Drive a Crooked Road. Mickey Rooney plays an innocent mechanic and amateur race car driver who gets involved with a gang of bank robbers in this 1954 film noir directed by his good friend, Richard Quine.
Late in his career Rooney turned to serious dramatic roles and this is one of his best performances. Diane Foster plays the irresistible femme fatale who lures him on. Kevin MacCarthy and Jack Kelly play the bad guys. 83 minutes. No captions.
During the late 1930s and early 1940s, the diminutive Mickey Rooney was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. He is best remembered for playing teenager Andy Hardy in an extremely popular series of films, and for the MGM musicals where he was paired with MGM’s other great teen star, Judy Garland. In these light comedies and musicals Rooney, who had been in show business since early childhood, demonstrated that he was an extremely talented performer and musician. A good example can be seen in Strike Up the Band where Rooney appeared as a leader of a teen age band hoping to make it big. His “Drummer Boy” number where he plays both the drums, and a xylophone is truly iconic. Click on this link.
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| Mickey Rooney and Diane Foster |
