''The Big Wheel'' is a 1949 American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

sport film directed by Edward Ludwig starring

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...

, Thomas Mitchell,

Mary Hatcher Mary Hatcher (June 6, 1929 – April 3, 2018) was an American coloratura soprano and actress whose screen career spanned the years from 1946-51. During that time she appeared in eight films, mostly in credited roles and several times as le ...

and Michael O'Shea. It includes the final screen appearance of Hattie McDaniel. This film is now in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

Plot

Billy Coy (

) arrives in the town of Carrell,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and offers himself as a mechanic for Arthur "Red" Stanley ( Thomas Mitchell) at his garage. Red turns down Billy initially, but after seeing a photo of his father, "Cannonball" Coy, a famous driver, Red scares up a job for Billy. Billy's father died in an accident at the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

several years previously. Red was Cannonball's mechanic, riding with him the day he died in the north turn of the Indianapolis motor speedway. Red inquires after "her"; he still carries a torch for Mary (

Spring Byington Spring Dell Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of ''December Bride''. She was a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player who appeared in ...

), Cannonball's widow and Billy's mother. At the garage, Billy befriends a tomboy, Louise Riley (

), whose father owns the nearest racetrack. Billy gets a chance to prove his skills as a driver in a qualifying race, but he is too arrogant to follow his employer's advice and is unsuccessful. He asks Louise to meet on Saturday night at the track. Thinking it is a date, Louise does the unheard of for her—she buys a dress and heels (in which she is unskilled at walking), assisted by her family's maid ( Hattie McDaniel). As it turns out, Billy needed her help with changing some carburetors, much to Louise's disappointment. She gamely wobbles on high heels with him to the garage, buoyed by her love of cars and affection for Billy. Billy gets another chance to drive for another car owner, Deacon Jones. The car is green and referred to as a "Hoodoo Wagon" due to a racing superstition that green cars are unlucky. A helpful gadfly in the pits reminds Billy this is the same color as the car his father drove when he crashed and burned. Billy drives but is pushed off the track by driver Vic Sullivan ( Michael O'Shea). Billy survives the crash but fails to qualify. He vents his frustration at the dirty trick by punching Vic. Distracted by the spectacle, another driver injures his hand by absentmindedly placing it on the searing exhaust pipe of his car in which he's sitting; Billy is offered the opportunity to drive in the incapacitated man's stead. Billy wins the next race and continues driving for Jones. Together with his team's other driver, Happy Lee ( Steve Brodie), they make headlines with their success. Billy gets arrested for speeding after he has too much to drink. Red bails him out, and contrary to Red's advice, Billy goes on to race that same night. When the left rear wheel in Happy's car breaks, Billy tries desperately to catch up to Happy and alert him but instead crashes into Happy's car after the wheel comes off. The car skids to a stop in Billy's path. Happy's car is smashed through the wall, rupturing the gas tank and the car bursts into flames. Despite Billy's frantic efforts to save him, Happy dies in the blaze. After the race, the other drivers avoid Billy, convinced Billy made good his tyro promise to "...drive over them" and he is fired from Jones's garage. Billy decides to move "back east, where the big cars and the big money are." Billy stays in contact with Louise, and starts fresh as a race car driver. In his absence, his mother and Red get married. On the day of the next Indianapolis 500 race, Mary, Red and Louise turn out to support Billy. He drives one of Red's cars and leads, but on the final lap Billy drives through flaming gasoline from a wreck which causes Billy's engine to catch fire. Battling the smoke, Billy finishes the race, taking third place, leaping from the car just before it explodes. Billy is bitterly disappointed not to have won, especially since without a winning purse Red can't afford to race again. To Billy's delight, in a show of great sportsmanship, the winner insists officials give the trophy to Billy for his bravery.

Cast

as Billy Coy * Thomas Mitchell as Arthur 'Red' Stanley *

as Louise Riley * Michael O'Shea as Vic Sullivan *

as Mary Coy * Hattie McDaniel as Minnie (as Hattie McDaniels) * Steve Brodie as Happy Lee *

Lina Romay Lina Romay (born Rosa María Almirall Martínez; 25 June 1954 – 15 February 2012), a.k.a. Candy Coster and Lulu Laverne, was a Spanish actress who often appeared in films directed by her long-time companion (and later husband) Jesús Franco. ...

as Dolores Raymond *

Allen Jenkins Allen Curtis Jenkins (born Alfred McGonegal; April 9, 1900 – July 20, 1974) was an American character actor and singer who worked on stage, film, and television. Life and career Jenkins was born on Staten Island, New York, on April 9, 190 ...

as George * Richard Lane as Reno Riley (as Dick Lane) *

Eddie Kane Eddie Kane (August 12, 1889 – April 30, 1969) was an American actor who appeared in over 250 productions from 1928 to 1959. Biography Kane was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His early career was in vaudeville as a member of the two-man te ...

as Head Waiter *

Charles Irwin Charles Irwin, VC (1824 – 8 April 1873), was born in Manorhamilton, County Leitrim, and was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British ...

as Drunk * Kippee Valez as Carla *

Denver Pyle Denver Dell Pyle (May 11, 1920 – December 25, 1997) was an American film and television actor and director. He was well known for a number of TV roles from the 1960s through the 1980s, including his portrayal of Briscoe Darling Jr. in se ...

as Doctor * George Fisher as Announcer * Jackson King as Announcer (as Jack Colin)

Production

Rooney returned from the war and made four films for

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

. He wanted to enter independent production and MGM agreed provided he promise to make five films for them. In April 1949 Rooney announced he would make four films in partnership with producer Sam Stiefel of which ''Big Wheel'' would be the first, directed by Edward Ludwig based on a story by Robert Smith. It would be followed by ''Buckaroo'' based on an idea by Rooney, and ''Quicksand''. The agreement between Rooney and Stiefel ended before Rooney had made a film due to a financial disagreement. Rooney agreed to make three films for Stiefel as a salaried employee. The producer said Rooney owed him $180,000 and he was paying Rooney $100,000 a film; he was to pay it off at $60,000 a film, and thus would only get $40,000 cash. Filming started 21 June 1949. Wilbur Shaw acted as technical adviser. Rooney's character was based on Mauri Rose. In August 1949 it was announced the film would be produced by Stifel, Harry Popkin and Jack Dempsey.

Reception

The film was previewed in November 1949. The ''Los Angeles Times'' said the track scenes were "thrilling".

Lawsuit

In January 1950 driver Bill Holland sued Rooney, Dempsey, Popkin, Stifel and his brother for $250,000 in damages claiming the film was based on the

1949 Indianapolis 500 The 33rd International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was an automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 30, 1949. After two years of failures to his teammate, Bill Holland finally won one for himself, giving car owner Lou Moore ...

. Holland won the race and argued the film damaged his reputation by implying he won by a fluke.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Big Wheel, The 1949 films American sports drama films American black-and-white films 1940s sports drama films 1940s English-language films United Artists films Films directed by Edward Ludwig Films scored by Gerard Carbonara Films scored by John Leipold American auto racing films Articles containing video clips 1949 drama films 1940s American films