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Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Wall Of Noise (1963)

An ambitious horse trainer (Ty Hardin) disregards the loyalty of his loving girlfriend (Dorothy Provine) in his pursuit to enter the winner's circle in the high stakes world of professional horse racing. When he's hired by a self made millionaire (Ralph Meeker) to manage his stables, the millionaire's wife (Suzanne Pleshette) sees him as a way out of an unhappy marriage. Based on the novel by Daniel Michael Stein and directed by Richard Wilson. The film never gets out of the gate due to the casting of Hardin in the male lead. The character is an arrogant and rather unlikable chap so you need a charismatic actor to make the film work, someone like Paul Newman who can play unlikable characters (think HUD) yet still draw you to him. Not only is Hardin not charismatic, he's not a good actor and the role is beyond his meager abilities. Not to mention that Pleshette and Provine are too good for him, both as actresses and their characters. Pleshette is comfortable as the femme fatale but Hardin's blandness renders Provine's loyal girlfriend as nothing more than a doormat. The racing sequences are done very well although the insider's look at horse racing doesn't flatter it.  With Simon Oakland, Murray Matheson and Jimmy Murphy.  

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