Black Gold

This movie is certainly not the most representative of the Phil Karlson's career. No trace of Karlson's style here, nothing rough, tough, gritty, as in KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL, nor BROTHERS RICCO or 99 RIVER STREET, or even any other western from him. After all, this one seems to be more a western than a crime drama. But it is a very pleasant, agreeable little oater, involving a horse and a family. So that's a false drama and western destined to the whole family. But I would have never guessed Karlson as the director, why not Don Siegel? No, I would have guessed a Francis D Lyon, or a Ted Tetzlaff.

Black Gold (1947) is a movie I recently watched on HBOMAX. The storyline follows a Mexican man camping in the desert who encounters an Asian orphaned boy and adopts him. The Mexican man teaches him the ways to train a horse and they enter their horses into several horse races hoping for the opportunity to one day have a horse in the Kentucky Derby.

This movie is directed by Phil Karlson (Hell to Eternity) and stars Anthony Quinn (Lawrence of Arabia), Katherine DeMille (The Crusades), Raymond Hatton (In Cold Blood), Kane Richmond (The Lost City) and Jonathan Hale (Strangers on a Train).

The storyline for this movie is very unique, unpredictable and contains fantastic characters. Katherine DeMille Steals the show and delivers a captivating performance. I was impressed by the twists and turns of the storyline and the depiction of how minorities were taken advantage of and how they kept pushing forward. The final Kentucky Derby scene is very well shot.

Overall this is a unique addition to the western genre that contains fantastic characters and a worthwhile storyline. I would score this a 7.5/10 and strongly recommend it.

The story may be about a thoroughbred horse named Black Gold who entered the classic Kentucky Derby, but I found the real story was about an innocent victim named Charley Eagle (Anthony Quinn) whose lack of knowledge of the white man's scrupulous ways to take advantage of the less fortunate was so prevalent in the 1940's and the decades earlier.

In the current decade of the 2020's we still have hundreds of thousands of shady characters who hide behind software and telephone scams to swindle the elderly and new immigrant populations across the world. Back in this 1947 film Charley enters his race horse in a claiming race and when his horse wins easily Charley's initial joy is lost when he learns that his horse has been claimed for a paltry sum by a scrupulous individual who is happy to take the winning horse into his own expanding winning horse stable.

Long before Jed Clampett and the (1962-1971) TV series, The Beverly Hillbillies struck gold, black gold, texas tea, as they called it, the humble but proud farmer Charley Eagle struck oil on the land he owned and unlike the fate that took away his prized racehourse through a claiming race, Charley had a reputable engineer and friend who ensured Charley would reap the financial benefits of his large oil strike on his land.

Yes, there is a dramatic horse race to be run, and yes poor Charley experiences both the highs and lows of winning and losing, but that is how life takes most of us by surprise.

I give Black Gold a passable 5 out of 10 IMDb rating.

This was Allied Artists "first film":....it was really a Monogram Picture and this was the first release in 1947,under their new name for their 'better' product ALLIED ARTISTS. It was a fairly expensive film for them then ($450K) and filmed in colour. As a film it is a very effective multicultural experience and it is a credit to them to take such a risk on what one would think was then un marketable themes: illegal immigrant Chinese boy is adopted by land owning red Indian family, who send him to school. Kid gets taunted because of his new family and Chinese face. Pop, Anthony Quinn discovers oil on the farm and gets rich. They buy a racehorse and it becomes a champ and they become richer! Racial prejudice gets and airing too when they enter' society'. All quite startling and effectively handled. For these themes to be their first high profile calling card, AA/Monogram get a good report and deserve recognition for their worthy ideals. It is worth noting the interesting films Monogram decided to make as Allied Artists in their first few years, as THE GANGSTER and IT HAPPENED ON 5TH AVENUE attest. BLACK GOLD seems corny by today's cynicism, but the was a deserving hit for them. Like Republic's COME NEXT SPRING, a real Americana treat if you can find it and just enjoy.

Although far from the real story of the Kentucky Derby winner Black Gold, this very first film released under the banner of Allied Artists the newly reconstituted Monogram Pictures was an important one for its star Anthony Quinn. It was the very first time that Quinn got top billing in any film. It was also a family project as it starred Quinn's first wife as well Katharine DeMille. They play an Indian couple on a reservation, he an illiterate happy go lucky cuss who has an itch to wander and she a reservation educated person. The two complement each other beautifully on screen.

And he happens to own a thoroughbred mare who through a combination of circumstances gets mated to a champion stallion. The mare dies, but the result is a colt named Black Gold. The Quinn's adopted Chinese immigrant son Ducky Louie becomes his jockey.

Black Gold's story, the real one, was given us by another reviewer and maybe that film should be made by a bigger studio and maybe it will some day. As for this one for a Monogram Picture it had for them probably a big budget. They even splurged for color. But the Quinns and Ducky Louie really put this film over as fine family entertainment. And I'm a sucker for a good racetrack story every time.