That's My Man

This late Frank Borzage movie is almost impossible to categorize. It begins as a kind of 'meet-cute-romantic-comedy' before turning into something more serious but there's a difference, the difference here being a horse. Yes, the man in the title of "That's My Man" is a racehorse we first meet in a taxi-cab one wet Christmas week in LA. His owner is Don Ameche who is so good he makes the mostly cringe-worthy dialogue in these opening scenes sound feasible or is it Borzage, one of the cinema's great romantic directors, who turns potential slop into visual poetry? Regardless, it works. Indeed, these opening scenes are really quite splendid but then it all goes very conventionally downhill. The material is just too off-the-wall and it takes a considerable suspension of disbelief to accept a lot of what is happening. Individual shots and moments do stand out but this is certainly not one of Borzage's better films but then again, no Borzage film is completely negligible and fans of this great director will want to see this. Others may just find it too lachrymose by far.

"That's My Man" is a surprisingly bad film given that it has a couple excellent actors in the leads, Don Ameche and Catherine McLeod. They try their best...but the material just isn't very good. In particular, Ameche's character really makes no sense at all.

When the story begins, Joe has quit his job and taken his money and bought a baby horse. Now to put this in perspective, he has no idea how to raise a horse and thinks that by loving it and treating it like a pet it will somehow be a great race horse. But in the meantime, he's wandering about the city with a horse...looking for a place to bed him for the night. He meets Ronnie (McLeod) and she inexplicably allows this total stranger to stay with her and bring along his horsey in her city apartment. What part of this makes any sense?!

After working as a stable boy for a couple years, the horse ends up being a big winner and he and Ronnie marry. Their marriage is rocky, however, as Joe is an irresponsible idiot (he did pretty much demonstrate this when the movie began). Instead of paying all his attention to his wife and stable, he misses a lot of things because he's out gambling. He generally wins...but he's often not home and it's only a matter of time until Ronnie's had enough.

The biggest problem, apart from Joe's character making little sense, is that you also have no reason to like Joe and root for him...and he's really a jerk. You can't help but think that Ronnie would just be better off alone than with this man-child.

So what he have is some nice acting and a script that often makes no sense. At best, it's a time-passer.

By the way, one review mentioned that there are multiple versions. The one I found on YouTube is complete and in crisp condition.

Even at the tail end of their careers in regular employment, Ameche and Borzage don't let Republic's formula, tear jerker, horse picture totally defeat them. The triple punch still connects - in the card game with Ridgely, speaking the sentimental song to the sick child and the big race.

The production values are very 'forties with the use of studio setting and back projection nearly as much a distraction as the fashions.

It's nice to see Roscoe Karns get a substantial part.

Frank Borzage isn't a well-known director nowadays. I don't know how famous he was back in his time, but he made some good movies (everyone should see "No Greater Glory").

"That's My Man" is a little awkward to watch due to the depiction of gender relations. Don Ameche (recognizable to later generations from his roles in "Trading Places", "Cocoon" and "Harry and the Hendersons") plays a loser who buys a horse. A woman takes him and the horse as boarders. While the plot focuses on the horse's racing success, the gender relations remind me of those movies or TV shows where a woman gets married to a lazy man-baby and he does nothing to contribute.

I guess that the movie was supposed to be about the potential for one's aspirations to interfere with relationships, but it comes across very old-school. Might be interesting to see as a historical reference, but otherwise it's kind of unpleasant.

Don Ameche decides to live life on his own terms. He quits his job as an accountant and buys a colt. He doesn't have a place to keep it. Catherine McLeod offers her apartment. That doesn't work out. However, the horse, Gallant Man, wins every race for the soft-spoken Ameche and his bride. But when Ameche retires the horse rather than carry 140 pounds in handicap, and Miss McLeod tells Ameche not to come home, he goes on the skids.

Frank Borzage's movie of the love between a man and a horse has echoes of his mystical films of the late 1920s and early 1930s, but at times it seems as if Miss McLeod is the third wheel. Still, Ameche pulls off his role by speaking softly and sounding sincere, and there's Roscoe Karns, Joe Frisco, and Frankie Darro to make the whole thig seem possible for 97 minutes. Tony Gaudio offers some great footage of horse races.