Boots Malone

Boots Malone is a 1952 American drama film directed by William Dieterle. It stars William Holden as a down-on-his-luck sports agent and Johnny Stewart as a rich runaway who wants to become a jockey. Plot Down on his luck, jockey agent "Boots" Malone is at a diner with his friend "Stash" Clements when teenage runaway Thomas Gibson Jr. tries to pay for his meal with a hundred dollar bill. When the cook asks him to come back in the morning for his change, Boots steps in (the diner is a portable trailer and will be somewhere else by that time). Interested in the money himself, Boots takes the boy under his wing. Tommy is eager to become a jockey, so he offers to pay Boots to train him. He is soon doing various chores around the stables. Meanwhile, Boots, Stash, and "Preacher" Cole have their eye on a promising horse, White Cargo. They fix it so that it performs badly at its next workout. As a result, owner Howard Whitehead puts it up for auction. When another bidder offers more than they have, Tommy produces another hundred dollar bill, and they have their horse. One day, White Cargo is startled and bolts with Tommy on his back, showing that the boy has some talent. Boots begins to really train him. He lets the lad ride in a race, but does not tell him that they have secretly weighed White Cargo down (so they can get better odds for their bets in a later race). The horse does poorly in the race, upsetting the boy. To restore Tommy's confidence, Boots has him ride in another race with a different horse; he wins.