Mickey Rooney's first film after leaving MGM was this independent production for United Artists, The Big Wheel. This is a racetrack story done with hardly the budget of Le Mans or Grand Prix or even MGM's racing story To Please A Lady that Clark Gable did with Barbara Stanwyck two years later. Still it has a nice cast with good location shooting at various racetracks climaxing of course with Indianapolis 500.The Mick's got a lot to prove, he's the son of a racing legend who lived a fast life, died at the Indianapolis 500 and left widow Spring Byington to raise Mickey by herself. She's had of late though Thomas Mitchell who was her husband's old mechanic and he's now courting Byington.Because of his attitude Rooney doesn't win many friends at the racing circuit. When Steve Brodie is killed, a lot of the drivers especially Michael O'Shea blame Rooney. And it comes out a lot of them disliked his father for some of the same personality traits and more.Mickey's got two girls in this one, Mary Hatcher daughter of race car owner Richard Lane and sultry singer Lina Romay. He has to the end of the picture to figure out which one is really in his corner.The Big Wheel is not a great picture, but it was better than some of what Rooney was doing after World War II at MGM. For the most part they still saw him as a kid over there. The Big Wheel let Mickey Rooney grow up and for that it should be considered a milestone film in his career.

It was interesting to hear it stated in 1949 when this picture was made that the Indianapolis 500 was already in it's thirty third year. The film never mentioned the term 'Indy 500', and the event took place on Decoration Day, not Memorial Day. Funny, my mother still calls it Decoration Day; I guess old habits die hard.For Mickey Rooney, this would have to be one of his quintessential performances, alternately cocky and swaggering, and at other times pensive and solemn. He comes on the scene with an ego as big as all outdoors, and has to get taken down a peg or two before getting a chance to hit the jackpot. Storywise, the movie seems to be all over the place with a disjointed continuity that often left me scratching my head. Like the eye-blinking scene in which he crashes during a race, a newspaper headline announces he has a broken leg, and the very next scene he's up and around good as new with scant reference to the accident.Rooney gets decent support from Thomas Mitchell as his sponsor Red Stanley, and Spring Byington as his mom. I expected a bit more in the way of romance between Billy Coy (Rooney) and his grease monkey sweetheart Buddy (Mary Hatcher), but as I mentioned, there was a lot going on. Funny, but I don't recall her ever being called Louise in the story, her character name as listed in the credits.Though most of the race scenes were stock footage, they were still effectively done, and some of the crashes looked unusually violent. One in particular, a crash and burn into a wall during the Indy race was especially nasty. Virtually every race made it look like accidents were more the norm than just the occasional mishap.Of course today, race films and the events themselves are a virtual panoply of commercial endorsements. There were a few instances of product placement here, like Mobil Oil and Coca Cola, but you had to be looking for them.If you enjoyed this film, try going back another seventeen years to Jimmy Cagney's 1932 picture "The Crowd Roars". It also gets it's start on California dirt tracks, including Culver City which shows up in this flick. There are some Indy scenes as well, though a main point of difference is that it also cameoed some leading race car drivers of the day. Nevertheless, fans of the sport and old time movies get a nice two for one with either of these stories.

This movie screened today on BRIZ31 (Brisbane Community Television)1949, Indianapolis 500 was in it's 33rd year. Mickey Rooney played the hard ass carby engine driver to a T! Sure, the backdrop of the great race track was exactly that, with Rooney walking around as if he was actually there, but let's face it, SFX was still 5-6 years away. :-) The story was fast paced and believable. Tough nut owners and their equally tough nut drivers. Punch ups were the way to settle an argument. Never mind a quiet talk.An enjoyable yarn, with typical Rooney happy ending. 8 stars of of 10 from me.

Mickey Rooney gets a character well-suited to his abilities, and the good atmosphere at garages and auto racing tracks also helps make this a solid B-melodrama. The story follows a familiar pattern, but the setting is different enough to make it interesting.Rooney plays the son of a race driver who wants to establish a racing career of his own. The character goes through a number of changes as his fortunes ebb and flow, and Rooney makes him believable at each stage. He had the ability to be sympathetic when necessary, and he also had the knack of making a character turn abrasive in a believable fashion. Here, it helps to flesh out a familiar plot.Most of the other characters are one-dimensional, and are only there to give Rooney something to play off of. An exception is Thomas Mitchell, whose skill at playing seemingly simple roles makes the garage owner into a believable character in his own right.The auto racing settings are interesting, and although the racing sequences rely on stock footage, they are still enjoyable. The story takes Rooney's character from hot rods to midget racers to the Indianapolis-style cars. It was set in what was then the present, and race fans in its audiences probably could have spotted some familiar cars. Now, it is also of interest as a decent recreation of the Indy racers of its day.