In honor of Derby Day, I thought I might ask everyone what their favorite horse racing films are (and Michael, I’m not referring to replays of yesterday’s races at Saratoga). Kubrick’s The Killing (1956), The Marx Bros.’ A Day at the Races are obvious choices. I may be a sucker for long-shot, “triumph of the human spirit” race films like Seabiscuit (which I’m not including here), but The Black Stallion (1979) is an absolutely gorgeous film–it was shot by Caleb Deschanel, who also shot The Right Stuff. The director lets the images do the storytelling–I don’t remember there being much dialogue (Mickey Rooney gives a thankfully restrained performance). The early scenes when the boy discovers the stallion in the ship’s stables are very simple, very poetic.
Here are some obscure racing films I’m interested in:
Sporting Blood (1931). It’s a good Kentucky Derby story about a gangster who wins a horse in a bet and runs him in fixed races. Turns out that the horse is a real winner, and when it’s finally returned to its original owner, it makes a legitimate run for the roses. It’s decent, certainly not a great race film but worth seeing. It’s got Clark Gable, sans moustache.
The Rainbow Jacket (1954). Somebody told me about this one. Haven’t seen it, but it comes highly recommended. It’s a British film, so it’d be a nice change of pace from American racing films. Anyone seen it? Like the above, it deals with the underworld of horse racing–a common theme in these films. The basic formula is this: a horse running in fixed races turns out to be a legit contender and (whether it wins or loses the big race at the end), manages to lift all those close to it out of a world of corruption.
Broadway Bill (1931) is as much a Screwball comedy as it is a horce racing film. Frank Capra directed this one–it came out the same year as It Happened One Night, so it hasn’t got much attention. The thing I like about this film is that it’s not typically Capra-esque in the way his later films (like You Can’t Take it With You, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Meet John Doe) are. For one thing, the utopian vision of America is the race track (as opposed to Mandrake Falls or Bedford Falls). Broadway Bill becomes the richest man (well, richest horse) in Higginsville when the ordinary folk all pitch in to raise money so that it can run in the Derby. There’s a little bit of corruption (the jockey who rides Bill in the Derby is bribed to hold him back); but the real villainy is not in the world of racing but in the rich and powerful Higgins family, who represent everything the race track doesn’t (the family is anything but spontaneous, fun, alive). I won’t tell you the ending, but I’ll tell you it’s pretty unconventional. This is one of my favorites.
Hey, did anyone pick Giacomo? The trifecta paid $133,184.60!!!
I love The Black Stallion . . . what a beautiful film. And Hoyt Axton’s supporting role in the first third is a lot of fun. I’ve been a fan of the Deschanel family ever since. I know its not a horse racing film per se, but I like The Grifters a lot. And that Tobey Maguire pic has some nice moments even if it is sentimental as hell–the racing sequences are breathtaking. Being a Kentucky boy (who cowers every time I hear “My Old Kentucky Home”) yesterday’s race was a damn fine one, especially that final stretch!
Does porn count?
Okay, just kidding.
Bleak Dirt Trail (1962) is among my favorite horse noirs. At a track just outside Reno, two savage competitors (Warren Oates and Dick Miller) race their horses, and their personal lives, into the ground. The film’s almost an existential fable, with endless tracking shots circling the empty track. Look for Shelley Winters in a small role, eating a jockey.
Zap Taggett’s Wild Ride (1923) is an unsung comic masterpiece, as Fatty Arbuckle breaks the back of horse after horse, while stonefaced Buster Keaton puts each writhing pain-crazed animal down in increasingly ludicrous ways (from gun to pillow over the snout to custard pies!). Made well before the censorious ASPCA codes were put in place, ending the Bakhtinian comic pleasures of seeing animals hurt.
Horse Cock (1973) wasn’t ever released, and still isn’t widely available, except in the shadier surreptitious auctions you can find on eBay, if you’re persistent. Marlon Brando stars in this avant-garde exploration of sexuality, both a parodic riff on his performance in “Last Tango” and a riveting interrogation of human sexuality in its own right. A man (never named) hides in the stable, and nightly sneaks out to run with the horses, all the while muttering deliriously brilliant soliloquies. Look for the scene where he massages three different horse prostates, at the same time! Genius.
I’m pretty sure I saw Horse Cock on a double-bill with After Hours before video killed the retro-house stars. Wasn’t Secretariat a featured player? I think I read an interview where Brando waxed rhapsodically.
Hot to Trot (1988). You’ll laugh yourself hoarse over this one. Featuring Virginia Madsen (who strangely gives the exact same wine speech from Sideways here, except this time about horses!) Dabney Coleman coming off of the excellent Slap Maxwell TV series, and John Candy, who only months later made one of his best films, Uncle Buck. Also SCTV/SNL-ers Mary Gross and Tim Kazurinsky appear.
I was supposed to go to a Kentucky Derby party Saturday. Luckily, Dayna had to work, and I stayed home playing internet poker, which worked in my favor as I won a tournament against 2000 people to pocket $1600.
Let us not forget Racing Stripes with wildass Frankie Muniez and a zebra with wings. Out on DVD tomorrow if you’re wondering. No need to add it to your queue . . . I say rush to the nearest Target and purchase this one for your collection.