Burn 'Em Up O'Connor (1939)

I just watched my DVR of "Burn 'Em Up O'Connor" again last night. First, let's understand something. No truly GOOD racing movies exist except possibly for "Grand Prix," "LeMans," "Rush." and some documentaries. Directors were just too lazy and felt that spectacle could replace good writing. Even "To Please a Lady," is too simplistic and inaccurate.That doesn't mean that we can't enjoy the stylized, often cliche'-ridden efforts of the past. If you love racing history and its heroes, then you have to put up with the banal efforts of the deep past and enjoy the actual footage and drivers' cameo roles, etc. So what makes this one worthwhile? How about appearances and actual use of three of the more iconic cars in Indianapolis "500" history, the Stevens/Winfield car built for 3-time winner Lou Meyer and the two Sparks/Adams cars built for Joel Thorne? Apparently Thorne drove in this movie and furnished these cars as well as the ex-Pirrung car built by Wilbur Shaw for the 1935 "500." That car finished second with Shaw, before his three wins, and 9th with Thorne in 1938, the year this film was made. The Stevens/Winfield car and the Thorne-Sparks (Adams) cars were all built for the 1938 "500", the year this movie was obviously filmed for 1939 release. They had a bad race that year, finishing 14th, 15th, and 16th. However they then became iconic with long lives an, track records, two 2nd places and a win. Three-time winner Meyer retired after a famous filmed flip in 1939 in his attempt from 2nd place to catch Shaw. Several plastic-toy models were made of the Thorne-Sparks cars, including a Wen-Mac engined model of a decade later. There are also other, lesser known, but actual cars of the time on the movie set. Background action footage features the great Ted Horne hogging in early scenes and Shaw and Meyer winning in 1937 and 1938. At least we car enthusiasts can put up with cartoonish characters and dumb plot to see some racing and cars that made history.I enjoyed the hell out of this film, regardless of it's simple stereotypical characters. Give it a break!

Dennis O'Keefe (Jerry O'Connor), Cecilia Parker (Jane Delano), Harry Carey (Pinky Delano), Nat Pendleton (Buddy Buttle), Addison Richards (Ed Eberhart), Charley Grapewin (Doc Heath), Alan Curtis (Rocks Rivera), Tom Collins (Lefty Simmons), Tom Neal (Hank Hogan), Frank Orth (Mac McKelvy), Si Jenks (Jenkins), Frank M. Thomas (Jim Nixon), Clayton Moore (intern), Barnbara Bedford (woman in movie house), Helen Jerome Eddy (lab analyst), Fred Frame, Fred Friday, Rex Mays, Louis Meyers, Kelly Petillo, Art Sparks, Joel Thorne, Ronnie Householder (racing car drivers), Walter Soderling (Fowler), Lee Phelps (Jim Webster), King Mojave (Smitty Smith), John Kelly (towing man), Roger Gray (policeman).Director: EDWARD SEDGWICK. Screenplay: Milton Merlin, Byron Morgan, Edward Sedgwick. Based on the 1935 novel Salute to the Gods by Sir Malcolm Campbell. Film editor: Ben Lewis. Photography: Lester White. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons and James C. Havens. Set decorator: Edwin B. Willis. Music: David Snell. Assistant director: Gilbert Kurland. Sound supervisor: Douglas Shearer. Producer: Harry Rapf. Copyright 10 Jan 1939 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Picture. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 13 January 1939. Australian release: 25 May 1939. 70 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Are Pinky Delano's race drivers really jinxed? A dim- witted mechanic attempts to find a solution.COMMENT: You either like Dennis O'Keefe's obnoxious go-getter of a racing driver, or you don't. Personally, I do. He's obnoxious, yes, but in an amusing way. I'll repeat the question with a few variations. Do you take to Nat Pendleton's dimwit? Yes, I must admit I do. He's a bit of a pain at times, true, but on the whole, he's tolerable enough. How about Cecilia Parker's frosty heroine? I don't see what Dennis sees in her, but she's okay for a cold shoulder type. What about the story? Now that's a mixed bag. I thought at first we were in for a standard car-racing picture. You know the plot better than I do. Tyro offends everyone at first, but then makes good by winning the big race. Cheers all around! And that actually happens in this picture too. Admittedly, in an absolutely impossible way, but who but all the car owners in the audience will know the difference?However, grafted on to this well-used, if unlikely plot, is another story, a moderately intriguing and suspenseful mystery. Maybe it's not a murder mystery. Maybe it is. You'll just have to see the picture to find out.

I am 76 years old. A few days ago something caused me to dredge from the past a faint memory of a race car movie I saw when I was 8 years old. I remembered the name, "Burn 'em Up O'Connor." The phrase had stuck with me for 70 years. All I remember about the movie was that the hero was trying to win a race while partially blinded, as I recall, by some kind of white powder in his eyes, the result of an effort of some nefarious bad guy to kill him. I was amazed to type in that title in Google and actually get hits, after all these years! As an 8 year old I was very impressed with the movie. My opinion would probably differ if I saw it today.

Do you think any race car driver can negotiate a track blindfolded while going over a hundred miles per hour, even with someone giving a whistle at one of the tricky turns? That's one of the idiocies of this film, which asks us to suspend disbelief once too often. I have always liked Dennis O'Keefe, but he comes across here as a pest and nuisance as he joins a racing car group headed by Harry Carey, Sr., mostly because of Carey's daughter, Cecilia Parker, to whom he is attracted. Another problem with the film is that O'Keefe and Parker have zero chemistry together. I don't think Parker smiled even once; she seemed not to be enjoying even being in the film. I enjoyed Nat Pendleton's comic antics, and some of the acting of the drivers Tom Neal and Tom Collins. But overall, it's not much of a racing drama or a murder mystery.