The Great Dan Patch

Surprisingly good.

Gail Russell is always wonderful and she's fine in this. She's one of the best. When you think how she died at such a young age from alcoholism, it's tragic. (For more details on her life, see the 12-minute documentary about her on the DVD release of Seven Men from Now.)

She's the main reason I went looking for this movie, and I wasn't disappointed.

Any movie with some of my favorite actors all working in the same scene is worth watching. Seeing John Hoyt, Henry Hull, and Gail Russell in several scenes together...a delight.

The movie's also got Ruth Warrick (the wife in Citizen Kane), Charlotte Greenwood, Dennis O'Keefe, Arthur Honeycutt, Clarence Muse, Harry Lauter, Davis Roberts, and Earle Hodgins in a tiny role (one line)--all of them among my favorites and all of them highly enjoyable.

The story's not bad and those performances are first rate.

One of the only drawbacks is a typical one of the times when this was made: the black characters are all subservient, but they were at least treated by the other characters and by the story itself with respect and they've got some depth of character to play.

The script gets a little preachy toward the end, laying in a message about a mismatched marriage, and it's a message we've already gotten in this story well before the ending.

One thing really stands out in the performances, something true to the era the story's set in, the late 1890s and early 1900s. People in those days held a lot back, they didn't just gush their emotions out. And the actors are subtle. They hold back a lot. The first scene between father and son (Hull and O'Keefe) is impressive. The joy at their reunion is there, but they keep it inside and don't make a show of it. Same with the relationship between the trainer and his daughter (Hoyt and Russell): restrained, but full of unspoken words and emotions. All the characters perform with the same restraint, the same modulation. The director, Joseph Newman, must've had a hand in that.

Satisfying family fare.

This feature is a solid drama based loosely on the career of the famous race horse Dan Patch, with a good emphasis on the lives of the persons who owned and trained him. Although it certainly emphasizes what a unique and nearly unbeatable horse Dan Patch was, it looks even more closely at the dramas taking place among the human characters.

Much of the story focuses on the son (played by Dennis O'Keefe) of the horse's original owner, who is torn between a successful career and an ambitious wife on the one hand, and his passion for horses and attachment to old friends on the other. The supporting cast does a good job, with Henry Hull as the father, John Hoyt as the old-time horse trainer, and Gail Russell as the trainer's daughter. Ruth Warrick also succeeds in the thankless role of O'Keefe's wife.

Although most of the production is done in a very straightforward manner, it still works all right because the issues faced by the characters are easy to identify with. Aside from being somewhat predictable and sometimes a bit plain-looking, it's a solid feature.

This movie is about 30% accurate, but manages to capture the essence and appeal of the big horse, Dan Patch. The horse was unbeaten in 11 years of racing on the track and, by all accounts, kind and gentle off the track. The level of the horses appeal can be measured by the fact that the day after the horse died, the owner, M. W. Savage, also died. I believe the two female leads turn, Gail Russell and Ruth Warwick turned in exceptional performances, with Ms. Warwick giving a performance of award-Winning caliber. Maybe Claire Trevor deserved the best supporting actress Oscar that year, but I think Ms. Warwick deserved at least a nomination. The rest of the cast gave workmanlike performances. Truth may be stranger than fiction, but, in this case, fiction can make a better movie than fact.

Yes, generally this was a "nice" classic-era tale, the kind you don't often see post-1960s film but as a big, big fan of horse racing, I was disappointed.

Since "Dan Patch" has such a famous name in his sport, I was hoping to see all the details on film. Instead, what I got was mainly melodrama, a story about a guy (Dennis O'Keefe as "David Palmer") married to a social- climbing wife (Ruth Warrick as "Ruth Treadwell") but really more interested in another woman. The latter, "Cissy Lathrop," is a nicer, warmer lady whom the male lead should have married in the first place, but, she didn't come along early enough in the man's life. He had already committed to the annoying and too ambitious "Ruth."

Anyway, the only good thing about the romance angle was seeing the pretty face of Gail Russell (Cissy), but I'd rather have witnessed a lot more horse racing story in here than what was found. By the way, has there ever been a stable hand that looked Russell? I doubt it.

At least she, the old harness racing buggies, a few of the racing scenes and fairgrounds-type atmosphere were all nostalgic. But, it really wasn't much of a "sports film," which was I hoped to see.

I got this movie in a package and thought that it did not look like anything that I would like. I'd never seen Dennis O'Keefe, who is quite watchable... He plays a pretty good role, as does Ruth Warwick as his highly unlikeable, social climbing wife... Lots of good character parts, although the woman that Dennis thinks of leaving his wife for is a bit on the boring side, tho true blue. This is no Seabiscuit, and there are no huge surprises; however, for a fluff movie, the issues of divorce and possible adultery are quite intriguing (for the era). So you see, I thought the movie was much more about the people. I can't quite tell if my comments look as if I liked the movie or not... I did like the movie.