Showing posts with label Mickey Rooney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mickey Rooney. Show all posts
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| Mickey! |
Mickey Rooney lived 93 years and left a lasting legacy of talent and fine comedic, musical and dramatic performances. Although he received two honorary Oscars, he never received a Lincoln Center Film Society tribute or similar honors, and was certainly more deserving than some of the recipients; now it's too late. But he had a legion of fans who will always remember him as one of the most talented players in Hollywood and on the stage [the long-running Sugar Babies].
Some of Rooney's more memorable performances were in Judge Hardy and Son; Little Lord Fauntleroy; Reckless; and a memorable episode of Night Gallery, among many, many, many others. Rooney was one of those performers whose presence added to the quality of a good movie, and who was often the best or only noteworthy thing in a bad one.
Farewell to a real trouper!
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| Maxwell, Hope and Rooney |
Wally Hogan (Bob Hope) is a fight manager who loses his only client, the champ, when his associates trick him into joining the Army. Hogan meets a fellow named Herbert Tuttle (Mickey Rooney), who hopes to become a boxer and gets Hogan to take him on. This puts a crimp in Hogan's romance with club owner and singer Connie (Marilyn Maxwell of The Show-Off), who is Herbert's aunt and doesn't want him to fight. It all leads to mostly forgettable complications. The picture was originally titled Military Police because the boys become MP's. As was the case with most of his movies, especially the later ones like this, Hope doesn't so much act as saunter jovially through the movie. Rooney, who actually does give a performance, is more subdued than usual. Hope's character has a bevy of marriage-minded women -- all of them hot babes, natch, who would normally be out of his league -- chasing after him while Rooney isn't even given a girlfriend. This is Hope's picture, and one suspects Rooney was never allowed to forget it, even though he's more appealing than ol' ski-nose. Maxwell is Maxwell. Eddie Mayehoff is the uptight but likable commanding officer. The best scene is a riotous and very well-choreographed free-for-all in Connie's club with virtually everyone swinging at somebody else. There's also a cat-fight between Carolyn Jones and another one of the ladies positively panting for Hope.
Verdict: Neither Hope nor Rooney's best but it has its moments, however few. **.
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| Andy (Mickey Rooney) on a dispirited burro |
An old flame calls Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) for help when she and her husband fear they'll lose their ranch over water rights. The judge takes the entire family with him to the west, and they sort of just move into this couple's ranch, make themselves at home, and raid the refrigerator as if they own the place. Marian Hardy (Cecelia Parker) falls for a rugged cowboy and widower named Ray (Gordon Jones of The Green Hornet), while his young daughter, "Jake" (Virginia Weidler), develops a crush on Andy (Mickey Rooney). Weidler and Rooney give the most memorable performances, but the others in the cast are swell, as Andy would put it. Fay Holden as Mrs. Hardy can't quite disguise her veddy proper British roots. Ralph Morgan [The Monster and the Ape] and Nana Bryant [Possessed] are the ranchers, and Tom Neal has a small role as a traffic violator in Judge Hardy's courtroom. An unusual aspect of this Hardy feature is that there are no beautiful starlets for Andy to play around and neck with.
Verdict: Pleasant time-waster: **1/2.