Robert Taylor had been a familiar face in films for nearly 25 years when he made "Tip on a Dead Jockey" in 1957. Here, he plays Lloyd Tredman, a Korean war pilot who now lives in Madrid doing...well, not much. He is divorced (so he thinks) from his wife Phyllis (Dorothy Malone). However, she never signed the papers and travels to Madrid to find out what happened to their marriage and if there is any way to salvage it.Lloyd admits that he is no longer able to pilot a plane. He is haunted by what he saw in Korea and is now too scared and nervous to fly again. He is the part-owner of a race horse, and is looking forward to winning a lot of money as a result of the race.Before that happens, he is approached by a man who offers him $25,000 to smuggle money out of the country. Lloyd doesn't like it, but he says it all depends on what happens in the race. When the race doesn't turn out as planned, Lloyd is sure that the smuggler had something to do with it. Angry, he refuses to accept the job. Instead, it goes to his close friend Jimmy (Jack Lord). When Jimmy is delayed, his wife (Gia Scala) becomes hysterical, and becomes worse when Jimmy announces he's doing it again! At that point, Lloyd takes over. It's not a smooth trip, with Lloyd almost not able to take off due to being paralyzed from nerves. He finally does, and if anything could happen, it does.This isn't a great movie. It moves slowly and there isn't a lot of action. It's interesting to see Jack Lord pre-Hawaii Five-O, young and with a slightly higher speaking voice and wearing less makeup than he did on his TV show. Dorothy Malone was attractive and good, but the plot is obvious.Taylor, always solid and likable, did six films with director Richard Thorpe. I am a fan of classic films, so I watch him because he is from the golden age, but also because he was my late mother's absolute favorite. He does a good job here.A few words about my mom's favorite guy, after my father, of course. The kid from Nebraska, with his resonant speaking voice and perfect face went on from this film to a successful TV series, "The Detectives," and continued in films until his death from lung cancer at the age of 57, in 1969. Yeah, the cigarettes got most of them.He is somewhat out of favor for testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee as a friendly witness. However, a new book, Robert Taylor: Reluctant Witness, disputes this. In truth, I don't think he was the sharpest knife in the drawer and probably didn't understand the impact of the committee -- and, like many, he saw Communism as a threat. He claimed to have used bad judgment in accepting the film "Song of Russia." The truth? He did whatever Louis B. Mayer told him to do and wasn't aware that it was making a political statement until someone told him it was pro-Communist. He lived under the umbrella of MGM nearly his entire career and just did what he was assigned.It's not an excuse, and I'm the last one to applaud blacklisting or witch hunts. But everyone who testified had an agenda. Except probably Robert Taylor, who, when he left MGM, didn't know how to make a dinner reservation.

Perhaps it's just me, but doesn't Robert Taylor look awfully old for this role? Now he wasn't THAT old, but the late 1950s, he went from looking handsome and vigorous to very tired. And, in general, so did his performances. Here, he plays a disaffected American pilot who responds to his war experiences by dropping off the map. Instead of returning home to his adoring wife (Dorothy Malone), he moves to Madrid and sends a letter to his wife--asking for a divorce. However, Malone is not content to just do this and so she goes to Spain to try to figure out what's happened to a once excellent husband. Once there, he seems happy to see her--but also without direction and occasionally a bit of a jerk.Into this boring reunion comes a smuggler who offers to pay Taylor a ton of money. He refuses it but his young partner (Jack Lord) gets involved. But, because Lord is involved with a young lady, Taylor does the macho thing--punching Lord and flying this mission instead--even though he has PTSD due to his combat experiences. Will Taylor make it alive? Does anyone really care? The biggest problem about this film is that it's hard to really give a darn about Taylor. He seems, at times, whiny and hard to like. And, after just a bit of this, you wonder why his wife would even want him back in the first place. Overall, a time-passer and not much more.

Tip on a Dead Jockey, is a good introspective movie with character studies of people in turmoil. Robert Taylor plays a former fly boy that has lost his nerve, his love and his honor. He moves to Spain to get away, and forget how afraid he is of everything. He has a house guest, many parties, many days at the races and little of anything else. Lloyd Tredman (Taylor) is a very troubled man. He has divorced his wife Phyllis (Dorothy Malone) without any explanation and she goes to Spain to find out why. The reason he says, is because he is all used up, too many times he sent flyers out to certain death, and there is just nothing left for him to give. Martin Gabel offers him $25,000 to fly in and out of Spain and drop a package filled with money, but Lloyd can not go, too afraid, so he gives the job to Jimmy (Jack Lord) his best friend. Lloyd thinks he is love with Paquita (Gia Scala), Jimmy's wife. Gabel tells him this is his chance with her if Jimmy does not return. He leaves, runs away, but is summoned back to console Paquita when Jimmy is 3 days late. Phyllis accuses him of trying to murder Jimmy because of Paquita, and he goes over the edge and slaps her. This scene is worth the whole movie. Dorthy Malone, as the embittered and confused ex-wife is great in this scene, with Taylor at his best as the accused. In the end he flies the plane, after he regains his courage, and finds that Gabel has hidden heroine in the package. He alerts the authorities and they arrest Gable and his helpers. He then goes to Phyliss to mend the marriage. Robert Taylor is always good as the man with the hidden past as in "High Wall", "Rogue Cop", and "Ride Vaquero".

A late-in-his-career movie for a classic actor, Robert Taylor is just the man for this role-he wants to make some money but finds out it is "bad" money, and how will he fix the situation?....Dorothy Malone is, well, a 50's actress that was put into a lot of movies in the decade-this is one of them........overall, this is a "fly the plane in and out of fields late at night" movie, and it does it's job well.....(and Mr. Taylor's side kick was in two Bogart movies, Casablanca and To Have and Have Not, so he has good credentials). A Recommended movie.