Broadway Bill is a 1934 American comedy-drama film directed by Frank Capra and starring Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy.
Dan Brooks (Baxter) has married into the Higgins dynasty and hates the box-factory job which his father-in-law J. L. (Walter Connelly) has given him. Dan's wife Margaret (Helen Vinson) doesn’t understand why he hates the job, but his sister-in-law Alice (Loy) knows that his heart lies with racing horses.
Dan has trained his horse, the eponymous Broadway Bill, to run and is sure he’ll win at the Imperial Derby, so he runs away from Higginsville to pursue his dream at the Imperial Racetrack, where with the help of his friend Whitey (Clarence Muse), Colonel Pettigrew (Raymond Walburn), and Alice, he tries to raise enough money to enter Broadway Bill into the race.
The road to winning the race is filled with various hurdles, which Dan tries his best to overcome. But can his ideals win over the harsh realities of this competitive world?
An extremely young and blonde Lucille Ball makes a small appearance as a telephone operator.
Tropes:
- Awful Wedded Life: Dan’s wife is more than happy to have him stifled professionally as long as she can live her luxurious lifestyle.
- Behind Every Great Man: Princess is the one who raises the money for Dan to get Broadway Bill into the race. She sells every article of clothing she has and also uses any money she has laying around.
- Crapsack World: Dan is hit with every possible hurdle with Broadway Bill - the horse gets sick, they have no money to enter him into the race, he's jailed for failing to pay for the horse's food, and then Broadway Bill wins the race but dies of a heart attack).
- Con Man: Colonel Pettigrew has a "vinegarpuss" (this one played by Margaret Hamilton) in every state – he even married one that he forgot about to get some cash. One doubts he’s also an actual colonel.
- Deadpan Snarker: Princess and Whitey have several moments, mostly responding to Dan.
- A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted: A scheme to get a rich, dumb guy out of his $20 bucks by pretending to give him a secret on a horse that’s a “sure thing”, makes the whole track go crazy over said horse. Even the Colonel falls for his own scheme.Col. Pettigrew: Milked by my own chicanery!
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Dan’s best friend/servant Whitey. And Dan only calls Princess by her real name when he’s deadly serious (it’s Alice).
- Happy Ending: Dan comes (three years after his divorce) to take Princess away with two new horses, ready to start their new life.
- Pretty in Mink: Princess has a pretty coat that she sells to help raise the money for Broadway Bill’s entrance fee.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: Broadway Bill wins the race but then immediately dies from a heart attack.
- Token Minority: Whitey (with an "hilarious" name to boot) is Dan’s best friend and Broadway Bill’s trainer.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Dan's wife bemoans that he wants to chase a crazy dream when we could be making piles of money in her dad's factory.
