Burn 'Em Up O'Connor

Dennis O'Keefe is a race-car-obsessed farm boy. After he gets fired, he and fellow hayseed Nat Pendleton get jobs with Harry Carey's racing car outfit. While Pendleton becomes a mechanic, O'Keefe becomes a driver when a series of almost identical accidents kill Carey's other drivers. Pendleton takes it into his head that they aren't accidents, but murders. But how?

While O'Keefe s the lead in this MGM programmer and gets to pitch woo at Cecilia Parker, it's really Pendleton who's the hero of the story -- yes, I know, but to me, Sam is the real hero of THE LORD OF THE RINGS. It's an okay story, the sort of thing a Poverty Row producer might have done, but the MGM polish is oddly apparent in the racing sequences, when the shots are clearly process photography. With Addison Richards, Charley Grapewin, Tom Neal, Si Jenks, and Clayton Moore.

Do you think any race car driver can negotiate a track blindfolded while going over a hundred miles per hour, even with someone giving a whistle at one of the tricky turns? That's one of the idiocies of this film, which asks us to suspend disbelief once too often. I have always liked Dennis O'Keefe, but he comes across here as a pest and nuisance as he joins a racing car group headed by Harry Carey, Sr., mostly because of Carey's daughter, Cecilia Parker, to whom he is attracted. Another problem with the film is that O'Keefe and Parker have zero chemistry together. I don't think Parker smiled even once; she seemed not to be enjoying even being in the film. I enjoyed Nat Pendleton's comic antics, and some of the acting of the drivers Tom Neal and Tom Collins. But overall, it's not much of a racing drama or a murder mystery.

This is a film so far from any reality, it should be a classified as a phantasy, though not a clever or interesting one.

Two pals, Jerry and Buddy (O'Keefe and Pendleton) are rural nobodies, living off of crummy farm jobs. Buddy is an idiot savant of sorts, though he's obviously middle aged, he's got the smarts of a child, except he's a mechanical miracle worker with automobiles.

Jerry is an undisciplined, flippant twirp who is obsessed with cars. For instance, behind the wheel of a tractor, he drives it like a maniac because he's trying to do plowing at high speed.

He buys a wrecked, mangled midget racer, which Buddy magically sets right, and it launches Jerry's pro racing career.

The story involves a string of supposed jinxed racers in the team Jerry finds work in; and when it comes due for Jerry's date with fate, he's ready because he suspects the drivers have been drugged and losing their sight somehow at a crucial moment in their matches. So in advance of his, he literally memorized the race course BLINDFOLDED.

So during the big race, having been doped like the others, races on, confident he doesn't need sight. But Buddy, now also blinded, knows that a certain part of the course has been altered in a way that will cause a crash if Jerry relies on his memorization. Luckily, he always makes a left turn if he hears Buddy whistle a specific note, which, though he's blind, knows the exact time to sound off so Jerry makes that opportune turn, and win the day.

When I was a child I lived near the now long ago Langhorne Speedway. When it was race night, so much high decibel raw noise from the cars and crowds drew from the track, you could hardly get to sleep, though we were miles away. Imagine what it would be like trying to whistle a note at a driver speeding by in the centre of that cacophony! Couldn't happen. That and other moments, supposed to be funny or charming, like the midget racer towing a tow tuck, make this a nothing more than a kid's programmer.

I just watched my DVR of "Burn 'Em Up O'Connor" again last night. First, let's understand something. No truly GOOD racing movies exist except possibly for "Grand Prix," "LeMans," "Rush." and some documentaries. Directors were just too lazy and felt that spectacle could replace good writing. Even "To Please a Lady," is too simplistic and inaccurate.

That doesn't mean that we can't enjoy the stylized, often cliche'-ridden efforts of the past. If you love racing history and its heroes, then you have to put up with the banal efforts of the deep past and enjoy the actual footage and drivers' cameo roles, etc.

So what makes this one worthwhile? How about appearances and actual use of three of the more iconic cars in Indianapolis "500" history, the Stevens/Winfield car built for 3-time winner Lou Meyer and the two Sparks/Adams cars built for Joel Thorne? Apparently Thorne drove in this movie and furnished these cars as well as the ex-Pirrung car built by Wilbur Shaw for the 1935 "500." That car finished second with Shaw, before his three wins, and 9th with Thorne in 1938, the year this film was made. The Stevens/Winfield car and the Thorne-Sparks (Adams) cars were all built for the 1938 "500", the year this movie was obviously filmed for 1939 release. They had a bad race that year, finishing 14th, 15th, and 16th. However they then became iconic with long lives an, track records, two 2nd places and a win. Three-time winner Meyer retired after a famous filmed flip in 1939 in his attempt from 2nd place to catch Shaw. Several plastic-toy models were made of the Thorne-Sparks cars, including a Wen-Mac engined model of a decade later. There are also other, lesser known, but actual cars of the time on the movie set. Background action footage features the great Ted Horne hogging in early scenes and Shaw and Meyer winning in 1937 and 1938. At least we car enthusiasts can put up with cartoonish characters and dumb plot to see some racing and cars that made history.

I enjoyed the hell out of this film, regardless of it's simple stereotypical characters. Give it a break!

Manic amateur driver Jerry O'Connor and his slow-witted mechanic Buddy Buttle run into Jane Delano. Jerry is immediately head over heels for her. Her father happens to be race car owner Pinky Delano. Delano's drivers keep getting into accidents and he takes on Jerry as a new driver.

Dennis O'Keefe is a bit too manic. He can be confident to the point of arrogance, but he does need to dial it back a notch. Nat Pendleton is faking Buddy's obliviousness. Also, mechanics shouldn't be waiting suits. Maybe it was the times when everybody were dressed that way. I don't really care about the acting, the characters, or their story. That's all fine for a B-movie. Besides all that, I love the car action with their drift driving and some real racing footage.