Boots Malone

William Holden plays the titular Boots Malone, a once-premier jockey’s agent who’s gone from living in the Ritz to living in the stables. Malone’s deep in hock with his bookie, and thinking of leaving town when a 15-year-old runaway named Tommy comes into a diner and tries to pay for his meal with a c-note. With eyes full of dollar signs, Malone takes the kid under his wing, intent on riding the gravy train.

We know where this story is going. Young Tommy will break through Malone’s cynical shell and the two will forge a father-son relationship. This film is more literal than most in that when young Tommy registers for his first race he does so under the name of Tommy Malone, but that’s okay.

Boots Malone may not be a good film, but it is an interesting one. From claim races to saddle sizes, we learn a lot about horse racing. Shot on real race tracks, the sets are hot, dusty, and you can almost smell the horses. If only the melodrama were as realistic.

The problem lies with Johnny Stewart’s portrayal of Tommy Gibson. He’s only serviceable until he’s called upon to show any kind of emotion, at which point his dials go from one to ten with nothing in between. We’re expected to care about his character, yet within such a nuanced and believable world, his emoting reduces his character to a plot device, and Boots Malone to an also-ran.