If you're a Wallace Beery fan, chances are you've seen him in quite a few movies where his grizzly exterior gets softened by an endearing little kid. If you want to see him get softened up by Mickey Rooney, check out Stablemates. Stablemates is one of the precursors to how cute it was when Mickey Rooney acted in National Velvet and later in The Black Stallion. This is the second flick in which he loves horses and ends up being a jockey. If you like him in this one, next up, rent Thoroughbreds Don't Cry.
Mickey starts off as a mere stableboy who loves an injured horse. To save the horse's life, he buys him from the owner with all his savings, and he recruits the crusty, alcoholic Wallace Beery to operate and save the horse's leg and life. Wallace isn't very good at hiding his past, and it turns out he used to be a great veterinarian until a horse took a fatal fall and sent him into hiding. Their relationship is a little creepy by modern standards, with a teenaged Mickey Rooney glomming onto a total stranger and suggesting they adopt each other and live together as father and son. Yes, they bonded over Mickey's injured horse, but their instant, goofy affection for one another doesn't translate in today's world. As the movie progresses, they do bond and you can't help but root for their friendship. Just as you're talking yourself into it, Wallace has to ruin it by saying tearfully as they're about to be parted, "I guess it would seem kinda sissy, wouldn't it, for two grown men like us to kiss?" Mickey, equally as sniffly, says if they kiss on the cheek it would be alright.
The best part of the movie is when Margaret Hamilton comes in as a love interest for Wallace Beery. She's a no-nonsense dame on a farm who appreciates his hard work. Can't imagine either of them in a romance? You might want to check this out, but don't expect to like the rest of it.
Mickey starts off as a mere stableboy who loves an injured horse. To save the horse's life, he buys him from the owner with all his savings, and he recruits the crusty, alcoholic Wallace Beery to operate and save the horse's leg and life. Wallace isn't very good at hiding his past, and it turns out he used to be a great veterinarian until a horse took a fatal fall and sent him into hiding. Their relationship is a little creepy by modern standards, with a teenaged Mickey Rooney glomming onto a total stranger and suggesting they adopt each other and live together as father and son. Yes, they bonded over Mickey's injured horse, but their instant, goofy affection for one another doesn't translate in today's world. As the movie progresses, they do bond and you can't help but root for their friendship. Just as you're talking yourself into it, Wallace has to ruin it by saying tearfully as they're about to be parted, "I guess it would seem kinda sissy, wouldn't it, for two grown men like us to kiss?" Mickey, equally as sniffly, says if they kiss on the cheek it would be alright.
The best part of the movie is when Margaret Hamilton comes in as a love interest for Wallace Beery. She's a no-nonsense dame on a farm who appreciates his hard work. Can't imagine either of them in a romance? You might want to check this out, but don't expect to like the rest of it.