Down the Stretch

Down the Stretch (1936)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Questionable "B" picture from Warner about juvenile delinquent 'Snapper' Sinclair (Mickey Rooney), a kid who'd like to be a jockey but gets turned down everywhere because his father, also a jockey, threw a race and ruined the family name. A woman (Patricia Ellis) gives Snapper a second chance but sure enough he's caught up in a gambling racket where he's framed but this is where the film takes an even bigger turn. At just 66-minutes this film goes by fairly quickly and the cast keeps everything interesting but for the life of me I can't understand what the heck they were thinking with the final six-minutes of this film. I'm not going to ruin the ending but I'd love to hear any explanation as to why they ended the film the way they did as it pretty much goes against everything in the previous hour. For an entire hour we're given speeches about what's right and wrong and yet the film then does a complete turn and ends on such an idiotic nature that I really had to wonder if someone in the production lost a bet and had to come up with a dumb ending on purpose. Before that we've got a pretty good film as Rooney fits the role perfectly. I was a little surprised to see how laid-back and calm his performance was but it just shows that he doesn't have to be loud and cute to deliver a good performance. Ellis doesn't have the strongest role here but I enjoyed her when she was on screen. Dennis Moore has a small supporting role as does Willie Best but I'm sure most will probably be offended by his performance. The races in the film aren't shot too well and it's obvious when Rooney's stunt double is riding but this doesn't take away from the film too much. I think fans of Rooney will enjoy seeing his performance here but I think everyone will be scratching their heads once "The End" pops up on the screen.

I was terribly disappointed with the ending of this film, which diminished its entire purpose. You would think the writers would help Mickey Rooney live down the reputation of his father, a crooked jockey, with some redeeming act. Some may think his actions did that, but I certainly did not. I did enjoy the performance of Rooney, who I always felt was an underrated actor. Willie Best, who consistently made me laugh throughout the film despite being his stereotyped 1930's character, is also a big plus for the film.

In court, 'Snapper' Sinclair (Mickey Rooney) gets sentenced to reformatory. Race horse owner Patricia Barrington (Patricia Ellis) recognizes his name. It turns out that he's the son of legendary jockey Snapper Sinclair with a scandal. The Judge suspends the sentence and places the boy in Patricia's charge. Noah (Willie Best) works on her horse farm.

The initial starting premise is a little clunky, but the story is rather straight forward for the first half. Then there is a turn. How one looks at it depends on one's feelings about Willie Best. For me, he's always been doing dated comedy of its time. He's only good for comic relief and nothing else. I really don't like that he's instrumental in the plot turn and everything he does after that. I don't particularly like the ending either. All that frustrates me.