(There are Spoilers) Based on the Earnest Hemingway short story "My Old Man" the movie "Under My Skin" is about a mobbed up jockey who late in his life learns that being honest, especially to his son, will make up for the all the dishonest things that he's done all his life.
Dan Butler, John Garfield, has been on the run from both the mob-that he stiffed back in Italy- and the racing stewards for years in his both throwing and not throwing races that he rode in. Now in the City of Lights-Paris-Dan feels that he finally got it all together with a job waiting for him at the major racetracks as a top flight jockey. Dan also expects to have a place to stay provided to him by his good friend Claude who runs a major nightclub in the city.
As things turn out no owner or trainer wants Dan to race his horses because of his mob connections! As for his good friend Claude it turns out he was killed by the mob in his being associated with Dan in a race-fixing scandal that went wrong: The horse that was supposed to lose won!
In the film Dan get's involved with Clauds girlfriend Paule Manet, Micheline Presle, who now runs his Paris nightclub. Paule who at first hated Dan's guts for having her fiancée get murdered, by the mob, in his race-fixing scheme later gets to like him! That's when she meets his cute and cuddly ten year-old son Joe, Orley Lindgren, whom Paule ends up giving French speaking lessons to.
It's also in Paris that Dan meets up with mobster Louis Bork. Luther Adler, whom he stiffed back in Italy by winning, and not throwing, a race that he bet heavily against him. Without being able to get any mounts at the local racetracks Dan has to find some way to pay Bork off in order to prevent him and his henchmen from murdering him. It's later when Dan buys a horse, for almost nothing, that by being its both trainer and jockey he can finally get back into action and throw races for Bork to bet knowing that he'll always be out of the money. That's until little Joe gets the winless horse, in having him become a jumper not runner, into tip top shape and in the winners circle!
Despite it's short duration, under 90 minutes, the movie drags at times in it's constantly focusing on Dan and Paule's relationship which comes across as phony as a three dollar bill. I couldn't for a moment believe that Paule would have anything to do with Dan not in that he was indirectly responsible for the murder of her boyfriend,and Dan's good friend, Claude but his shoddy treatment of her, until the last ten or so minutes, all throughout the film.
***SPOILERS*** It was in the end that Dan finally gets it all together in what turned out to be his final race, the 4 1/4 mile Steeplechase Classic Grand Prix, where he went all out to win, despite being threatened by Bork with death if he did, and redeemed himself; not only to Joe Paule and the racing public but him-crooked jockey Dan Butler-as well!
John Garfield who suffered from heart disease all his life was hospitalized during the filming of "Under My Skin" with a near fatal heart-attack that laid him up in bed for some three months. It was two years later that Garfield sadly passed away when his weak heart finally gave out-on May 21 1952-mostly due the pressures of the House UnAmerican committee's in hounding him literally into his grave for his involvement with Communist Front Groups. Political and society active groups That he, in not knowing that they were Communists, was an unwitting member of.
Dan Butler, John Garfield, has been on the run from both the mob-that he stiffed back in Italy- and the racing stewards for years in his both throwing and not throwing races that he rode in. Now in the City of Lights-Paris-Dan feels that he finally got it all together with a job waiting for him at the major racetracks as a top flight jockey. Dan also expects to have a place to stay provided to him by his good friend Claude who runs a major nightclub in the city.
As things turn out no owner or trainer wants Dan to race his horses because of his mob connections! As for his good friend Claude it turns out he was killed by the mob in his being associated with Dan in a race-fixing scandal that went wrong: The horse that was supposed to lose won!
In the film Dan get's involved with Clauds girlfriend Paule Manet, Micheline Presle, who now runs his Paris nightclub. Paule who at first hated Dan's guts for having her fiancée get murdered, by the mob, in his race-fixing scheme later gets to like him! That's when she meets his cute and cuddly ten year-old son Joe, Orley Lindgren, whom Paule ends up giving French speaking lessons to.
It's also in Paris that Dan meets up with mobster Louis Bork. Luther Adler, whom he stiffed back in Italy by winning, and not throwing, a race that he bet heavily against him. Without being able to get any mounts at the local racetracks Dan has to find some way to pay Bork off in order to prevent him and his henchmen from murdering him. It's later when Dan buys a horse, for almost nothing, that by being its both trainer and jockey he can finally get back into action and throw races for Bork to bet knowing that he'll always be out of the money. That's until little Joe gets the winless horse, in having him become a jumper not runner, into tip top shape and in the winners circle!
Despite it's short duration, under 90 minutes, the movie drags at times in it's constantly focusing on Dan and Paule's relationship which comes across as phony as a three dollar bill. I couldn't for a moment believe that Paule would have anything to do with Dan not in that he was indirectly responsible for the murder of her boyfriend,and Dan's good friend, Claude but his shoddy treatment of her, until the last ten or so minutes, all throughout the film.
***SPOILERS*** It was in the end that Dan finally gets it all together in what turned out to be his final race, the 4 1/4 mile Steeplechase Classic Grand Prix, where he went all out to win, despite being threatened by Bork with death if he did, and redeemed himself; not only to Joe Paule and the racing public but him-crooked jockey Dan Butler-as well!
John Garfield who suffered from heart disease all his life was hospitalized during the filming of "Under My Skin" with a near fatal heart-attack that laid him up in bed for some three months. It was two years later that Garfield sadly passed away when his weak heart finally gave out-on May 21 1952-mostly due the pressures of the House UnAmerican committee's in hounding him literally into his grave for his involvement with Communist Front Groups. Political and society active groups That he, in not knowing that they were Communists, was an unwitting member of.