Black Gold

Although far from the real story of the Kentucky Derby winner Black Gold, this very first film released under the banner of Allied Artists the newly reconstituted Monogram Pictures was an important one for its star Anthony Quinn. It was the very first time that Quinn got top billing in any film. It was also a family project as it starred Quinn's first wife as well Katharine DeMille. They play an Indian couple on a reservation, he an illiterate happy go lucky cuss who has an itch to wander and she a reservation educated person. The two complement each other beautifully on screen.

And he happens to own a thoroughbred mare who through a combination of circumstances gets mated to a champion stallion. The mare dies, but the result is a colt named Black Gold. The Quinn's adopted Chinese immigrant son Ducky Louie becomes his jockey.

Black Gold's story, the real one, was given us by another reviewer and maybe that film should be made by a bigger studio and maybe it will some day. As for this one for a Monogram Picture it had for them probably a big budget. They even splurged for color. But the Quinns and Ducky Louie really put this film over as fine family entertainment. And I'm a sucker for a good racetrack story every time.

Davey Chung became an orphan after his father is murdered by white Americans. Charley Eagle (Anthony Quinn) is a native American cowboy who comes upon the boy. Charley adopts the boy and dreams of racing his horse Black Hope.

This is a western trying to be progressive. It is loosely based on a true story although I don't how loose. For this subject, accuracy is not that important. More important is giving Quinn the lead along with an unknown Chinese kid. That is very progressive for its time. Quinn may not be a full blooded Indian, but he probably had some in the mix. The only issue is that I wish he was written smarter. I'm not saying that he's dumb and I know the claim race has a real story behind it. Alright, he could just speak normally instead doing the fake Indian speak.

The story may be about a thoroughbred horse named Black Gold who entered the classic Kentucky Derby, but I found the real story was about an innocent victim named Charley Eagle (Anthony Quinn) whose lack of knowledge of the white man's scrupulous ways to take advantage of the less fortunate was so prevalent in the 1940's and the decades earlier.

In the current decade of the 2020's we still have hundreds of thousands of shady characters who hide behind software and telephone scams to swindle the elderly and new immigrant populations across the world. Back in this 1947 film Charley enters his race horse in a claiming race and when his horse wins easily Charley's initial joy is lost when he learns that his horse has been claimed for a paltry sum by a scrupulous individual who is happy to take the winning horse into his own expanding winning horse stable.

Long before Jed Clampett and the (1962-1971) TV series, The Beverly Hillbillies struck gold, black gold, texas tea, as they called it, the humble but proud farmer Charley Eagle struck oil on the land he owned and unlike the fate that took away his prized racehourse through a claiming race, Charley had a reputable engineer and friend who ensured Charley would reap the financial benefits of his large oil strike on his land.

Yes, there is a dramatic horse race to be run, and yes poor Charley experiences both the highs and lows of winning and losing, but that is how life takes most of us by surprise.

I give Black Gold a passable 5 out of 10 IMDb rating.

This movie is certainly not the most representative of the Phil Karlson's career. No trace of Karlson's style here, nothing rough, tough, gritty, as in KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL, nor BROTHERS RICCO or 99 RIVER STREET, or even any other western from him. After all, this one seems to be more a western than a crime drama. But it is a very pleasant, agreeable little oater, involving a horse and a family. So that's a false drama and western destined to the whole family. But I would have never guessed Karlson as the director, why not Don Siegel? No, I would have guessed a Francis D Lyon, or a Ted Tetzlaff.

Tony Quinn often wound up playing an Indian. In this film, a story based on a race horse saga, his wife at that time, Katherine DeMille played his wife. The setting is Oklahoma and Quinn plays an Indian who owns a remarkable race horse and takes in a young Chinese orphan who rides the horse to the winner's circle. I saw this film when I was a 10 year old kid. My old Irish mother was a fanatic on racehorses and knew much of the reported facts on the story of Black Gold, named for his color and a play on words on the discovery of oil on the land of Charley Eagle. The film is not too memorable with the exception of Quinn's character telling the oil men who come to drill on his land, "Look if you don't find anything, be sure and fill in any holes you dig so my horses won't break their legs." Now, there was a guy who had his priorities straight.

No DVD or video and not very likely one will appear real soon. Look for it on the late, late show sometime. It's good family viewing with a definite anti-racist message along with a bittersweet ending.