I have some serious misgivings about "Sporting Blood," but I am torn. On the one hand there were a couple of lines in the movie which bothered me, and on the other hand it is a sports movie, and I love sports movies. And what did a horse ever do to anybody?
Starting with what gave me misgivings.
A man by the name of Jim Rellence (Ernest Torrence) owned a stable in Kentucky. He bred and sold racehorses. Sam (Eugene Jackson), a young African American stablehand, lost a mare by the name of Southern Queen while bringing a group of horses back to the stable. This mare was Jim's pride and joy. The mare got caught in mud, broke her leg and gave birth to a colt named Tommy Boy all at the same time. Jim's response to the mare being lost was "I'm gonna rawhide that Sam to within an inch of his life." And this is from the protagonist of this flick.
That line caused me to have an instant reaction. Whether he did it or not (which he didn't), the fact that such words so easily came out of his mouth is an indication of what he probably has already done; and the non-response of the one he was talking to was an indication of just how acceptable such a thing was.
Later we found out how magnanimous and merciful Mr. Rellence was when he opted not to chastise or physically abuse Sam. I suppose that was the part of the movie when we were to understand that old white men like Jim Rellence only spoke about whipping Black people, but they were really kind and gentle with them.
The other line that gave me pause was later in the movie when a pushover of a husband named Bill Ludeking (Hallam Cooley) was trying to talk tough about his wife in front of his friends. He had just spent $40,000 buying Tommy Boy for his wife Angie (Marie Prevost) after her pestering him about it because she liked his "colors". She went on to misuse the horse and was subsequently frustrated with him and wanted to get rid of Tommy Boy. While Bill was in a poker game with some other fat cats a high roller named Tip Scanlon (Lew Cody) offered to buy Tommy Boy for $20,000.
"Alright. You're stealing him but I'll take it," Bill griped. "And if Angie ever yearns for colors again I'll give her her choice: black or blue," to which he got a chorus of laughter. He was clearly and haughtily alluding to beating his wife. It was all posturing because he was a sucker when it came to his wife, but again it seemed to come out so naturally and was never scoffed at.
In spite of the couple of bristling remarks made I couldn't help but enjoy this movie because at its core, it was about the life of a thoroughbred horse. Tommy Boy had been to the mountaintop, then dragged through the valley, and again back to the mountaintop, and all the while it was the different owners that determined his fate. That's the life of any animal really. So long as they are partnered with good and caring owners they can thrive, but should they find themselves saddled with a negligent, abusive, or mean owner, then their lives end up being miserable.
One other thing I liked about this movie, even though I had some ambivalence, was the use of quite a few Black actors, and one in a major role. My ambivalence was due to the type of roles, not due to the use of Black actors. Sure, African Americans were going to have to play servant roles, but the farcical way they were depicted made me cringe. "Sporting Blood" was on the lighter end of the exaggerated speaking and emoting, yet it was still tough to watch.
John Larkin, a Black man, played the role of Uncle Ben, an older stablehand. It would've been nice to see John playing a role other than a stablehand, but he was a pivotal character and had the best idea of the entire movie.
I understand the incredible conundrum African Americans were in back then; both those who wanted to be in movies and those who wanted to see an African American in movies. The roles were scarce and they weren't ideal. John Larkin probably took one of the better roles that could be had by a Black man at that time. He was a stablehand, but he still was capable and smart as opposed to some "Birth of a Nation" type character who was dumb and totally inept.
So, in some ways "Sporting Blood" was really progressive. It featured quite a few Black characters that weren't there for folly and amusement, yet we can still see the growth needed in some of the dialogue.
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