A Day at the Races (1937)

Starring: The Marx Brothers (Groucho, Chico, and Harpo)
Grade: Classic

Though we are again Zeppo-less, A Day at the Races is another all-time comedy coming from our beloved Marx Brothers.

Summary

Outside of a resort, Tony (Chico) offers rides to the Standish Sanitarium, owned by Judy Standish (Maureen O’Sullivan). He offers one ride to a guy, but he tells Tony he’s going to the racetrack instead. Judy tells Tony it’s okay, though her sanitarium has fallen on hard times and she’s on the verge of bankruptcy. Tony suggests asking for financial help from Emily Upjohn (Margaret Dumont). Judy doesn’t feel right asking a patient of hers for money, but Tony forces the issue and drives them back. When they get there, they see Emily is already leaving in a haste because the doctor she saw said there’s nothing wrong with her. On the other hand, she’s confident she’s about to have a breakdown. Seeing how this is not a great time to ask for money, Judy goes to a room and talks to her boyfriend Gil (Allan Jones). She reminds Gil of her financial trouble, so genius Gil tells her he’s bought a horse to enter in a future race. Potentially, they could win big money and save the sanitarium. Though he spent all his savings on this idea, he’s confident in this horse. Plus, he still has his job singing at the casino, so he’s cool with the risk. Judy insists he continue to pursue his music career and give the horse back, but he refuses. Judy angrily tells him to leave.

Meanwhile, Emily tells the doctor she’s leaving to see Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush (Groucho). She trusts him with every word and didn’t know there was a single thing wrong with her until she met Hackenbush.

Classic Groucho move.

Tony overhears this conversation, grabs a suitcase from one of the bellboys, and walks the group of bellboys upstairs next to Emily. He mentions that Hackenbush is coming to the sanitarium, resulting in an excited Emily deciding to stay. She then tells a confused Judy she may help financially with the sanitarium if she adds Hackenbush to her staff. After he lets Judy in on what he did, Tony sends a telegram inviting Hackenbush. At Hackenbush’s sanitarium, we see he’s a veterinarian specializing in small animals and horses. Hackenbush gets the telegram and sees the opportunity to make some quick money off of Emily and pay his rent. Without a second thought, Hackenbush heads over.

Back at Standish Sanitarium, banker J.D. Morgan (Douglass Dumbrile), the man who owns the mortgage on the sanitarium, is pressuring Judy to sign away the place to him that day for $5,000. She points out she has a month to pay the bill still, but Morgan reminds her how the place is a money pit, and it won’t be long before she can’t pay anyway. Morgan tells her if she waits and fails, he’ll take it over and she won’t get a cent. Judy’s business manager Mr. Whitmore (Leonard Ceeley) agrees with Morgan. Judy reminds Whitmore that Hackenbush’s presence may convince Emily to help her out, but Whitmore thinks Emily is hysterical. Just then, Emily interrupts to announce Hackenbush’s arrival, and Judy refuses Morgan’s offer in hopes of drumming up enough money in the next month. Morgan storms out. Privately, Whitmore tells Morgan he’ll make sure this whole thing fails. After Morgan leaves, Whitmore tries to continue on his quest to fuck things up, but Hackenbush walks in and immediately causes a stir with his penchant for messing around. He agrees to help the Sanitarium after Emily offers to pay him out of her own pocket and soon after, she asks for her pill. The suspicious Whitmore questions where Hackenbush has studied, and things don’t get easier when Hackenbush gives Emily a horse pill. As he comes up with crazy answers on the spot for every question Whitmore has, he is alerted of the racetrack outside of the place and heads over.

At the racetrack, jockey Stuffy (Harpo) wins a race. Afterwards, Morgan tries to fight him because he told Stuffy ahead of time to lose the race. Stuffy escapes and runs into one of the pens where his friend Gil is at. He’s there caring for his newly bought horse Hi-Hat. Morgan follows and questions where Stuffy is, but Hi-Hat gets riled up whenever Morgan is around, so he ends up leaving. As Gil and Stuffy hangout for a bit, they are interrupted by their friend Tony. Tony learns of Stuffy’s firing, so he suggests Gil have Stuffy ride Hi-Hat. Sadly, Gil can’t afford a jockey. The sheriff comes over to them to ask for money he’s owed, threatening to take Hi-Hat, so Tony gives him $5. The sheriff puts it in his pocket, and Stuffy immediately pick pockets him and gives the money back to Tony. They repeat this twice more until Stuffy reaches too far and steals the sheriff’s sock and gets chased away. Tony and Gil hide the horse for the time being. Gil says he has a good tip on the upcoming race to put money on Sun-Up, so they go to place a bet. They don’t have any money though, so Tony comes up with an elaborate ruse to trick Hackenbush out of money (“Tutsi Fruitsy Ice Cream”) and use it to bet on Sun-Up. It works, and Sun-Up wins. Back at the Standish Sanitarium, Judy turns down another call from Gil. At the same time, we see Whitmore continuously calling for the Florida Medical Board to see if Hackenbush’s name comes up. Next to Whitmore is Morgan who talks about how he wants to turn the place into a casino before the season ends. With this place being a casino, next to his racetrack and nightclub, he’s going to be unstoppable. He’s counting on Whitmore, and he insists he’ll pull this off for him.

Judy tells Hackenbush she plans on promoting his arrival to the sanitarium heavily, but considering his actual credentials, he insists she can’t on the basis of “ethics”. She agrees to this but reminds him that the success of her sanitarium is relying entirely on Hackenbush’s shoulders. He almost tells her the truth but the subject changes quickly to Judy insisting he be good to Emily. Once Judy leaves, Hackenbush tells the operator to send flowers to Emily’s room. Right after, he hears her talk to Whitmore again about the Florida Medical Board. Knowing Whitmore’s trying to find out about him, Hackenbush calls Whitmore posing as a doctor from the Board and annoys the holy hell out of him to the point where Whitmore drops it for the time being. After Whitmore storms out of his office, Tony and Stuffy break in. Tony wants Stuffy to keep on eye on Whitmore because he knows he’s up to something but to do that, he needs Stuffy to go undercover as a patient.

While Hackenbush is working, he gets shit from the other doctors. One in particular questions him because he knows nothing is wrong with Emily, but Hackenbush insists there is. He sends them away for the time being and in walks Tony. Still furious over Tony scamming him, Hackenbush is ready to pounce until Tony mentions he has a patient, so he changes his tune. He brings in Stuffy and Hackenbush examines him. After some time, Hackenbush offers for them to stay there, but he wants the money upfront. Tony sees a “thank you” note written on a watch on Hackenbush’s desk for him saving someone’s horse, and he outs Hackenbush as a horse doctor. Realizing he’s screwed, Hackenbush agrees to any proposition. Tony tells him he’ll stay on the job and make Judy happy. Otherwise, they’ll throw him in jail. No one can know Hackenbush’s secret. The scene ends with Stuffy injecting Hackenbush’s leg with “covocaine” for no reason and him limping out the door. Later, Stuffy practices with Hi-Hat, and they’re not doing too hot on time. As they watch, Tony tells Gil that Hackenbush is a horse doctor. Gil knows this news will get out sooner rather than later, so he wonders what they can do to help Judy. Stuffy points out Hi-Hat’s hungry too. Thankfully, Gil has a singing gig at the Water Carnival that night. They tell Gil to go do his thing, and they’ll put the horse to bed. Once he leaves, the sheriff shows up again and takes Hi-Hat since they haven’t paid the rest of what he’s owed. They manage to steal Hi-Hat back however and escape.

On top of having to keep Hackenbush’s secret under wraps, they’re running out of time to save the sanitarium. A lot is riding on this horse and the trio of Hackenbush, Tony, and Stuffy. Sadly, they’re the only hope Judy and Gil have.

My Thoughts:

Completing the Marx Brothers’ unprecedented five classic streak was A Day at the Races. Maintaining the momentum gained from the more centered and plot-focused A Night at the Opera, the Marx Brothers manage to do it again while being just as funny as ever.

There are so many laugh-out-loud scenes thanks to the Marx Brothers being their usual chaotic selves. Some comedic sequences can easily be ranked among their best and that’s saying something. There’s the absolutely golden phone call scene between Hackenbush acting as the Florida Medical Board as he talks to Whitmore, Hackenbush examining Stuffy, the uproarious dinner scene where Tony and Stuffy try to ruin Hackenbush’s night with the devious blonde Flo (Esther Muir), Stuffy explaining Flo’s intentions through charades, the “Tutsi Fruitsy Ice Cream” scene that screams vaudeville comedy but is also just as relevant today, and the laugh riot that takes place when Hackenbush, Tony, and Stuffy try to throw off the real doctor as they examine Emily’s “illness” and stall as much as they can. Each sequence is hysterical. I honestly want to link each scene to this review, but I don’t want to ruin the humor of the film. All of it is comedic excellence.

Even the little stuff like when Flo says “Thank you” and Hackenbush immediately responds with “Thank yaw” just works. The commitment to every joke and bit makes you want to forever quote the movie.

A Day at the Races plays to the brothers’ strengths as shit-stirrers and fire starters while making sense within the plot. Don’t get me wrong, I’d still be okay if the characters went through unprompted madness throughout the running time like in their older films, but their movies with MGM made sure everything made sense within the story. Usually, a character like Hackenbush would have no problem messing with the other doctor for fun, but here, he’s about to give up and skip town until the others plead with him to stay and mess with the guy to help Judy out and potentially save the sanitarium from going under. We know it’s a perfect job for a Groucho Marx character, but they make it mean something here instead of just doing it for fun. Because of this, I have to give the studio credit. It’s hard to keep these wacky brothers as focused as this while still being funny and everything still making sense. Don’t worry though, Groucho, Chico, and Harpo wreak havoc. I never get tired of the brothers causing a mess amongst the pompous and wealthy and in A Day at the Races, they do it again extraordinarily. I like how Judy comes to appreciate their antics too. When she fakes a car accident in the climax, you have to think this idea of hers was inspired by something Hackenbush, Tony, and Stuffy would do in the heat of the moment.

Zeppo replacement Allan Jones returns and though he’s not nearly as important as he was in A Night at the Opera, the man can still hold a tune. I will say his character was an absolute moron with money though. You emptied your savings account on the chance a horse might win a race? You really thought this was a good idea? I don’t care if it paid off, this man needs counseling!

*Note: For those that are wondering, there’s a song and dance number that does include blackface.*

Chico killed it again with the piano solo, but what I loved even more was Harpo going on after and destroying the piano to use the insides to play the harp. It was unexpected from their usual setup and very funny. Additionally, the “All God’s Chillun Got Rhythm” sequence was a very happy and uplifting number that really helped complete the joyous vibe of the film, concluding the film in the most Hollywood of ways.

A Day at the Races is another wild narrative that exists just for Groucho, Chico, and Harpo to cause destruction and fuck things up in the most Marx Brothers way possible, all just to help out the good people in the story. I’m here for it, and I always will be. This is another Marx movie that has earned its right to be considered not only among the best of their films, but among the greatest comedies of all time.