THE BOY FROM INDIANA

Lon McCallister

THE BOY FROM INDIANA (1950). Director: John Rawlins.

Lon Decker (Lon McCallister) is a young man without a family who runs into an old reprobate named MacDougal (George Cleveland of Haunted House). The old scoundrel convinces Lon to become a jockey and ride MacDougal's horse, Jo Jo, in a race. Lon has no idea that MacDougal drugs horses and the like, nor that Jo Jo is actually a famous horse named Texas Dandy; eventually the two men develop a father-son relationship. Lon meets Betty (Lois Richards) who argues that quarter horses can become winning race horses just as much as thoroughbreds -- maybe Jo Jo can compete against the big boys?  Trouble ensues when Jo Jo is gored by a berserk bull (in an exciting and cinematic sequence) and also when Lon realizes how utterly larcenous his "Pa" can be. Nevertheless, Lon is determined to race Jo Jo, providing the horse's injuries can heal in time.

Lon McCallister and Lois Riuchards

The Boy from Indiana benefits from good performances from the charming, boyish McCallister and  a peppery Cleveland, with sweet Lois Richards and an equally peppery Billie Burke [Dinner at Eight] -- as MacDougal's nemesis Zelda Bagley -- thrown in for good measure. McCallister was a handsome and likable performer who appeared in a lot of "outdoors" movies and family films. Lois Butler had only a few credits, and appeared in just three films. On the other hand, Cleveland had nearly 200 credits over a very, very long career. The Boy from Indiana has some limited charm and several likable players. John Rawlins also directed Young Fugitives as well as a number of serials.

Verdict: Amiable movie for horse lovers and racing enthusiasts. **1/2. 

BORN RECKLESS

Mamie Van Doren, Arthur Hunnicutt, Jeff Richards

BORN RECKLESS (1958). Director: Howard W. Koch.

Trick rodeo rider and singer Jackie Adams (Mamie Van Doren) meets up with cowboy Kelly Cobb (Jeff Richards) when the latter pulls a masher off of her and gets into a fight. Kelly is buddies with the older "Cool Man" (Arthur Hunnicutt), a former rodeo rider who seems to serve as his manager, right hand or surrogate father (anything else the movie does not explore). As they travel around appearing in different rodeos, a romance between Jackie and Kelly doesn't quite develop, but this doesn't stop Jackie from developing a proprietary attitude toward the man when he dallies too long with wealthy sophisticate, Liz (Carol Ohmart). Will Kelly ever realize that Jackie is the girl of his dreams? Hardly anyone who sits through this generally tedious film will give a damn about the outcome, as the under-written and under-acted characters are of little interest to anyone despite the actors' sex appeal. Van Doren and Richards are okay and look good, but neither exactly set the screen on fire, and seem uninterested in each other almost throughout the entire movie, although Jackie eventually displays a hankering for Kelly. Hunnicutt makes the best impression in the film after Ohmart, who exhibits the same smoky sensuality that radiates from her in such films as House on Haunted Hill and others; when she appears you instantly forget about Van Doren, just as Kelly does. Van Doren [High School Confidential] sings several songs throughout the movie, including a nice unrequited love ballad entitled "It Takes a Little Longer" and a band does a good job with "Lovable You." If that's Van Doren's real voice, she isn't a bad singer. Richards was a good-looking actor whose most famous role was as "Buck Winston," the only male to appear in The Opposite Sex, the musical remake of The Women. He also did a lot of television work, was in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and starred as Jefferson Drum in that series. Koch also directed Van Doren in The Girl in Black Stockings. A prospective "cat fight" between Van Doren and Ohmart doesn't really amount to much, for shame.

Verdict: A Mamie Van Doren musical? *1/2.