Billy Coy or Mickey Moran or Whitey Marsh or Jimmy Connors. It didn't matter. From 1936 to 1952, his characters were always a variation of Andy Hardy, and it wasn't until he had some bad luck post World War II that he began to try to change his image and become a real actor who wasn't some variation of himself, the veteran show-off. Still youthful looking, he's taken a bit of a fall going into the independent productions of films like this and "Quicksand" (where he actually toned it down a bit and seems more like a real person than a wind-up person), and it's not really an irony that his on-screen mother here is played by the original Ma Hardy, Spring Byington. As a hot shot race car driver who has yet to grow up, he returns to his hometown, befriending his late father's old pal (a very good Thomas Mitchell) and dating his tomboy mechanic daughter, Mary Hatcher.
I must admit that I had a big smile come across my face by the presence of Hattie McDaniel looking gorgeous in a satin dress, her final big movie role, briefly playing Beulah before her untimely death. She's very funny laughing at Hatcher trying to walk in high heels. Byington does what she can with the thankless mother role, but Mitchell gets the best material, with a truly fleshed out character that is interesting to watch. Rooney is fine as long as he's not slipping into his standard schtick. The racing sequences are intensely filmed and the atmosphere for the most part outside of a few serious incidents at the track is light-hearted. But this is second string programmer stuff for sure, not really interesting for mainstream audiences but definitely a must for a sporting event I find deadly dull.
I must admit that I had a big smile come across my face by the presence of Hattie McDaniel looking gorgeous in a satin dress, her final big movie role, briefly playing Beulah before her untimely death. She's very funny laughing at Hatcher trying to walk in high heels. Byington does what she can with the thankless mother role, but Mitchell gets the best material, with a truly fleshed out character that is interesting to watch. Rooney is fine as long as he's not slipping into his standard schtick. The racing sequences are intensely filmed and the atmosphere for the most part outside of a few serious incidents at the track is light-hearted. But this is second string programmer stuff for sure, not really interesting for mainstream audiences but definitely a must for a sporting event I find deadly dull.