadn't known it was Biblical, it would not have made a bit of difference in the story, because that line went nowhere. If it had been a larger part of the story(or any part of it) I could have understood, but it seems like the gospel songs just came out of nowhere.
I'll even add the hippie Amazing Grace. There was no tie-in to the rest of the story there either. In fact, the whole hippie daughter thing just seemed like a second though add-on. It had about as much relation to the rest of the movie as John Malkovich's hat. Even then, using Amazing Grace in an anti-war protest makes a bit more sense than comparing Secretariat to Jesus.
Hey ewd,
Like you, I thought the Biblical reference to the horse was not an important part for me. It did not, however, diminish the story for me in any way.
When you mention the idea of using the "Oh, Happy Day" music to compare Secretariat to Jesus, I think you are making a mistake on that point. I don't see any comparison of Secretariat to Jesus as I watch the horse stretch out the lead to what is a truly remarkable finish. I simply see the remarkable finish, hear the music, and feel "Oh, Happy Day."
It really is a very simple conjunction of audio and visual for me. I may think your idea is wrong, but I also respect you right to your opinion. My only intention is to perhaps give you another interpretation of the scene and see if you might give any credence to my simple interpretation.
Best wishes,
Dave Wile
I will assume you've seen Seabiscuit, you will note in that movie that about ten words of Rock of Ages were sung in that movie. There was no effort to put that into any sort of context. I don't recall any other mention of the Bible or anything in it in the entire movie. I've always wondered about that. Is that just poor editing? Part of a larger narrative that got left out of the final product? I can see how Howard taking in Red might be part of the larger Christian tradition, but there are many movies which would probably meet that standard if Seabiscuit did. If it is trying to make that connection, I can think of a lot of other hymns which would make more sense than Rock of Ages. I just brought that up because this reminded me of it.
shareHey ewd,
Yes, I saw and liked "Seabiscuit," but at my age I am afraid I forget so many things so quickly, and I saw "Seabiscuit" at least five years ago (or probably even longer). Sadly, I do not even remember anything about it. Give me a year or so, and I will not remember anything about "Secretariat." Getting old really rots.
Best wishes,
Dave Wile
To david and ewd, it was in my post that I wrote~
I also felt the "He" was more about Secretariat than God.I wasn't comparing the two, but in that moment (when the song started), it was Secretariat who lifted people up and put joy in their hearts.
To tell you the truth, the fact that the movie can even provoke a conversation about whether or not it is comparing Secretariat to God at the very least is not good. Even if I am wrong, they could probably have thought through their editing a little better in that regard.
shareBut no one did. Saying I felt the "He" was more about Secretariat than God was in response to the song, not the movie. I'm not religious at all and certainly don't want to offend anyone, but I bet even God smiled when He saw what He'd done.
ewd, where was "Amazing Grace" in the movie? The daughter sang "Silent Night" at her pageant.
"This isn't sexy. It's aggressive and weird."
You're right. It was Silent Night. My mistake.
shareHorse racing and breeding take place mainly in Kentucky, so why not Gospel music? I liked the song right where it was.
*The shape-shifter is in and will take your calls now.
I don't associate Gospel Music with Kentucky any more than any other state, and I especially don't associate it with horse racing. It would have been better if they had tried to put it into some sort of context. It just seemed like it was "they're happy so we'll sing about Jesus." If their religion was a main part of the movie then it would have made more sense. As it was, their religion was no part of the movie and they just played a couple of gospel songs. The quotes they used at the beginning were from the Bible, but they could just as well have been from anywhere else.
shareWell, why not? One reason is that the race we are celebrating in that scene is in New York. And to my knowledge, Secretariat always declined to answer when asked his religious beliefs, so we'll never know if he was a Christian horse. I'm not a fan of that genre of music and it totally brought down what should have been a glorious conclusion to the movie.
I have seen enough to know I have seen too much. -- ALOTOshare
I don't think it was the song, I just think the entire Belmont Stakes recreation was a huge letdown. You don't get a sense for how Secretariat was pulling away to an unbelievable lead. You don't hear the crowd building to a deafening roar like you do in the TV footage that is on Youtube.
And while the movie recreated some of Chic Anderson's phrases during the calling of the race, you don't get the sense of disbelief that was in Anderson's voice as Secretariat ran away from the field. All the quick cuts let to a lack of continuity.
Count me among those that believe the film would have been better off using the actual uncut footage of the Belmont, or at least the audio.
Yeah, and I'm pretty sure at least half of the people probably would have had a bet on Secretariat. The crowd would have been going nuts, not just looking concerned that he may have gone out too fast early on.
shareAgreed.
shareI still think the song was strange, but I agree with you on all the rest. I think the song was a part of what made the scene so bad. It wasn't all of it, but it was a large part of it. You couldn't really hear the call of the race(underwhelming as it may have been) over the song.
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I could care less, but I don’t care enough to bother.
Yeah that threw me off too.
shareJust part of the stupid attempt to paste a heaping helping of Jeezus all over the movie.
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4) You ever seen Superman $#$# his pants? Case closed.
Yes I think a classical score would have suited that finale much better than Happy Day.
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"I'm sorry, but.." is a self-contained lie.
I guess I'm in the minority here, but I liked the gospel music, and I'm not even religious. After that long period of silence, it wasn't what I expected to hear, and I liked that. To me, it worked fine and actually got me a little emotional.
Edited to add that I watched the ending again a couple of times, and the more I watch it, the more I love the choice of song. The lyrics are very fitting for the scene, in my opinion. The first lyrics we hear are: "He taught me how to walk, fight, and pray, and live rejoicing every day." I know some of you don't like the religious overtones, but what I took from the words was that Secretariat inspired everyone around him and even the fans at home watching on television. So for me, it's a great song for that moment and I would never change it.
I don't agree. This song (by the Edwin Hawkiins Singers) was on the Billboard top ten list a few years before that time. I remember it vividly because we bought my grandmother the album. It was a very unusual but popular move in the music industry at that time the song was very very big at the time which is why it was played during the movie. The song came out of nowhere and took over the charts.
That was also around the same time for approximately 3-4 years that alot of songs with religious references were being played on the radio.
"Day by day" from Godspell
"I don't know how to love him" from Jesus Christ Supertar
"Jesus is just alright with me" by the Doobie Brothers.
"My Sweet Lord" George Harrison.
All of these songs charted in the late 60's early or mid 70's.
So it wasn't done randomly. It reflected the music of the time when Secretariat was running his Triple Crown races whereas many movies play songs that were popular at the time the films were set in. I thought it was very appropriate to the time and the feel of the movie. I loved it!
There were a lot of songs without religious references then too. That being beside the point because there should have been orchestral music there instead of singing.
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I could care less, but I don’t care enough to bother.
To each his own. That's the feeling they chose to go with and I enjoyed it because I remember seeing the race. It fit to me and others on the board as well. I personally loved it. It inspired me.
shareJust a thought -- but perhaps that the song Penny (the real life one) was hearing in her head as Secretariat pulled ahead and won. I personally liked it.
share