Francisquito campeón

The one where Francis does the Bottle Cap Challenge. Take that, Statham!

'Francis Goes to the Races', while still a lacklustre and repetitive affair, surprisingly manages to improve upon the poor original. The main reason for that is the fact that the racing setting actually fits much better with the silliness of a talking mule, as opposed to the setting of war as seen before.

Donald O'Connor continues the make the films more bearable than they'd otherwise be. Elsewhere, Chill Wills, Piper Laurie, Cecil Kellaway and Jesse White are all alright. It's a tough sell for the cast these films, so I respect their commitment to be fair!

This movie progresses more organically than any of the other Francis movies, i.e. the plot doesn't seem forced.

Francis Goes to the Races starts with the mule talking to a crowd of stunned and indignant people, essentially, ending Peter Sterling's job and putting the two on the road again. It is a dynamic used often in this series: Peter gets himself deeper and deeper into trouble until the only thing that can get him out of it is a long diatribe from his mule. Beginning with it is kind of clever.

It is essential that the viewer understand the science behind the movie: Mules can talk to horses. You wouldn't think so, but apparently, since they look so much alike, they also speak the same language. You also need to remember that Francis' great aunt was a Derby winner. The two stop at a horse farm on the road and Francis meets a relative. He decides to stay at the farm and let Peter take a stab at life without a talking mule to mess things up.

Anyone who watches these movies is aware that Peter Sterling is the piston that isn't firing in that particular dyad; and, it isn't long until he gets himself in trouble. And, it isn't long until Francis bails him out. There's a pretty girl, also. And, gangsters… This movie doesn't surpass Francis Joins the WACS in quality, however, it is a fun movie.

This film begins with a short sequence in which "Pete's" boss faints upon hearing "Francis" talk and Pete says, "Here we go again," after which the opening credits roll. During the fifties, for children, grandmas & great aunts, the Francis ¨franc(h)ise¨ used to be rather fun. Anyone who watched those movies was aware that before long Pete (Donald O'Connor) got himself in trouble and before long it was Francis the Talking Mule who bailed him out. It was essential to understand the science behind the movie's premise: mules can talk to horses. You also learned that Francis' great aunt was a Derby winner. More recently, film buffs have learned that Francis' real name was Molly, and she was trained for all the Francis films by Les Hilton, who went on to train the horse who played "Mr. Ed" in the 1960's television series of same name.

I was shocked when I watched the first film in the series, "Francis". Why? Because I gave it a score of 9...for a film about a talking mule! I was surprised how clever the movie was and how much I enjoyed it. Unfortunately, while I liked the second film, "Francis Goes to the Races", it's not nearly as good.

While the title of the film might make you think Francis becomes a racing mule, this isn't at all the story. Instead, Francis becomes friends with a race horse and the owner sees that the mule has a calming effect on the horse...so he keeps Francis in the neighboring stall. While Francis is hanging out with the horses, he learns all their problems and potential...and soon is giving Peter (Donald O'Connor) the winners for all the races. But there's more to the story than this...just watch it and see for yourself.

The story is fun...but the writing isn't quite up to the first movie's standards. Francis' dialog isn't as snappy or fun and the plot also is decent but nothing more. My advice is by all means watch it...but watch the first movie first. After all, if you start with "Francis Goes to the Races", you're likely not to be all that impressed and you'll stop there instead of seeing any of the other six films in the series.

This is the second in the Francis, the talking mule series. Picking up from the first one, we find Peter Stirling (Donald O'Connor) fired from his banking job. He ends up at some stable with some owner of a horse and his daughter-Frances, yes, they went there-who's played by a pretty young woman named Piper Laurie. As before, the premise is that Peter knows some info and when he's asked by various people, he hesitates at first because he knows they won't believe him but since they insists, he tells and is of course, isn't! This gets repetitious after a while so the only real laughs one gets from this is mainly at what wisecracks Chill Wills is made to say and the way he says them. Still, this was a pretty enjoyable entry and I liked hearing O'Connor sing a little at the end. So on that note, Francis Goes to the Races was pretty enjoyable. P.S. It was a nice surprise to see Hayden Rourke-best known to me as Dr. Bellows on "I Dream of Jeannie"-as one of the players. Also, Jesse White-best known to me as the Maytag repair man-as well.