User Reviews

**SPOILERS** Corny type of movie about racing and romance with the great matinée idol Clark Gable reunited with Barbara Stanwyck for the first time since 1931. It was back then in the film "Night Nurse" that a thuggish looking and clean shaven Gable as Nick the Chuffeur smacked Barbara, as in house nurse Lona Heart, around and at one point knocked her out cold just to show her he's boss. Gable as Mike Brannan is now twenty older as well as twenty pounds heavier doing what would have suited his previous character Nick the Chauffeur best. Racing midget cars on the Ohio to New Jersey circuit and being the most hated man in the sport.

It's while competing in a race in Newark NJ that Branner meets TV & radio reporter Regina Forbes, Barbara Stanwyck, and it was hate at first sight! Regina always keeps bringing up the unpleasant fact that Brannan was responsible for the death of a fellow race car driver back in Trenton where he forced him off the track in order to win the race. Sure enough as the race begins Brannan driving like a maniac on steroids does the same thing forcing one of the competing drivers out of his lane and ending up crashing into another car killing himself!

Shocked at what she saw Regina writes a not too complementary column about Brannar's wild exploits at the Newark race track that eventually has him back-balled out of the sport. It's later that Regina has second feeling about what she did in destroying Brannan's career as well as falls in love with the big brute, even after he whacked her, to the point where she becomes, in secret, his biggest fan. That after Brannan worked himself out of total obscurity and after getting his race car license back and winning a string of races he became the favorite to win the coveted Indianapolis 500 together with the $200,000.00 1st prize that goes along with it.

Regina also gets to see what Brannan meant about winning at all cost in what she eventually did to financier Dwight Barrington, Roland Winter. It was Barrington whom Regina exposed in her columns as a rip off artist who defrauded his company run pension fund as well as the thousands of people who had invested in it! Being sentenced to 25 years in the can, prison, Barrington blew his brains out before he was to be sent up the river! Regina realized that what she did to Barrington was as bad as what Brannar did to those who got too close to him on the race track and tried to pass him in order the win the race. Even though they weren't convicted criminals like Barrington was!

***SPOILERS*** Heart racing final with Branner out to win the Indianapolis 500 at all cost suddenly gets religious and in order to please a lady , Rigina Forbes, refrains from his hard hitting and somewhat underhanded tactics in order to win the race to be for once the good guy in order to win Rigina Forbes' heart. An in the end Brannan ends up winning, in the opinion of those of us watching, both!

I have to admit that the subject of stock car racing has only passing interest for me. Only with other aspects in the plot could I remain interested in films like this, "Indianapolis Speedway" and "Grand Prix". Even boxing films, a subject I am not a fan of, are more exciting generally on screen because of the crime elements and the darkness of film noir attached. But with Stanwyck and Gable, in their second film together (and only romantic pairing), together, that was enough to give this film a repeat viewing. Gable is of course a stock car racer, and Stanwyck the world's foremost female columnist. She wants to do a story on him after his driving (for the second time) causes another driver to be killed during a race. They don't click at first (a natural to lead to romance in these kind of films) but eventually the sparks fly.

The race car sequences I must admit in this film are intense, and Stanwyck's toughness is nice to see Gable to have to reckon with compared to his recent leading ladies of Lana Turner and Loretta Young. Stanwyck's short Jane Wyman/Mamie Eisenhower hairstyle doesn't fully suit her but of the veteran stars of the 30's and 40's, she was one of the few that aged gracefully and (mostly) naturally. The same year, she was ravishing with long hair in the western noir "The Furies".

Still, this is an adult picture with mature romance (stars nearing 50) and has the distinction of legendary MGM director Clarence Brown. It is also a historically significant picture politically because of the recent investigation into communists in Hollywood, its co-stars being extreme conservative Adolph Menjou (who allegedly named names during the hearings) and soon-to-be blacklisted Will Geer. It should be noted that they do not appear on screen together. In a pivotal political plot point, Stanwyck shines in a scene where she threatens to destroy a public figure to his face while trying on a dozen pair of shoes.

The third pairing of Stanwyck and Menjou (after 1932's "Forbidden" and 1939's "Golden Boy"), their relationship here is quite different, as Menjou's character seems intent on manipulating Stanwyck into remaining a basically loveless hard as nails columnist. This asks the question, can a tough female columnist remain objective in a story when she's in love with the subject of it? Scrappy and facicious, Stanwyck also shows a human side when one of her victims takes his own life. She claims to Gable, "Don't you know? You're nobody until somebody loves you", all the while unsure of where this will lead her in her career. The teaming is memorable for its reverse of what Katharine Hepburn said about Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers; In this case, Stanwyck gives Gable "class" while Gable gives Stanwyck "sex" (i.e. femininity).

This is a man's picture where the woman is just as important rather than an outsider looking in. Stanwyck is very alluring in a scene cooing with Gable on the phone while he is in the next room (on another line) watching her. For me, it is also a film that as I read into things not said in the script I began to rate higher than my original viewing 20 years ago.

In spite of its strange title, "To Please a Lady" of 1950 is one of the best movies ever made about car racing. Many other films have had racing in them, but this is one of the very few specifically about racing with a cast of big stars.

The latter include "Grand Prix" of 1966 with James Garner, which was more about romance and affairs in the rarified and rich atmosphere around the French Grand Prix auto race. "Winning" of 1969 with Paul Newman was more of a melodrama, romance and off-track story. It was set in the glitzy atmosphere of big-time NASCAR racing. "Le Mans" of 1971 starred Steve McQueen. It too had a complex plot with past race tragedies and romance. It lacks more big name stars, but McQueen's real life experience in racing adds to the authenticity of this film. This film also used actual race footage shot with cameras attached to cars.

"To Please a Lady" stars Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck, with a fine supporting cast. It is the grittiest and one of the most realistic race movies. It 's the first to film racing at its actual speed and the first to use a camera fastened to a race car. It has great action on the racetrack, and real views behind the scenes of racing. One sequence shows Gable's race team taking apart, working and reassembling his entire engine. This film also has good scenes of midget racing, which began in the 1930s and is still a sport in America and other countries.

Clark Gable plays Mike Brannan, a World War II hero who has made it big in midget car racing since the war. He's an expert driver who takes the time to walk and study the track for trouble spots before races. He says he will do whatever it takes to win. He has come out on top of scrapes including one in which another driver was killed. Because of his daredevil ways, he soon becomes the enmity of racing fans who boo him. He hopes to one day move up to the big cars, and again race in the Indianapolis 500.

Barbara Stanwyck is Regina Forbes, who writes a famous syndicated column. She can make or break a person at the stroke of a pen. Her column is legitimate and she has a team of researchers and assistants. She digs out scandals and reports on crooked politicians and shady deals and people. Adolph Menjou is Gregg, her manager. He's also her co-writer and a cynic who seems to worry that he may be out of a lucrative career if Regina finds love.

They watch a TV segment on midget car racing and Forbes learns of Brannan's reputation. So, she decides to attend a race. She meets Brannan, and after a racer he was challenging gets killed, she accuses Brannan of murder in her column, and sets out to bring him down. After her scathing columns, racetrack owners and circuits refuse to let Brannan race. He tries all over the country but is rejected. But, the two are attracted to each other and meet again. They have a love-hate relationship at first.

After some time passes, Forbes finds Brannan doing stunt driving in the daredevil Joie (sic) Chitwood Thrill Show. Brannan and Forbes face off, and their renewed acquaintance soon turns into friendship. In time, it starts to blossom into love. But now, Brannan has been saving his money to buy his own car to get back into the big car racing circuit. He has his sights set on winning the Indy 500.

This film pays more attention than any other film to the internal drive that divers have for racing. It never leaves that first love, and doesn't get sidetracked by romance, love trysts or other affairs of the heart. Yet, human elements ride comfortably beside the racing in "To Please a Lady."

The race actually filmed at the end of the movie was the Indy 500 on Memorial Day of 1950. The lineup and announcing by Ted Husing (playing himself) was modified to include Mike Brannan's name. It was Joie Chitwood's last of seven Indy 500s. He finished 5th that year. The announcer has three-time winner Mauri Rose ahead much of the race, and vying with Brannan before the accident toward the end. The real winner that year was Johnnie Parsons. And, because the movie crew was there for filming the last scene, Barbara Stanwyck was in Victory Lane to give Johnnie Parsons the victory kiss.

The segment of daredevil driving with the Joie Chitwood show is a bit of nostalgia. Most people who lived anywhere in America after WWII into the 1980s saw or had a chance to see Chitwood's Thrill Show. I saw Chitwood drive a couple times in the early 1950s, and saw his shows several years in a row. Chitwood was a successful big time racer who gave it up when his thrill show became so popular. For more than 40 years (1945-1980s), Chitwood's show teams toured the U.S., thrilling audiences at county fairgrounds, state fairs, holiday festivals and other events.

Chitwood did some stunt work in Hollywood and on TV. William C. McGaw plays Chitwood in this film. He's probably the man announcing the daredevil show, and whom Regina Forbes talks to afterwards. The precision driving, jumping stunts, speed racing choreography patterns and other thrills truly made Joie Chitwood's "the greatest show on wheels." And, his show inclusion in this movie is an extra bonus that adds historical value to the film.

I've not driven a racecar, but I have driven and walked some racetracks. I walked the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Speedway in 1999.

Some very good quips adorn this film. Here's a favorite. Mike, "If you wanna get in some guy's hair, go find someone else." Regina, "Yeah, but I like being in yours."