Kentucky

Terrific film dealing with the horse racing scene in Kentucky.

We are taken from the beginning of the civil war, when generations of feuding between families begin when a Goodwin is killed by a Dillon during the taking of horses for the union army.

The film then jumps to 1938 and the generations that followed these families. Naturally, Loretta Young and Richard Greene will become lovers and are from the different families with Greene hiding his Dillon name.

Walter Brennan is absolutely magnificent here as the older Peter Dillon, who cried hysterically at the time of his father's murder in 1861. He plays a crusty, cantankerous individual with a rare knowledge of horse breeding and with it all, a wonderful human heart. His Academy Award as best supporting actor was extremely well deserved here.

The blue grass of Kentucky was never more enjoyable in this sprawling film of great memories of a bygone era.

This 1938 film is a real love letter to the Kentucky Derby and it's Southern rooted thoroughbred history. It begins just prior to and during the Civil War, which sets the stage for a feud between the Dillon Family and the Goodwin Family. Then fast forward to 1938 and two grandchildren of the Dillion and Goodwin Family meet, have conflict and fall in love all over training thoroughbreds and racing in the Kentucky Derby.

Jack Dillon, played by the handsome Richard Greene, returns home to the family ranch in Kentucky from London England where he had been studying to go into the banking business with his father. The problem is Jack doesn't want to be a banker, he wants to be a horse trainer...when he has a disagreement with his father at the bank, he goes incognito as a trainer with the Goodwin Family after setting eyes on the lovely Sally Goodwin, played by the beautiful Loretta Young. The Goodwin family has all their hopes pinned on a single horse that they win from the Dillon Family making this year's Kentucky Derby high stakes!

There is definitely some Hollywood-ized Southern flair to this film, but it is worth seeing for its beautiful time capsule of 1938 Kentucky Derby and all it's fanfare. Great film for a Kentucky Derby family night.

Kentucky (1938)

*** (out of 4)

Fun film involves two horse racing families from Kentucky who have been doing battle since the start of the Civil War and it continues to the current times. Eventually opposite family members Loretta Young and Richard Greene fall in love just as the Kentucky Derby comes around where Greene tries to prove himself as a horse trainer. I was surprised to see how enjoyable thing film was and one of the big benefits is the Technicolor used in the film. These early Technicolor films are often hit and miss on how well they look but this film here is quite beautiful to look at. It's certainly one of the best looking early Technicolor films that I've seen from this period. Another nice thing are the performances, which are all a lot of fun. Neither Young nor Greene speak with a southern accent, although the screenplay gives a reason for Greene not doing so. Even with the accents being wrong, both work incredibly well together and this here helps the love story (and the fighting moments). Walter Brennan won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and he gives a fun, if over the top, performance. His redneck antics are pretty over the top but it's still fun and keeps the film moving with some nice laughs. Being from Kentucky it was great seeing how Churchill Downs looked back then as well. The stereotypes of the black servants in the film might offend some as they all come off rather dumb but so do the Southern characters.

Directed by David Butler, it tells the story of two families who held a hatred for generations: the Goodwins and the Dillons. The niece of the former and the son of the latter are united by the love of horse racing, they try to erase the past between their relatives but they do not succeed, generating a dispute with the heads of each house.

At least that's the idea, but reading reviews I found myself in the same situation as everyone. I thought it was a love story with a lot of drama and it ended up being a horse racing movie with an incoherent secondary romance.

It is entertaining and passes fast but it does not mean that its focus is unclear. The characters that should have been the main characters, Loretta Young and Richard Greene, were very flat, especially the first one which seems to always be in the same mood despite all the misfortunes that happen to her during. Both their relationship and the outcome of the betrayal unravel and it is not understood what Greene did wrong or what Loretta did not really know. Undoubtedly the one who knew how to take advantage of it and take over the screen was Walter Brennan, who with his stubborn and curmudgeonly character becomes the funniest, most dynamic and natural part of the film. This role was his second win at the Oscars in 1939 for 'Best Supporting Actor', deserved.

There is a small prologue which depicts the beginning of the Civil war in a small Kentucky town; but most the action takes place in 1938 when both families are vying for the cups in horse racings:the Goodwin (check the name) and the Dillon.Whereas the Goodwin are almost broke -and they sell their stuff by auction- ,the Dillon affairs are thriving .Do not panic for Dillon jr (Greene) falls for gorgeous young Goodwin girl (Young) ;it could be Romeo and Juliet on the horse fields but it is not for the boy conceals his identity .Miss Young is eye candy in color, but the screenwriters seem more interested in horses than in love affairs .The great race is well filmed and in the last scenes you may need a box of kleenex.