Main Cast: Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Sophie Tucker, C. Aubrey Smith, Ronald Sinclair
Release Year: 1937
Country: US
Run Time: 80 minutes
Plot
Young Roger Calverton (Ronald Sinclair) and his uncle Sir Peter Calverton (Sir C. Aubrey Smith) bring their prize race-horse The Pookah to America, hoping to win a major purse and save their impoverished family estate. They cross paths with Tim Donahue (Mickey Rooney), one of the top young jockeys in the business, and also with Cricket West (Judy Garland), the niece of Mother Ralph (Sophie Tucker), who runs the boarding house where Donahue resides. Cricket likes to sing every chance she gets, and also has a terrible crush on Tim, but even she can't abide his brash, cocky attitude about himself -- and as a good hostess and also a sensible girl, she also gets just a tiny bit smitten with Roger. He and Tim have a rough first meeting but find that they do sort of like each other, and soon Tim -- who has had a tough, hard-scrabble life -- becomes very close to his new friend from England and to Sir Peter, especially when he finds out how much they love horses and racing. He agrees to ride The Pookah -- but then the young jockey is suckered by his estranged father (Charles D. Brown), a low-life member of a gambling syndicate, into throwing the race. This leads to a tragedy that forces Tim to walk away from his profession and everyone he knows, until Cricket finds him and convinces the boy that what he did wasn't entirely his fault, and that he still has the power to make up for a part of it. Tim steals some of the money he gave his father -- supposedly to save the man's life -- to help Roger get The Pookah into another race, but he still has to overcome the machinations of the mob so he can right the wrong he did to the best friends he's ever had. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Review
First time viewers of Thoroughbreds Don't Cry may be surprised to discover that Judy Garland is hardly the star of the movie -- indeed, she's not too much more than a featured supporting player. But that's of little matter -- she does enough with that role, and the screen time that she does have to hold her own with Mickey Rooney, and the chemistry between them is there, albeit in embryonic form. Alfred E. Green brings the same mix of energy and sincerity to this movie that he later brought to The Jackie Robinson Story, only with great force and potency, and with a good script -- Mickey Rooney gets a very juicy part and runs with it for all it's worth -- the picture is pretty engrossing on its own terms. The character relationships are interesting, the portrayals are very good, and the fact that this was the first pairing of Rooney and Garland in the same picture is almost incidental to its appeal. Sir C. Aubrey Smith and Ronald Sinclair play key roles that are just as important as either of their parts, as does Sophie Tucker in a meaty role as a boarding house owner. Between the lively horse-racing background and the charismatic players, this remains one of the most enjoyable of MGM's mid-1930's vehicles. Additionally, Garland -- then all of 14 years old -- is so charming, that the movie is worth seeing just for her. And the movie offers a glimpse of Ronald Sinclair, a child actor who didn't quite make it to major stardom, in one of his more pleasing and well-written roles. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Dolly Tree - Costume Designer, Alfred E. Green - Director, Elmo Vernon - Editor, Dr. William Axt - Composer (Music Score), Dr. William Axt - Musical Direction/Supervision, Nacio Herb Brown - Songwriter, Arthur Freed - Songwriter, Leonard Smith - Cinematographer, Harry Rapf - Producer, Eleanore Griffin - Screen Story, J. Walter Ruben - Screen Story, Lawrence Hazard - Screenwriter
