Black Gold

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.

Black Gold (1947) is a movie I recently watched on HBOMAX. The storyline follows a Mexican man camping in the desert who encounters an Asian orphaned boy and adopts him. The Mexican man teaches him the ways to train a horse and they enter their horses into several horse races hoping for the opportunity to one day have a horse in the Kentucky Derby.

This movie is directed by Phil Karlson (Hell to Eternity) and stars Anthony Quinn (Lawrence of Arabia), Katherine DeMille (The Crusades), Raymond Hatton (In Cold Blood), Kane Richmond (The Lost City) and Jonathan Hale (Strangers on a Train).

The storyline for this movie is very unique, unpredictable and contains fantastic characters. Katherine DeMille Steals the show and delivers a captivating performance. I was impressed by the twists and turns of the storyline and the depiction of how minorities were taken advantage of and how they kept pushing forward. The final Kentucky Derby scene is very well shot.

Overall this is a unique addition to the western genre that contains fantastic characters and a worthwhile storyline. I would score this a 7.5/10 and strongly recommend it.

This was Allied Artists "first film":....it was really a Monogram Picture and this was the first release in 1947,under their new name for their 'better' product ALLIED ARTISTS. It was a fairly expensive film for them then ($450K) and filmed in colour. As a film it is a very effective multicultural experience and it is a credit to them to take such a risk on what one would think was then un marketable themes: illegal immigrant Chinese boy is adopted by land owning red Indian family, who send him to school. Kid gets taunted because of his new family and Chinese face. Pop, Anthony Quinn discovers oil on the farm and gets rich. They buy a racehorse and it becomes a champ and they become richer! Racial prejudice gets and airing too when they enter' society'. All quite startling and effectively handled. For these themes to be their first high profile calling card, AA/Monogram get a good report and deserve recognition for their worthy ideals. It is worth noting the interesting films Monogram decided to make as Allied Artists in their first few years, as THE GANGSTER and IT HAPPENED ON 5TH AVENUE attest. BLACK GOLD seems corny by today's cynicism, but the was a deserving hit for them. Like Republic's COME NEXT SPRING, a real Americana treat if you can find it and just enjoy.

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.

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.