Walter Caldwell

Walter Caldwell is the main protagonist of the Secondhand Lions film. In the film he is introverted young boy who is sent to live with his eccentric great-uncles on a farm in Texas. He is played Haley Joel Osment as young Walter and Josh Lucas as Adult Walter.
==Biography==
At the beginning of the film he starts out as 14-year-old left by his irresponsible mother, Mae, to live for the summer with his reclusive, bachelor great-uncles, Hub and Garth. Despite living on a ramshackle Texan farm, they are said to have a secret fortune and are made the target of every traveling salesman. They, in turn, sit on their porch with shotguns, shooting at the salesmen. Walter is given a room in the attic and is not welcomed at first, later Walter eventually becomes used to their quirky, socially atypical mannerisms and they become used to him and his shyness. While encouraging them to eat vegetables and stop shooting at visiting salesmen, he becomes aware of his uncles' mysterious past. Garth reveals to him that he and Hub were adventurers beginning in World War I. When Garth and Hub order an aging lioness (from a Circus animal dealer), whom Walter adopts and names her Jasmine, thereby keeping Hub from killing her. When Walter asks to hear more from Hub, his uncle reveals that Jasmine and their baby died in childbirth. Hub then returned to the French Foreign Legion, until he retired with Garth to their farm, where they are resignedly waiting to die. Walter asks Hub for confirmation, since his mother always lies to him. Hub responds with a piece of his "What Every Boy Needs to Know..." speech, that the actual truth is not as important as belief in ideals. Walter then asks Hub to promise to be around to give him the rest of the speech when he's old enough and Hub grudgingly agrees. Late one evening, Walter trails Garth and discovers they have a room filled with money underneath the barn. On another night, Walter's mother Fresh from Las Vegas (where she had been instead of at the court reporting school), and her current boyfriend, a supposed "private investigator" named Stan arrive at the farm and demand to know where the money is. Claiming that Hub and Garth actually were bank robbers, that Jasmine was their accomplice whom they later left for dead, but Walter decides to believe in in his uncles instead, the man pins him down and begins to beat Walter. Jasmine (the lion), sensing Walter in danger, emerges from the cornfield and attacks the false detective and seriously wounds him, and although the lioness dies of a heart attack in the process, she arouses enough noise to attract the attention of Hub and Garth. Walter holds Jasmine's head in his lap and says, "She was a real lion, wasn't she? There at the end. A real jungle lion. A real Africa lion." They then proceed to bury the lion in the garden they worked on together.
The next day, Walter leaves with his mother. Once on the road, Mae explains that Stan will be staying with them to recuperate, showing that she has no intention of leaving the man who nearly beat her son unconscious. But Walter asks her instead to "do something that's best for me for once" and abandons her. He decides to return to his uncles' house. While Hub and Garth are delighted to see him back, Walter insists there have to be changes: that they eat more vegetables and stop their dangerous pastimes until Walter graduates from college, as he wants them to die of old age. 
Seventeen years later, Walter (now a successful cartoonist) comes back when he is alerted by the sheriff of his uncles' deaths from a failed flying stunt with their biplane. Arriving at the farm, he is given his uncles' will, declaring "The kid gets it all. Just plant us in the darn garden, with the stupid lion." Soon a helicopter bearing the logo Sahara Petroleum touches down near the homestead and a Middle Eastern man steps out with his young son. He explains that he saw news of the men's deaths and their names on television and thought they might be the two courageous Americans that his grandfather (the sheik) had told him about long ago. When the man's young son asks Walter if his uncles really lived, Walter confirms, "Yeah. They really lived."
Category:Animal Kindness
Category:Teenagers
Category:Kids
Category:Determinators
Category:Male
Category:Selfless
Category:Voice of Reason
Category:Live Action Heroes
Category:Movie Heroes
Category:Deal Makers