El tramposo

Personally, I enjoy two atmospheres in life. Ballparks and racetracks. Baseball movies are usually about individual efforts, I've never seen one that captures the atmosphere of the game itself. But Boots Malone better than any other film I've seen about racing until last year's Seabiscuit, captures the whole flavor of the track itself.

You can literally smell the manure (and I don't mean that as a comment on the film) when you watch this thing. The characters in and around the track are Damon Runyon like, but not romanticized in the way he usually did.

There just the everyday folk you find there, working hard at something they love.

A lot of the movie depends on the chemistry of the four principal players. That this film has in abundance. Bill Holden as the cynical jockey's agent, Stanley Clements as the over the hill jockey who's now an exercise rider, Basil Ruysdael as the owner of a claiming horse with hidden promise and finally Johnny Stewart as the naive teenage kid who runs away from boarding school to hang around the track, all of them work very well in the scenes they have that's about half the film.

Bill Holden had three years earlier established himself as an actor to be reckoned with in Sunset Boulevard. No more nice guy parts, he's a tough cynical character. His Boots Malone is like Joe Gillis, a cynical survivor, also like Sefton in Stalag 17. Unlike those other two characters, we're shown the reason for Malone's cynicism and alienation, his wife and kid were killed several years earlier in a car crash.

The kid, Tommy Gibson played by Johnny Stewart, get to Malone. Bit by bit as Holden shows him the ropes around the racetrack community they develop a strong bond. Some of the best scenes in the film are those with Holden teaching Stewart the fundamentals of the jockey trade.

Johnny Stewart should have had a major film career. He had charisma and good acting skills in abundance. After this he made one more film and then left Hollywood to resume acting on the Broadway stage. I would love to know whatever happened to him.

I love this film very much and if you love the racetrack this film is a must.

I only watched "Boots Malone" because it was one of William Holden's early starring roles. However, I was not excited about having to watch a film that seemed like a B-movie about horse racing...a topic I couldn't care less about in the first place. However, I was shocked....despite a relatively low budget and a no-name actor in one of the leads, it was terribly entertaining.

Boots Malone (Holden) is a down and out agent for jockeys. He apparently lost his big money jockey and has hit upon hard times...and is forced to sleep in the stables with his buddy, Stash (Stanley Clements). Their fortunes change when a rich runaway teen (Billy Pearson) joins up with him and wants to learn the business.

The movie is like a behind the scenes look at the folks who are often overlooked in the horse racing industry and it never failed to keep my interest. Very well written and a nice film with heart...an excellent film and one which shocked me in so many positive ways.

By the way, it's odd that newcomer Pearson was billed around 8th in the movie...he was clearly the co-star of the picture.

I had never heard of the film, BOOTS MALONE, but William Holden has always stood as one of my all time favorite actors, so I decided to watch it - and, boy, am I glad I did!, because in the process I hit upon a superlative example of unpretentions filmmaking and peerless direction.

In addition, I had the great pleasure of watching one of Holden's career-best shows. Here, he is a near-bum horseracing jock agent, moneyless and ready to steal candy from the comparative babe that is Johnny Stewart, a boy who lost his father and is on the run from his Paris, France-based business-running dictatorial mother, and just wants to realize a personal dream of running as jockey.

Holden is a gray hero. He takes a beating for causing racetrack bet losses to a heavy, seemingly does not have the moral force to get even, and instead trains the opportunity spotlight on the youngster... but Holden is the one who gets taught a lesson.

In keeping with his two- or three-timing character, at the end Holden is on the run from the mob for failing to throw the race, and he catches the train of opportunity - his American Dream may yet be in Paris, France... even if Stewart's mother looks a bit too shrewish for comfort!

Fitting, realistic cinematography, strong dialogue, solid acting across the board make this a must-see. 8/10.

I have lived and worked with thoroughbred racehorses for over thirty years and "thoroughly" enjoy re-watching and recommending "Boots Malone." It is an actual "Hollywood Classic" because it tells a story and tells it well. It is distressing to read the many poor synopses of the movie and the "I'm-a-cineaste-and-you'll-never-be" attitude of the reviewers. Boots is charging Tommy for "jockey" lessons after Tommy reveals that he has a lot of money. Boots is also considering "selling" Tommy back to his mother. This is the exact same character which he portrays in the also excellent Stalag 17 (scum of the earth with lots of class).

The film has everything you could possibly want to tell your friends about the racetrack. From organized gambling, win-mad owners, touts, corner-cutting sharpies (that's Boots), claiming races, auctions, the joke with the muck sack (Tommy falls in the pit), the Stewards review of the objection, and especially the scene in the Jock's Room where Tommy calls a rider "rail-shy." The man really is a jockey and beats the snot out of the kid.

Just a few things wrong, though, and it's almost like the mistakes were made deliberately. First, jockey agents are not permitted in the saddling paddock before a race. This is a rule. Second, the racetrack, Dellington, is on the East Coast, north of Baltimore according to the train destination board. Since the movie appears to have been made at Del Mar, there are palm trees in the background. Third, I've never been to an auction where there are drunken men in tuxedos and women in evening gowns. These things are strictly business. If you think you're smarter than the rest of the people there, you'd better be prepared to prove it.

Oh, and one more thing. Had I been a Steward, "White Cargo" would have been disqualified for interference. The objection was that Tommy hit the other horse with his whip, which he did not do because he is whipping with his left hand. But the horse is "getting out" badly precisely because the rider is whipping left-handed and pulling the horse to the right with the hand holding the reins. Watch for it when you go to the races, it is a frequent occurrence.

So many likable characters are played by so many excellent actors, it's hard to know where to start bragging about "Boots Malone."

But brag I will.

Billed as "introducing" is young Johnny Stewart, though he had performed two roles previously, but for TV. His eager young apprentice is likable, but also vulnerable, except when he flares up at being mistreated. He gives a great performance, but is credited with only 10 roles. Again I ask, What's wrong with Hollywood casting directors?

Starring in the title role is the iconic William Holden, someone I've admired for a very long time. His character is not so admirable. At first. Holden, though, shows that character as being many-faceted so we have hope for him, right up to the end.

Almost stealing the show is Stanley Clements, who is supposedly best-known for the his roles in The Bowery Boys, but again and again he has shown, especially here, that he is an actor, obviously capable of many types of roles. His might be the most likable character in this movie.

Again, all the actors here deserve praise, even if they don't get screen credit. The director and writers have created and produced a good story, showing what seems to be a good slice of actual race-track life and the intriguing "little people" (no pun intended) who populate it.

Between films like this and the books of Dick Francis, I am pretty sure I'll never place another bet on a horse race. By "another," I mean I'll never place that second bet. But I can still admire the horses and many of the people who train and ride them.

Director William Dieterle has shown some great racing shots, exciting even to us who see horse-racing only in movies or on TV. I highly recommend "Boots Malone" and there is a good print at YouTube, at least today, 1 May 2021. I hope you get to see it.