Le petit bagarreur

Hoosier Schoolboy was obviously a title that Monogram Pictures dreamed up to get people into the movie theater thinking they were seeing some Booth Tarkington piece of nostalgia. What the film is about is a paralyzing milk strike that's affecting a small Indiana town. William Gould is the owner of a dairy that's the chief employer in the town and he's squeezing the dairy farmers. They in turn have unionized.

That's the background for the story involving Mickey Rooney as a kid from the wrong side of the tracks who lives with his shell shocked father from the First World War, Edward Pawley. He's constantly picked on because of his father until newly assigned teacher Anne Nagel takes an interest in him. She also has an interest in Gould's son Frank Shields.

It's not Tarkington flavored Hoosier nostalgia, but Hoosier Schoolboy is the kind of working class drama done far better at Warner Brothers. No reflection on Mickey Rooney who just left us and gives a fine performance. But I'm sure he missed the trappings of MGM.

"This easygoing rural drama stars Mickey Rooney as a young boy who idolizes his father, a shell-shocked alcoholic war veteran. The boy must protect his dad against the recriminations of the townsfolk," according to the DVD sleeve, "An understanding schoolteacher comes along to rescue Rooney and his father from a life of poverty." She arrives in the Indiana town in the middle of a milk farmer's strike.

In his last really low-budget (ie Monogram) feature before super-stardom, Mr. Rooney is refreshingly natural and scrappy as the typical "bad boy" saved by a good-natured soul. That role is supplied by sweet, pretty history teacher Anne Nagel (as Mary Evans). Her tentative romance with handsome Frank Shields (Brooke Shield's tennis pro grandfather) and the strikers' subplot tie the storyline together neatly.

***** Hoosier Schoolboy (7/7/37) William Nigh ~ Mickey Rooney, Anne Nagel, Frank Shields, Edward Pawley

"Hoosier Schoolboy" is a film most notable because it stars Mickey Rooney. Although he would soon gain great fame with MGM, this was made for the ultra-low budget studio Monogram--and it shows. While the film has some very nice elements, it also seems incredibly rushed and falls a bit flat. Even for a B-movie, it's a bit underwhelming--though some of the acting is nice.

The film has several different plots--and they all center on some crappy little town. One plot involves the owner of the dairy. He's a real jerk and has decided to put the local dairy farmers out of business-- even if it costs him a fortune. Eventually his son joins forces with the farmers, as he's come to realize that his father is a jerk. There's also the new school teacher who has taken a real liking to a kid that others on the faculty think is bad news (Rooney) and she reforms him. And, then there's the father of the boy--a drunk who won the Medal of Honor. And, there's the bratty son of the dairy owner...in fact, there are SO many plots that they never really seem resolved when the movie very abruptly ends. It's a shame, as if the film was about 30 minutes longer, this all could have worked out well--as is, the film, at the end, was frustrating despite having a lot of good story elements and acting.

Shockey Carter "Mickey Rooney" is the school bad boy. He fights with everyone and even knocks the books out of the hands of girls. His teacher wants to save him. Problem, Carter's father is a drunk. Teacher first must save the father. Mission to achieving this is a job for the dad. This film should have kept the plot of bad boy vs caring teacher. Half way thru the film a total new direction. Evil businessman vs the striking workers of his business. Two plots in one movie with the second one sinking the film the drain.

Mickey Rooney headlines this Monogram quickie made just months after filming the first entry in his wildly successful Andy Hardy series at MGM (A Family Affair), a showcase that would make him Hollywood's #1 box office draw. Don't be fooled by Hoosier's low-budget feel for it's a pleaser, Mick playing his trademark troubled teen who, if Shockey can catch a break, will turn a new leaf. The divine Anne Nagel whose passing star should've risen as high as Rooney's, impresses as the town's new teacher, arriving during a labor dispute and a template of sorts for Tracy's Father Flanagan, while her romantic interest is cast by tennis star, Frank Shields. The film is noteworthy for 1) how love inspires, and 2) an early treatment of PTSD exhibited by Shockey's dad (Pawley) after heroics earning him the Medal of Honor. Short (62m) but engaging and illuminating, yet, a movie mostly forgotten (3/4).