Sine the Indianapolis 500 is in two days time, this week’s selection for Fast Film Friday is ‘To Please a Lady‘ which provides a glimpse into Indy Car racing in the late 1940s. It’s a really odd title for a racing movie. Maybe the idea was that that guys could trick their dames into buying tickets to a race car movie, thinking it was a Clarke Gable romance with Barbara Stanwyck as his leading lady. Not quite.
The movie is extremely dated, which is to be expected for a nearly 75 year old film. Veteran racer Mike Brannan (Gable) is rough and tough. His ruthless racing style has already killed some of his racing rivals. He’s the villain at every track he races on. Regina Forbes (Stanwyck) is a magazine columnist with millions of readers who’s doing a piece on the chauvinistic, old-school racer.
When Brannan brushes off Forbes, she gets her revenge by writing a ‘hatchet job’ article about him. Brannan gets banned from every race track in the country as promotors don’t want to be associated with this killer on wheels. That’s right, the guy got cancelled in 1950 before it was even a thing. How very modern!
But then the movie just veers off into old fashioned, misogynistic tropes. Gable confronts Stanwyck, follows up his strong words by giving her a taste of the back of his hand. But this bossy lady just loves it rough, falls madly in love with this beast of a man, and they begin passionately kissing.
The redeeming moment of the movie is the footage shot at the 1950 Indianapolis 500. Racers in short-sleeved polo shirts driving open cockpit cars without even so much as a seatbelt or roll bar to protect them. Apparently, MGM brough a crew of 70 to capture the racing sequences, so there’s a real cinematic feel to the authentic racing footage.
Clarke Gable’s character drives the No. 17 car, which was actually entered in the race with real-life racer Joie Chitwood at the wheel. Gable is filmed at the driver’s introduction and pre-race parades, and it is just so immersive, you’d think it was real. Hopefully when the filmmakers destroyed the No. 17 at the end of the movie, it was a replica!
delightful review. it is incomprehensible to our modern minds that men found (and many still find) it acceptable in the slightest to HIT a woman. men hitting each other is bad enough, but there’s an entire history there. your posts always make me think.
These old movies give a glimpse into the world of racing back in the day. But they also force us to see how misogyny was so common and accepted.
Did you know that local small tracks (short ovals) commonly held races called ‘Powderpuff Derby’ right through the 60s and beyond?
Women weren’t allowed to race against the men, and were relegated to the girls race at intermission.
i did not know women were not allowed to race but of course that would be the case. i do not remember ever hearing of powder puff racing but glad that at least women could compete against each other.