The Day the Bookies Wept

I've only seen a few of Joe Penner's films. Part of this is because he only made 23 features and short films since he died at age 36. Another reason is that Penner's sort of sort of broad humor hasn't aged well. If you don't believe me, read through Penner's bio on IMDB! They certainly thought the comic's talents were limited...and I have seen the same thing in the films I've seen. If you are familiar with old films, Penner is very similar to Joe Besser and Pinky Lee (especially since both had a strong lisp and sounded like cartoon characters)...one-note comics who made the most of their limited abilities. So, I went into this film with very low expectations...but I was hoping I'd enjoy it.

Penner plays a cab driver who loses his job in the most ridiculous manner I can recall having seen in a movie. Soon he's goes out to buy a race horse and ends up getting taken by a con-man and his daughter...selling him an alcoholic, broken-down horses. Can Penner manage to either get the horse to somehow win or at least get the horse to go to AA meetings?

So is the film any good? Well, it's not...though much of the actual story isn't all that bad. The problem was Penner and his shtick...something that wore very thin very quickly in this story. The rest of the cast are better, but for the life of me, who thought having the gorgeous Betty Grable play Penner's girlfriend!?! Talk about ludicrous casting.