Mickey's Race

Douglas Fox offers Mickey Rooney a ride in his sulky, then kicks him out. Mickey vows revenge. He will get his own horse -- it turns out to be a mule -- and win the big derby.

A correction: despite the claim in the IMDB trivia for this movie, this was not the last of the Mickey Maguire shorts that Master Rooney starred in. Although he was more than twice as old as when he had first played the character in the series spun off from Fontaine Fox' TOONERVILLE TROLLEY comic strip, he was not quitting to go be Andy Hardy. There were eight Mickey Maguire shorts released after this one, and his first appearance as Andy Hardy would no take place until 1937. He would work, and work often, in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S COMEDY and AH, WILDERNESS. And he would continue working for the rest of his life. He would die in 2014 at the age of 93, with appearances in more than 170 features, 80 short subjects, television and appearances on Broadway, where I saw him perform in SUGAR BABIES. A big glob of talent in a small body: thanks for all the fun, Mickey.

A rich kid makes fun of Mickey because he's poor. Mickey is angry and announces that he's going to beat the rich kid in some horse race (wow...that's responsible parenting...letting kids race horses!). The problem is that Mickey doesn't have a horse. Out of desperation, he borrows a mule and tries to make the best of it.

This is Mickey Rooney's final film in his Mickey McGuire series--and after seeing it, I see he made a great choice moving on to other projects! The film is essentially a knockoff of an Our Gang comedy--except that the Our Gang series was better written, better directed and better acted. I guess that doesn't leave you with much...

By the way, note that Mickey's brother in the series was Billy Barty--the famous midget. Although he was about 9, he played a kid about 4 years-old. That must have been a bit depressing for Barty. Of course, being in this film sure wouldn't have made him feel so hot, either.