Good Horse Racing Movies?

Films, TV shows, and books of the 'modern' era
clore
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Re: Good Horse Racing Movies?

Post by clore »

There's a 1940 film titled SPORTING BLOOD on TCM tomorrow afternoon. No relation to the earlier film of the same title, it stars Robert Young and Maureen O'Sullivan.
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: Good Horse Racing Movies?

Post by Rita Hayworth »

clore wrote:There's a 1940 film titled SPORTING BLOOD on TCM tomorrow afternoon. No relation to the earlier film of the same title, it stars Robert Young and Maureen O'Sullivan.
Thanks Clore, for pointing it out to us ... appreciate it very much! :)
clore
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Re: Good Horse Racing Movies?

Post by clore »

You're welcome - it's one that I've never managed to see, so I'm looking forward to it.

And then the next day is The Preakness, but I doubt that I'll be wagering on it. I want Orb to win, but the odds will be too low. I had him in the Derby and we'll never see those odds on him again.

Four years ago, TCM had a nice line-up on the day before the Derby:



1 Friday
6:00 AM Sporting Blood (1931)
A horse passes through a series of owners on the road to the Kentucky Derby. Cast: Clark Gable, Ernest Torrence, Madge Evans. Dir: Charles Brabin. BW-82 mins, TV-G

7:30 AM Racing Lady (1937)
A millionaire hires a lady trainer for his stables. Cast: Ann Dvorak, Smith Ballew, Harry Carey. Dir: Wallace Fox. BW-59 mins, TV-G

8:45 AM Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937)
A young jockey goes crooked to land a valuable riding job. Cast: Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Sophie Tucker. Dir: Alfred E. Green. BW-80 mins, TV-G, CC

10:15 AM Pride Of The Bluegrass (1939)
A jockey trains a blind horse for the Grand National. Cast: Edith Fellows, James McCallion, Granville Bates. Dir: William McGann. BW-65 mins, TV-G

11:30 AM Harrigan's Kid (1943)
A disgraced jockey teaches a boy to ride and cheat. Cast: Bobby Readick, Frank Craven, William Gargan. Dir: Charles F. Reisner. BW-80 mins, TV-PG

1:00 PM Story Of Seabiscuit, The (1949)
Fictionalized account of the legendary racehorse's training and triumphs. Cast: Shirley Temple, Barry Fitzgerald, Lon McCallister. Dir: David Butler. C-93 mins, TV-G, CC

2:45 PM Girl In Every Port, A (1952)
Two sailors invest in a racehorse. Cast: Groucho Marx, Marie Wilson, William Bendix. Dir: Chester Erskine. BW-87 mins, TV-G, CC

4:30 PM Fast Company (1953)
The heiress to a racing stable uncovers underhanded dealings. Cast: Howard Keel, Nina Foch, Polly Bergen. Dir: John Sturges. BW-68 mins, TV-G, CC

6:00 PM Glory (1956)
A young woman's devotion to her racehorse creates romantic problems. Cast: Margaret O'Brien, Walter Brennan, Charlotte Greenwood. Dir: David Butler. C-100 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format
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moira finnie
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Re: Good Horse Racing Movies?

Post by moira finnie »

Thanks alot for the info on Sporting Blood on the TCM schedule and that great list of horse racing movies--I've only seen some!

Say, clore, who's that handsome dude in your avatar?
Avatar: Frank McHugh (1898-1981)

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clore
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Re: Good Horse Racing Movies?

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moirafinnie wrote:Thanks alot for the info on Sporting Blood on the TCM schedule and that great list of horse racing movies--I've only seen some!

Say, clore, who's that handsome dude in your avatar?

Oh thank you, you're my new best friend. That's me some 30 years ago. Believe it or not, it was my driver's license photo. I recently found it while cleaning out some stuff and had someone scan it so I could add it to my Facebook album. It will have to do in lieu of a decent shot of me as I appear presently.

Notice I said decent shot, I may put up a present one eventually, but I don't want to frighten anyone.
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moira finnie
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Re: Good Horse Racing Movies?

Post by moira finnie »

clore wrote:
moirafinnie wrote:Thanks alot for the info on Sporting Blood on the TCM schedule and that great list of horse racing movies--I've only seen some!

Say, clore, who's that handsome dude in your avatar?

Oh thank you, you're my new best friend. That's me some 30 years ago. Believe it or not, it was my driver's license photo. I recently found it while cleaning out some stuff and had someone scan it so I could add it to my Facebook album. It will have to do in lieu of a decent shot of me as I appear presently.

Notice I said decent shot, I may put up a present one eventually, but I don't want to frighten anyone.
Ha! It's just fine--I thought it might have been a photo of the Beau Brummel of the 1980s or one of James Bond's colleagues at MI5. Thanks for sharing that one and you should thank your lucky stars you have had at least one drivers license pics that looked really well groomed and not like a mug shot. I will have to try to unearth one my old pics from the '70s when I had really big red hair (it was uncontrollable then and I still believe that whoever invented hot rollers should get the Nobel Prize). My 'do was charitably called my "Irish afro" by my nearest and dearest who found hours of mirth pointing and laughing at it. :| :oops: :wink:
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clore
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Re: Good Horse Racing Movies?

Post by clore »

I only found that photo while looking for another one from a driver's license of about 10 years earlier vintage. With much longer hair and a beard, I ended up looking like Charles Manson in that pic.
clore
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Re: Good Horse Racing Movies?

Post by clore »

kingrat wrote: And clore, congrats for the win bet on Orb. I'm hoping he'll win the Preakness. Too bad he drew the #1 post.
Well, I don't deserve the credit for that, it all goes to the horse. I had posted two hours before the race that I was tossed between Orb and Itsmyluckyday. My criteria for the wager was that if I could get 5/1 on Orb, that was the way I was going. I didn't expect the other horse to go off at the short price that he did, but the public was sending it in and that helped to keep Orb from going down to the morning line odds of 7/2.

As for his chances tomorrow, even with that post, I think he's a winner. I just watched SPORTING BLOOD and in the film they made much of some horses not being competitive enough to pass another horse. With Orb, I think it's the opposite, he strikes me as the type that the other horses let pass them. He's not a one-run horse, he's a stalker and as long as he's within 5 lengths of the leader turning for home, I think that he can do it tomorrow.

I want to see another Triple Crown winner, I think that the sport needs a champion, a superstar to generate new fans.

An odd thing about today's movie - we had a filly against colts and nothing was made of that. Even as late as the 70s when I started consuming handicapping books, that was one of the "rules" that was constantly harped upon - you don't bet a filly against a colt. I'm something of a contrarian, so I didn't pay much attention to that but rarely did I have the opportunity to put that into practice - trainers pretty much adhered to that.
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rerun
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Re: Good Horse Racing Movies?

Post by rerun »

clore wrote:SEABISCUIT is the best that I've seen, and this is coming from someone who has been handicapping thoroughbreds for 40 years.

PHAR LAP is another good one, and there's a link between this horse and Seabiscuit. Phar Lap's jockey Billy Elliott gave his saddle to George Woolf, the rider who subbed for the injured Red Pollard on Seabiscuit. Woolf used the saddle from then on, except for his very last race. In that race, Woolf was thrown from his horse and died the next day.

I sure wish that TCM would dig up WALL OF NOISE, a WB film about a trainer at Hollywood Park. It's been close to 50 years since i've seen it. SALTY O'ROURKE is a MIA Alad Ladd film that was directed by throughbred owner Raoul Walsh and also features frequent movie jockey Stanley Clements who was also in BOOTS MALONE with William Holden.

Capra's BROADWAY BILL deserves mention, as well as RIDING HIGH, Capra's own remake that serves up a ton of footage from the earlier film, including whole scenes just lifted from the original. Capra also rehired at least a half-dozen actors for the new footage, most match well except for Ward Bond. Nothing was done to hide the fact that his hair was turning white.
Unfortunately, usually, true to life horse racing movies did not sell. The movie world was inundated with fictionalized stories of racing that the non race people could identify with. My husband rode races for 20 years at 32 different race tracks and he says, finally there is one that pretty much tells it like it is and that was Seabiscuit. (not the Shirley Temple one of course). Laura Hillenbrand did a world of research on the story and although the book was great and films seldom do books justice, it was a fine movie. We have seen it 5 times in a theater and heavens knows how many more times on TV.
[color=#0000BF][i]Avatar: John Cantarini (Martha's husband) on future world record holder Crazy Kid. He won six in a row
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: Good Horse Racing Movies?

Post by Rita Hayworth »

Champions - 1984 Movie Starring John Hurt.


The true story of Bob Champion, a British steeple chase jockey who, in the late 1970s, was diagnosed with cancer. Rather than succumb to the disease, however, Bob stages a miraculous recovery and goes on to win the 1981 Grand National steeple chase on the horse Aldaniti.


I'm going to be watching this movie this Saturday with many friends of mine and I just grew fond of this movie back when it's first came out and its one of the most dearest horse racing movies made. It's a true story of Bob Champion and I will be writing a review of this movie sometimes on Sunday. Stay Tuned.
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: Good Horse Racing Movies?

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Rita Hayworth wrote:Champions - 1984 Movie Starring John Hurt.


The true story of Bob Champion, a British steeple chase jockey who, in the late 1970s, was diagnosed with cancer. Rather than succumb to the disease, however, Bob stages a miraculous recovery and goes on to win the 1981 Grand National steeple chase on the horse Aldaniti.


I'm going to be watching this movie this Saturday with many friends of mine and I just grew fond of this movie back when it's first came out and its one of the most dearest horse racing movies made. It's a true story of Bob Champion and I will be writing a review of this movie sometimes on Sunday. Stay Tuned.

This is a well-rounded film that John Hurt acted and I enjoyed it so much that I would recommended this movie to all of you here and its has a great cast as well and its a great mixture of auto-biography, drama, and romance. I find it's inspiring and moving too. The only stars that I recognized are John Hurt that played Bob Champion, Edward Woodward who played Josh Gifford (he was really good in this film), Ben Johnson as Burly Cocks and I was a bit surprised to see him this film, Kristie Alley as Barbara, and Allison Steadman that played Mary Hussey and everyone of these performers did a commendable job in this film.

Sorry, that this review took so long.
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Lucky Vassall
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Re: Good Horse Racing Movies?

Post by Lucky Vassall »

My favorite horse race is the climax of The Reivers. A great film of a great classic by one of our greatest authors, William Faulkner.

Now, because I like to bend the rules to see if they'll break, allow me to recommend a surprisingly great "race" film: Breaking Away. Okay, so the horses were made of steel, it's still one of the best and a well-deserved Oscar winner, thanks largely to the magnificent performance by Paul Dooley.
[size=85]AVATAR: Billy DeWolfe as Mrs. Murgatroid, “Blue Skies” (1946)

[b]“My ancestors came over on the Mayflower.”
“You’re lucky. Now they have immigration laws."[/b]
[i]Mae West, The Heat’s On” (1943[/i])

[b]:–)—[/b]
Pinoc-U-no(se)[/size]
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