Tip on a Dead Jockey

The main reason I wanted to see this film was Robert Taylor Quite frankly, I did not expect this to be much of a movie because it was a film made on back end of his career. Wow, was I pleasantly surprised. First, I thought the story was interesting and for the time in which it was made had a good depth of psychology in it. The title of the film is a clearly a metaphor for Taylor's character, so someone was thinking on a very sophisticated level. I really like that kind of intelligence in a film. In terms of performance, both Taylor and Malone were superb, demonstrating a wide emotional range with good screen chemistry. I really liked seeing them together. Also a big surprise with his acting skill was Martin Gable. I only knew him from "What's My Line". If you are a Robert Taylor fan I do recommend this movie. Yes, he looks older than his actual age but he still had "it", including that wonderful resonant voice. It is so very tragic that he died so young.

A wooden treatment of a shell shocked Korean war vet expatting it in Madrid. Malone barely registers ennui, disillusionment, or any other weight of the world characteristics; he acts more like the suburban dad opting not to shave all weekend. Dalio, the Casablanca croupier, is reduced to playing Malone's colorful sidekick, but a little goes a long way. Jack Lord and his Kennedyesque hairdo go through the motions. Bits of the script, co-written by Shaw, stand out, especially Malone comparing his domestic situation to a Balzac story, "too many people." The title drew me in, and I got a pig in a poke.

Tip On A Dead Jockey is an average action/adventure film that finds Robert Taylor as an Air Force veteran settled in Spain after he thinks he's gotten a divorce from Dorothy Malone. He's a Korean War pilot group commander who ordered too many men to their deaths and is now just sick of flying. He's living in Madrid with house guest Marcel Dalio and his best friends are fellow Korean war pilot Jack Lord and his wife Gia Scala.

It turns out his divorce never went through with Malone so she follows him to Europe to see if she can get her man back. At the same time a rather oily Martin Gabel comes along with a proposition if he'll take a certain package from Cairo to Spain he can receive a handsome amount of cash, enough to clear up his mounting debts.

Taylor might need that money as a steeplechase race he had some heavy bets on was lost due to a spill that cost the jockey his life. It's only when Scala puts her foot down on Jack Lord making the run that Taylor does with Dalio along for company.

Tip On A Dead Jockey is a strangely introspective action film with Taylor just wanting to retire from life and wanting to leave Malone because he feels she's entitled to the man she married, not who he is now.

Dorothy Malone was fresh off an Oscar for Written on the Wind and she was at the height of her career. She's miles from the amoral nymphomaniac she got the Oscar for. But she's also far away from the good girl leading ladies she had played for a decade in any number of B films. Malone gives a good account of herself the woman not taking divorce for an answer.

Martin Gabel played mostly oily characters in his film career, so just his first appearance on the screen tells you he's up to no good. Hence there's no real suspense in Tip On A Dead Jockey.

Though he gets out of the bind Gabel puts him in, it's a strangely action-less conclusion to the film. Probably it's closer than to what most of us would do in the situation.

Tip On A Dead Jockey features some earnest performances by the cast, but the film is not on the best 10 list for any involved.

And we never do find out what happened to that jockey.

Tip on a Dead Jockey was a supporting role for 37 year old Jack Lord who was just starting out in his career as an actor. The film itself kinda plods along for the most part, but Jack totally saves the film. The cast is fantastic. Robert Taylor is a great leading man, Dorothy Malone is a decent leading lady. Gia Scalia shimmers as Lord's wife Paquita and the actor who plays Toto (who's name has slipped my memory at present) is adorable. Together they make a relatively slow and uninteresting story under normal circumstances enjoyable. However had Jack Lord not been in this film, I don't believe the movie would have made it at all. The writing isn't all that fantastic. And the main premise that Taylor's character is suffering from PSTD after experiencing too much death while flying, though a good plot, isn't enough to carry the picture on it's own. The writers did do a decent job however of finding a way to make him conquer his demons, and that helped bring a bit of life to an otherwise lifeless storyline. The title however is really a misnomer, as racing and Jockeys isn't anywhere close to the main plot theme. However, I would definitely recommend this film for the simple pleasure of seeing Jack Lord's performance. He is the reason I have given this film 10 stars. They are all for him! Though Lord would not make it as a film star, finding his niche in Television as the head of Hawaii five-O eleven years later, Jack's performance as Jimmy in this film is absolutely superb, and is a must see for Lord fans world wide.

A late-in-his-career movie for a classic actor, Robert Taylor is just the man for this role-he wants to make some money but finds out it is "bad" money, and how will he fix the situation?....Dorothy Malone is, well, a 50's actress that was put into a lot of movies in the decade-this is one of them........overall, this is a "fly the plane in and out of fields late at night" movie, and it does it's job well.....(and Mr. Taylor's side kick was in two Bogart movies, Casablanca and To Have and Have Not, so he has good credentials). A Recommended movie.