The Great Mike | |
---|---|
Directed by | Wallace Fox |
Written by | Martin Mooney (story) Raymond L. Schrock (writer) |
Produced by | Leon Fromkess (producer) Martin Mooney (associate producer) |
Starring | See below |
Cinematography | Jockey Arthur Feindel |
Edited by | Hugh Winn |
Music by | Lee Zahler |
Distributed by | Producers Releasing Corporation |
Release date |
|
Running time | 72 minutes 25 minutes (edited USA TV version) |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Great Mike is a 1944 American film directed by Wallace Fox.
The film is also known as Great Mike Wins (American TV title).
Young Jimmy Dolan loves his friends Mike the horse and Corky the dog.
While delivering newspapers on his route one day, Mike meets newcomer Colonel Whitley, a famous Kentucky horse breeder who has just leased a horse training farm in the area. Jimmy, a horse racing buff, eagerly introduces himself to the colonel and his horse trainer, James Spencer, and asks if he can watch the colonel's horses work out.
The next morning, Spencer gives Jimmy and his friend Speck a tour of the stables. When Jimmy boasts that Mike could beat the colonel's thoroughbreds, the colonel gruffly insults Mike's ability, causing Jimmy to challenge him to a race. After Mike nearly beats his reigning champion, the colonel, humbled, apologizes and invites Jimmy to breakfast. At the dining table, Jimmy relates the story of how his uncle Joe bought Mike from a famous horse breeder after the man's daughter, Mike's owner, unexpectedly died. Jimmy is saving money from his paper route to pay his uncle for the horse.
As Jimmy breakfasts with the colonel, a letter arrives at the Dolan house from his uncle, informing the boy that he plans to sell Mike to a racing stable for $700. When Jimmy, who has only saved $200, learns of his uncle's intentions, his sympathetic sister Erin suggests he make the horse unappealing to his prospective buyers. The next morning, when the representatives from the stable arrive to inspect Mike, Jimmy coats the horse with mud and instructs him to act lame. The stablemen see through the ruse, however, and while the boy is at school they return to claim the horse.
At his new home, Mike refuses to eat or train, and when the stablemen inform his new owner, movie star Kitty Tremaine, that the horse is lonesome for Corky, she decides to visit the Dolan house and buy the dog. When Kitty learns how heartbroken Jimmy is over Mike's loss, she agrees to sell back the horse, and to finance the deal, Jimmy offers Spencer half ownership in Mike. After Spencer and Jimmy become partners, Spencer warns Jimmy to avoid Erin's beau, William "Sandy" McKay, a jockey who was disbarred for allegedly throwing a race. When Jimmy questions Sandy about the allegations, Sandy replies that he was innocent but never defended himself against his accusers. Satisfied with Sandy's explanation, Jimmy asks him to ride Mike in the horse's first race at Santa Anita.
Meanwhile, a syndicate of gamblers pools its resources to bet on Speed Demon, who they deem to be a sure winner in the race. When Mike wins the race, he upsets the syndicate's plans and makes headlines as "The Great Mike." Spencer and Jimmy then decide to enter Mike in a handicap race, and when the syndicate learns of their plans, it hires Doc Slagle and his brother Bill to put the horse out of commission. One night, the pair sneak into Mike's stable, armed with a hypodermic needle filled with poison. Corky springs to Mike's defense, and when Jimmy hears the dog's growls coming from the barn, he calls Spencer for help. By the time Spencer arrives, however, the Slagles have killed Corky and fled, leaving behind the unused hypodermic needle bearing their fingerprints.
Grieving over Corky's loss, Mike again refuses to train or eat, forcing his withdrawal from the race. One day, after the Slagles have been arrested for their crime, Junior, Jimmy's friend, appears at the stable with news that his family is to be transferred out of state. Junior offers to sell Jimmy Corky's brother Mickey, and when Mickey and Mike begin to cavort, Jimmy realizes that Mike is ready to race again.
Spencer and Jimmy enter Mike in a race against the colonel's champion horse, and when Mike wins the race, he earns the colonel's admiration and a generous purse, which Jimmy uses to finance a newsboys' clubhouse.
Original score written by Lee Zahler, performed by MGM studio orchestra
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centered on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television.
"The Adventure of Silver Blaze", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the first from the 12 in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in December 1892.
Denver Dell Pyle was an American film and television actor and director. He was well known for a number of TV roles from the 1960s through the 1980s, including his portrayal of Briscoe Darling in several episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, as Jesse Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard from 1979 to 1985, as Mad Jack in the NBC television series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, and as the titular character's father, Buck Webb, in CBS's The Doris Day Show. In many of his roles, he portrayed either authority figures, or gruff, demanding father figures, often as comic relief. Perhaps his most memorable film role was that of Texas Ranger Frank Hamer in the movie Bonnie and Clyde (1967), as the lawman who relentlessly chased down and finally killed the notorious duo in an ambush.
Plum Pie is a collection of nine short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 22 September 1966 by Barrie & Jenkins, and in the United States on 1 December 1967 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York. The collection's title is derived from P. G. Wodehouse's nickname, Plum.
Eggs, Beans and Crumpets is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on April 26, 1940 by Herbert Jenkins, London, then with a slightly different content in the United States on May 10, 1940 by Doubleday, Doran, New York.
Raymond William Hatton was an American film actor who appeared in almost 500 motion pictures.
Bimelech was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse who won two Triple Crown races and was a Champion at both age two and three. He was ranked #84 among U.S. racehorses of the 20th century. After retiring to stud, he sired 30 stakes winners and his daughters produced 50 stakes winners.
Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke was a British Army officer, peer, politician and courtier who served as a Lord of the Bedchamber to King George III in 1769. He was renowned for his skill in horse training. Captain James Cook's famous ship, HMS Endeavour, was formerly MS Earl of Pembroke, launched in 1765 and named after the 10th Earl.
The Atlanta Braves are a National League ballclub (1966–present) previously located in Milwaukee 1953–1965 and in Boston 1871–1952. The Boston teams are sometimes called Boston Red Stockings 1871–1876, Boston Red Caps 1876–1882, Boston Beaneaters 1883–1906, Boston Doves 1907–1910, Boston Rustlers 1911, Boston Braves 1912–1935, Boston Bees 1936–1940, Boston Braves 1941–1952. Here is a list of all their players in regular season games beginning 1871.
Fat Dog Mendoza is an animated television series produced by Sunbow Entertainment, Sony Wonder Television, and TMO-Loonland. The series is loosely based on a Dark Horse one-off comic book of the same name. The first Cartoon Network Europe co-production, it premiered on Cartoon Network UK on February 28, 2000.
The Colonel (1825–1847) was a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for running a dead heat in The Derby and winning the St Leger Stakes in 1828. In a racing career which lasted from 1827 until 1831, The Colonel ran fifteen times and won ten races at distances ranging from six furlongs to three miles. Apart from the St Leger, his most notable successes came in the Champagne Stakes, the Epsom Craven Stakes (twice), the Great Park Stakes at Ascot and the Northampton Gold Cup. He was also placed in both the Ascot Gold Cup and Goodwood Cup.
Captain James Octavius Machell (1837–1902) was an influential figure in British horse racing during the final decades of the 19th century. He was a respected judge of horses and an astute and highly successful gambler. During a career that lasted almost forty years he managed and trained eleven English classic winners and was himself the owner of a record three Grand National winners.
Two Thoroughbreds is a 1939 American drama film directed by Jack Hively, written by Joseph Fields and Jerome Cady, and starring Jimmy Lydon, Joan Leslie, Arthur Hohl, J.M. Kerrigan, Marjorie Main, Selmer Jackson and Spencer Charters. It was released on December 8, 1939, by RKO Pictures.
"Tennessee Stud" is a song written by Jimmy Driftwood, who originally recorded and released it in 1959. "Tennessee Stud" is considered to be Driftwood's most recorded song.
Unexpected Father is a 1939 American comedy drama film directed by Charles Lamont and starring Baby Sandy, Shirley Ross and Dennis O'Keefe.
When Black Birds Fly is a 2015 American adult animated horror film written, directed, animated, edited, and scored by James 'Jimmy ScreamerClauz' Creamer, the director of Where the Dead Go to Die, and was released by Bag Monster & MVD on January 15, 2016. The film had its official premiere on November 13, 2015 at Phil Anselmo's Housecore Horror Film Festival in San Antonio, Texas and was given an award for Best Animated Film
Tiz the Law is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2020 Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes. He was the first New York-bred horse to win the Belmont since Forester in 1882. He also won the 2019 Champagne Stakes and 2020 Florida Derby, and came second in the 2020 Kentucky Derby.