Vocation secrète

I couldn't give this film a 10 primarily because I didn't know how accurately this film captured its subject. For example, I never knew that jockey's had Agents, although I suspected the more successful ones had someone to represent and manage their contracts. I enjoyed watching this film recently on TCM for the first time. It was a very enjoyable film, and I thought one of William Holden's best acting performances, which means credit should also go to the Director.

Unlike nearly ever sports film I have ever seen, I wasn't certain who was going to win the race. In most other films about sport, there never seems to be a doubt as to who will finish first or win, whether its Rocky or Seabiscuit. Seabiscuit was based on a real and famous horse. Obviously it was going to win most of his races. I purchased Seabiscuit on a DVD and was disappointed, because I doubt I will ever watch it again.

Boots Malone was one of the few films about sports that I could not guess the outcome. Wining the race, was not central to the film's theme,which was about the friendship that developed between a young, naive, rich kid, who had every material thing, but lacked something that money can't buy.

Holden's character is a cynical, far from lovable cad who tries to steal the kid's money the first time they meet. I thought his character was a little like Robert Louis Stevenson's Long John Silver, a cad by any measure, but someone that the kid couldn't hate. Like Long John, Malone continually acts in his own interests. In the last moments of the film, he tries to talk the kid into throwing the race, and one has to wonder whether the kid will, because of his devotion to Holden. The viewer really doesn't know who to root for because a win means serious trouble for Holden from the gamblers. Gamblers are a pox to any sport because they make their living with fixes and threats to anyone who can give them an edge in betting and profits. I do know something about that problem.

This film was one of Holden's best. David Lean didn't get as good a performance from Holden in Bridge on the River Kwai

This film reminds me of Holden's early performance in Rachel and the Stranger in which Holden demonstrates his ability as an actor capable of moving his role from one position to another.

For the critics who didn't like this film, I would offer the comment that this film made in 1952 and bad year for the movies, and was not high budget film. Holden was not a big star, and the film had to rely on some great number of familiar character actors. The "kid" was also a tough role to play, and he didn't measure up to star quality as evidence by his quick disappearance from film. A movie without sex, or violence that couldn't be shown on TV was not likely to make a splash, considering that Holden's career didn't get jump started until Stalag 17. I thought Holden, as an actor, was better in this relatively obscure film. The Oscar's have a spotty record of picking out the best performances. Making up for past mistakes seems to be a tradition on Oscar night.

Perhaps this was the case in 1952 and 1953.

Stars bill holden. The 1950s were HUGE for him; he had just made sunset boulevard, and would go on to make sabrina and stalag 17. Won the oscar for stalag. Here, he's a washed up jockey's agent. His star jockey died, so now he's sleeping in the back room. Until a kid (johnny stewart) shows up who wants to be a rider. And that keeps malone around for a while. The gangsters show up and want to control the outcome. It's pretty contrived, but i'm sure stuff like this actually did happen. There's always someone looking to make a buck! Small roles for harry morgan (from dragnet and MASH), and stan clements. It's all cute, and silly, and over the top. The kid has kind of run away from home. Will they ever contact his mother? Can he learn to ride? Directed by william dieterle. Clement died young at 55. He was married to beautiful gloria grahame for three years! Grahame also died young at 57. The kid (stewart) seems to have had about ten roles in the 1950s, and then disappeared. The film is okay, if the story is a bit silly. P.s. The goose is home is a line from the movie!

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.

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.

William Holden (he's Boots) is an agent for jockeys (horse, not disc); he's in debt, and out-of-luck. Along comes young Johnny Stewart (he's Tommy) - skipping school during Easter vacation, he wants to ride the horses. Mr. Holden senses the Kid has money, and decides to take him for a ride. He allows the runaway to stay with himself and pal Stanley Clements (he's Stash). Unbeknownst to Holden, the Kid takes him for the ride of his life.

An indispensable film, for several reasons, chief among them:

#1 -- The amazing performance of Johnny Stewart, mainly; though, everyone is fine. I did wonder, though, what Holden was thinking in some of the emotional scenes with Stewart - Holden looked, perhaps, a little dumbfounded at the younger actor's flawless performance. Production cast and crew should be credited; and, obviously, director William Dieterle.

#2 -- The apparently realistic backdrop of horse-racing, jockeys, and Dellington Park. If this isn't accurate, it sure seems close enough. To top that off, the movie uses the setting to effectively tell a bigger story. It's not that difficult to figure out, but you'll get the full picture in a brief scene between Tommy the Kid and the crusty old trainer Preacher (Basil Ruysdael).

The film takes some relieving trips off the beaten track. For example, the "Big Race" at the end is tremendous because you aren't sure what Stewart is going to do; and, the whole "mother falls in love with the boy's hero…" solution is dispensed with.

Highly recommended.

********* Boots Malone (1/11/52) William Dieterle ~ William Holden, Johnny Stewart, Stanley Clements, Basil Ruysdael