May 19, 2002
SECONDHAND LIONS
Screenplay by Tim McCanlies
Synopsis by Brian Aldrich
Flaky single mother MAE drops her son WALTER off with his two eccentric great uncles HUB and GARTH for the summer, telling him she's going to school to learn to be a court reporter. Mae tells Walter that the brothers supposedly have millions of dollars stashed away and advises him to get on their good side to gain the inheritance. Mae tells him the brothers disappeared for 40 years and she suspects they were in a mental hospital and the money came from a lawsuit. Elderly Hub and Garth live on a farm in a Victorian home with a tower next to a lake. They have dogs, chickens and pigs. They eat a lot of meat and few vegetables. The brothers like quiet as well as their privacy. They spend their days either sitting on the porch firing shotguns over the heads of eager salesmen or wade around in the lake shooting fish. They are reluctant to take their grand nephew in, but Mae gives them no choice, explaining the boy needs to be around real men like them.
Walter is disappointed to learn the brothers don't have a telephone or a television. Walter sleeps in the tower. He finds a trunk filled with sand, containing a gold-colored Arabic button and an old photograph of a beautiful young woman. Walter soon learns Hub sleepwalks to the lake each night and Garth mails coupons requesting salesmen call at the house. Hub and Garth enlist Walter to help them plant their new garden. Some greedy relatives, HELEN, RALPH, MARTHA, 13, and two wild teenage boys show up to kiss the brothers' asses in hopes of the inheritance. They treat Walter badly, thinking Mae and him are the competition. Martha tells Walter they think the brothers were the famous Santa Claus bandits. When angry Ralph slaps Walter, he runs away. He tries to call Mae's school, but learns she is not enrolled. Hub and Garth find him and, tenderly, convince him to return. Walter learns the brothers hide their money in the barn. He finds a worn Santa suit and buries it to protect the brothers. Before they shoot at the next salesman, Walter suggests they see what he's selling. The SALESMAN sells them a skeet shooting machine, which satisfies the brothers' urge to shoot off their shotguns. Garth starts telling Walter the story behind JASMINE, the woman in the old photo. The brothers start buying things. Hub and Garth joined the Foreign Legion and fought slavers. Hub stole Jasmine and gold away from a SHEIK who vowed revenge. Garth won't tell Walter the ending, telling him he has to ask Hub. The brothers get a "used" lion from a zoo, so they can shoot it. But Walter makes the lion his pet and calls it JASMINE. Overexerting himself, Hub faints and is taken to a hospital. When he wakes up, he walks out. Four hoods led by FRANKIE start a fight with Hub who defeats them all single-handedly and gives them his "lecture" about manhood. Upset by the brothers' constant talk of age and death, Walter asks them to stay alive to give him the "lecture" when he is old enough. They agree. Hub tells Walter that Jasmine died in childbirth.
Mae shows up with STAN, her new loser boyfriend and a Vegas detective. Stan has figured out the brothers were the Santa Claus bandits and wants Walter to tell him where they hide their money. Mae pushes him, but he tells her about the Foreign Legion story. Stan starts hitting Walter. The lion rescues him, wounding Stan. When Walter learns Mae has no intention of dumping Stan, he returns to the brothers who raise him, give him the "lecture," and finally die thirty years later flying a biplane in their nineties. Walter has become a successful cartoon artist with a family. Even Frankie and the hoods (turned yuppies) show up at the funeral. They owe their lives to the "lecture."
Summary Criticism: This colorful script is excellently crafted with endearing characters and a compelling story. The themes of truth and reality are intriguing.
Secondhand Lions (2003) - imdb
Secondhand Lions (2003) - wiki
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