The Big Wheel

Overview

In this film, Mickey Rooney plays Billy Coy, a garage mechanic who matriculates into a champion race-car driver. On the way to the top, he steps on friends and foes alike. He even manages to briefly alienate his saintly mother. It takes some doing, but Billy finally redeems himself.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/22/2016
UPC:	0889290242563
Original Release:	1949
Source:	Film Detective
Language:	English
Time:	1:32:00
Sales rank:	51,189

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Mickey Rooney	Billy Coy
Thomas Mitchell	Arthur 'Red' Stanley
Michael O'Shea	Vic Sullivan
Mary Hatcher	Louise Riley
Spring Byington	Mrs. Mary Coy
Lina Romay	Dolores Raymond
Steve Brodie	Happy
Allen Jenkins	George
Richard Lane	Reno Riley,Reno Riley
Hattie McDaniel	Minnie
Nathaniel W. Finston	Composer

Technical Credits

Robert Smith

Mort Briskin	Producer
Edward Ludwig	Director
Harry M. Popkin	Executive Producer,Producer
Samuel H. Stiefel	Producer
Jack Dempsey	Producer
Robert Smith	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

A thoroughly average but also quite watchable little sports flick, The Big Wheel will probably appeal most to race fans, especially those with an itch to experience automobile racing "as it used to be." Indeed, the best parts of Wheel come when it puts its stock characters and stock situations on hold and takes to the speedway. What happens out there on the track is just as stock as anything else in the film in terms of story, but the footage makes it exciting. While clearly shooting on a budget, director Edward Ludwig and cinematographer Samuel H. Steifel make sure that these sequences, especially the final one, are pretty darn gripping. Although one can often tell where the "real" racing footage ends and the "created" footage begins, it still packs a decent wallop. As indicated, the script that surrounds these segments is quite routine, but it's handled with commitment by Ludwig and given their best shot by Mickey Rooney, Spring Byington and Thomas Mitchell, all of whom add significantly to the picture. (Coming off less well is steady love interest Mary Hatcher.) Its screenplay may keep it out of the big time winner's circle, but Wheel is a perfectly fine way to pass a little time.