Boots Malone (1952)
Approved | 1h 42min | Drama, Sport | 4 July 1952 (Sweden)
Boots Malone is jockey's agent and a bit of a wheeler-dealer who went from living at the Ritz to living in a room at the stables when his star jockey was killed in an accident. After nearly... See full summary »
Milton Holmes, Harold Buchman
William Holden, Stanley Clements, Basil Ruysdael | See full cast & crew »
Holden Has Two 'Wild' Movies Tonight
The Bravura Sequence
12 December 2011 | MUBI
Cinerama 1952
All The 1950's (Long And Short) Films I've Seen In My Whole Life
Search for "Boots Malone" on Amazon.com
Title: Boots Malone (1952)
Toward the Unknown (1956)
Drama | History | Romance
At the dawn of supersonic flight in the 1950s a group of Edwards Air Force Base experimental aircraft test pilots push themselves to the limit.
Stars: William Holden, Lloyd Nolan, Virginia Leith
I Wanted Wings (1941)
Story follows the training and personal lives of three recruits in the Army Air Corps --- a wealthy playboy, a college jock and an auto mechanic. Love interest is supplied by a female ... See full summary »
Stars: Ray Milland, William Holden, Wayne Morris
The Turning Point (1952)
Jerry McKibbon is a tough, no nonsense reporter, mentoring special prosecutor John Conroy in routing out corrupt officials in the city, which may even include Conroy's own police detective father as a suspect.
Director: William Dieterle
Stars: William Holden, Edmond O'Brien, Alexis Smith
Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949)
A newly hired dumb secretary working for a bookie masquerading as a Realtor causes unintended hilarious troubles for her employer.
Director: Lloyd Bacon
Stars: Lucille Ball, William Holden, Janis Carter
The 7th Dawn (1964)
Adventure | Drama | War
Political and personal intrigues surround a group of characters in Malaya, after the close of the Second World War.
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Stars: William Holden, Susannah York, Capucine
Union Station (1950)
A sharp-eyed woman spots a man with a gun on a train and her alert to the railroad police helps them in their search for a ruthless gang who have kidnapped a blind heiress.
Director: Rudolph Maté
Stars: William Holden, Nancy Olson, Barry Fitzgerald
Apartment for Peggy (1948)
A retired professor rents his attic apartment to pregnant Peggy and her GI-Bill-student husband. The professor ponders if his life is no longer useful while the young couple faces the challenges shared with many WW II veterans' families.
Director: George Seaton
Stars: Jeanne Crain, William Holden, Edmund Gwenn
The Proud and Profane (1956)
In the Pacific during WWII, a Roman Catholic widow falls for a tough lieutenant colonel.
Stars: William Holden, Deborah Kerr, Thelma Ritter
Dear Ruth (1947)
A family is befuddled when a World War II serviceman shows up to meet and marry his pen pal sweetheart. Everyone's in the dark about the romance by mail. Then they discover Ruth's younger sister was the culprit.
Director: William D. Russell
Stars: Joan Caulfield, William Holden, Mona Freeman
Force of Arms (1951)
During World War II in Italy, an American sergeant and WAC lieutenant take time out for romance.
Stars: William Holden, Nancy Olson, Frank Lovejoy
Alvarez Kelly (1966)
During the Civil War, Mexican cattleman Alvarez Kelly supplies the Union with cattle until Confederate Colonel Tom Rossiter's hungry men force Kelly to change his customers.
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Stars: William Holden, Richard Widmark, Janice Rule
William Holden ... Boots Malone
Stanley Clements ... Stash Clements
Basil Ruysdael ... Preacher Cole
Carl Benton Reid ... John Williams
Ralph Dumke ... Beckett
Ed Begley ... Howard Whietehead
Hugh Sanders ... Matson
Harry Morgan ... Quarter Horse Henry (as Henry Morgan)
Ann Lee ... Mrs. Elizabeth Gibson
Anthony Caruso ... Joe
Billy Pearson ... Eddie Koch - Jockey
Johnny Stewart ... Thomas Gibson Jr. aka The Kid
Boots Malone is jockey's agent and a bit of a wheeler-dealer who went from living at the Ritz to living in a room at the stables when his star jockey was killed in an accident. After nearly three years, he has yet to find a replacement for him. Along with his cronies at the track, he manages to buy a horse that's a bit of a sleeper. Their hopes of cashing in big take a positive turn when Boots decides to train an eager young man, who turns out to be a runaway from a rich family, as a jockey. When gangsters tell Boots to throw the race in favor of another horse, he faces a major dilemma. Written by garykmcd
character name as title | horse racing | See All (2) »
The story of a boy who left home... and a stumble bum who never had one!
Drama | Sport
4 July 1952 (Sweden) See more »
Tommy macht das Rennen See more »
Iverson Ranch - 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA
Columbia Pictures See more »
When the climactic race is finished, there is a posted finish time of 3:40. Shortly after the scene cuts back to the standings board, the time is now at 3:46. See more »
This film is one of Holden's best.
19 April 2007 | by denscul – See all my reviews
I couldn't give this film a 10 primarily because I didn't know how accurately this film captured its subject. For example, I never knew that jockey's had Agents, although I suspected the more successful ones had someone to represent and manage their contracts. I enjoyed watching this film recently on TCM for the first time. It was a very enjoyable film, and I thought one of William Holden's best acting performances, which means credit should also go to the Director.
Unlike nearly ever sports film I have ever seen, I wasn't certain who was going to win the race. In most other films about sport, there never seems to be a doubt as to who will finish first or win, whether its Rocky or Seabiscuit. Seabiscuit was based on a real and famous horse. Obviously it was going to win most of his races. I purchased Seabiscuit on a DVD and was disappointed, because I doubt I will ever watch it again.
Boots Malone was one of the few films about sports that I could not guess the outcome. Wining the race, was not central to the film's theme,which was about the friendship that developed between a young, naive, rich kid, who had every material thing, but lacked something that money can't buy.
Holden's character is a cynical, far from lovable cad who tries to steal the kid's money the first time they meet. I thought his character was a little like Robert Louis Stevenson's Long John Silver, a cad by any measure, but someone that the kid couldn't hate. Like Long John, Malone continually acts in his own interests. In the last moments of the film, he tries to talk the kid into throwing the race, and one has to wonder whether the kid will, because of his devotion to Holden. The viewer really doesn't know who to root for because a win means serious trouble for Holden from the gamblers. Gamblers are a pox to any sport because they make their living with fixes and threats to anyone who can give them an edge in betting and profits. I do know something about that problem.
This film was one of Holden's best. David Lean didn't get as good a performance from Holden in Bridge on the River Kwai
This film reminds me of Holden's early performance in Rachel and the Stranger in which Holden demonstrates his ability as an actor capable of moving his role from one position to another.
For the critics who didn't like this film, I would offer the comment that this film made in 1952 and bad year for the movies, and was not high budget film. Holden was not a big star, and the film had to rely on some great number of familiar character actors. The "kid" was also a tough role to play, and he didn't measure up to star quality as evidence by his quick disappearance from film. A movie without sex, or violence that couldn't be shown on TV was not likely to make a splash, considering that Holden's career didn't get jump started until Stalag 17. I thought Holden, as an actor, was better in this relatively obscure film. The Oscar's have a spotty record of picking out the best performances. Making up for past mistakes seems to be a tradition on Oscar night.
Perhaps this was the case in 1952 and 1953.