Francis Goes to the Races (1951) User Reviews

A Taut Political Thriller!

[masercot · 7/10 · 9 May 2017]

This movie progresses more organically than any of the other Francis movies, i.e. the plot doesn't seem forced.

Francis Goes to the Races starts with the mule talking to a crowd of stunned and indignant people, essentially, ending Peter Sterling's job and putting the two on the road again. It is a dynamic used often in this series: Peter gets himself deeper and deeper into trouble until the only thing that can get him out of it is a long diatribe from his mule. Beginning with it is kind of clever.

It is essential that the viewer understand the science behind the movie: Mules can talk to horses. You wouldn't think so, but apparently, since they look so much alike, they also speak the same language. You also need to remember that Francis' great aunt was a Derby winner. The two stop at a horse farm on the road and Francis meets a relative. He decides to stay at the farm and let Peter take a stab at life without a talking mule to mess things up.

Anyone who watches these movies is aware that Peter Sterling is the piston that isn't firing in that particular dyad; and, it isn't long until he gets himself in trouble. And, it isn't long until Francis bails him out. There's a pretty girl, also. And, gangsters… This movie doesn't surpass Francis Joins the WACS in quality, however, it is a fun movie.

Francis Goes to the Races was a pretty enjoyable second entry in the series

[tavm · 6/10 · 4 August 2015]

This is the second in the Francis, the talking mule series. Picking up from the first one, we find Peter Stirling (Donald O'Connor) fired from his banking job. He ends up at some stable with some owner of a horse and his daughter-Frances, yes, they went there-who's played by a pretty young woman named Piper Laurie. As before, the premise is that Peter knows some info and when he's asked by various people, he hesitates at first because he knows they won't believe him but since they insists, he tells and is of course, isn't! This gets repetitious after a while so the only real laughs one gets from this is mainly at what wisecracks Chill Wills is made to say and the way he says them. Still, this was a pretty enjoyable entry and I liked hearing O'Connor sing a little at the end. So on that note, Francis Goes to the Races was pretty enjoyable. P.S. It was a nice surprise to see Hayden Rourke-best known to me as Dr. Bellows on "I Dream of Jeannie"-as one of the players. Also, Jesse White-best known to me as the Maytag repair man-as well.

Moderately entertaining farce, especially for children

[weezeralfalfa · 7/10 · 2 December 2016]

This film: the second in a series of 7 "Frances " films, follows the general formula established in the first film. Thus, Francis helps get Don out of a jam a number of times by giving advice or information not available to others. For about half the film, Francis won't talk to anyone except Don. Then, he will talk a little to a confident, later to an authority figure, and finally to a whole room of authority figures, in order to save Don from being labeled a crackpot. At least, in this film, Don isn't sent to a psycho ward, as happened once or multiple times in the other 3 films in this series I have seen. At one point, Francis even gets drunk enough to pass out, breaking the necks of beer bottles by kicking them while Don is holding them!

While walking down a country road after Don was fired from his bank teller job, Frances spots a horse which is a distant relative, and they become friends. The owner invites Don to stay a while, after he(actually Francis) diagnosed the ailment of a horse. The granddaughter(Piper Laurie) is named Frances, and sometimes there is confusion about which Frances(is)? is being talked about.

Don is sent with $25,000. to buy a horse, but he buys the wrong horse. Thus, he needs to get $25,000.to pay Frances back. Francis tells him which horse to bet on for 7 races the next day, and he wins his $25,000. However, a bookie and his goons hold Don because he won't tell the source of his information. They expect him to call the winner in 7 races the next day but, without Francis to consult, he guesses wrong for all. The bookie loses $200,000. and is livid. Various people sneak into Francis's stall at night to try to get him to talk. At first, he won't talk, except a little to the Travers owners. Don and Francis have further trouble with the bookie bunch and they even shoot Francis, but not fatally. Francis says they will have to work with the horse they have. Her only problem is she needs a shot of confidence to win the $100,000. handicap race.

I rate this film as somewhat more interesting than the first film, but definitely not as good as "Frances joins the WACs" or "Frances Covers the Big Town".

Piper and Don had costarred the previous year in "Milkman"

Donald O'Connor continues the make the films more bearable than they'd otherwise be

[r96sk · 6/10 · 3 January 2022]

The one where Francis does the Bottle Cap Challenge. Take that, Statham!

'Francis Goes to the Races', while still a lacklustre and repetitive affair, surprisingly manages to improve upon the poor original. The main reason for that is the fact that the racing setting actually fits much better with the silliness of a talking mule, as opposed to the setting of war as seen before.

Donald O'Connor continues the make the films more bearable than they'd otherwise be. Elsewhere, Chill Wills, Piper Laurie, Cecil Kellaway and Jesse White are all alright. It's a tough sell for the cast these films, so I respect their commitment to be fair!

The first Francis film was better...but this is still enjoyable.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 4 February 2023]

I was shocked when I watched the first film in the series, "Francis". Why? Because I gave it a score of 9...for a film about a talking mule! I was surprised how clever the movie was and how much I enjoyed it. Unfortunately, while I liked the second film, "Francis Goes to the Races", it's not nearly as good.

While the title of the film might make you think Francis becomes a racing mule, this isn't at all the story. Instead, Francis becomes friends with a race horse and the owner sees that the mule has a calming effect on the horse...so he keeps Francis in the neighboring stall. While Francis is hanging out with the horses, he learns all their problems and potential...and soon is giving Peter (Donald O'Connor) the winners for all the races. But there's more to the story than this...just watch it and see for yourself.

The story is fun...but the writing isn't quite up to the first movie's standards. Francis' dialog isn't as snappy or fun and the plot also is decent but nothing more. My advice is by all means watch it...but watch the first movie first. After all, if you start with "Francis Goes to the Races", you're likely not to be all that impressed and you'll stop there instead of seeing any of the other six films in the series.

Francis the Franchise never hurt, I guess

[jgcorrea · 6/10 · 25 November 2019]

This film begins with a short sequence in which "Pete's" boss faints upon hearing "Francis" talk and Pete says, "Here we go again," after which the opening credits roll. During the fifties, for children, grandmas & great aunts, the Francis ¨franc(h)ise¨ used to be rather fun. Anyone who watched those movies was aware that before long Pete (Donald O'Connor) got himself in trouble and before long it was Francis the Talking Mule who bailed him out. It was essential to understand the science behind the movie's premise: mules can talk to horses. You also learned that Francis' great aunt was a Derby winner. More recently, film buffs have learned that Francis' real name was Molly, and she was trained for all the Francis films by Les Hilton, who went on to train the horse who played "Mr. Ed" in the 1960's television series of same name.

Hardly worth the time

[szekeong123 · 5/10 · 5 June 2006]

I have to agree with JoeKarlosi on this: This second installment of the Francis series is inferior to the already ordinary first installment. While the film does have its moments, they are far too few and far between.

The first film was more interesting as the entire film presents the curiously absurb encounter of Peter Stirling's with Francis the Talking Mule. The plot also pays more attention to the progress of their friendship which makes the film more heartfelt.

Here in its sequel, there are less laughs and the story just drags on and on until it ends conveniently with a similar conclusion in the first film. Donald O'Connor, who plays the central character Peter Stirling, was given almost nothing to work on here. Even more dreadful is the fact that Francis, the title character, was delegated to a supporting role here. Not that Francis enjoyed a lot of screen time in the first film, but he appeared in all the key scenes and his role was crucial to the plot. Here, his screen time was cut down to a quarter of the film's running time and his role was not even substantial to the plot: He was merely tagging along.

My disappointment not withstanding, I did not regret watching the sequel as I enjoyed the first film very much and would like to see how the friendship of the 2 main characters would progress in the next film. I would still watch the rest of the series as this film wasn't so bad as to spoil the first film for me.

P.S. My rating for the first Francis movie is 7 out of 10.

Francis Goes to the Races (1951) **

[JoeKarlosi · 5/10 · 5 July 2004]

Hee-Yawwwwn, Hee-Yawwwwn...

This one was even more ordinary than the first. Having grown up with TV's "MR. ED" I really thought I would have appreciated this movie series a lot more than I am. The dialogue for the talking mule is not nearly as funny as it should have been, and Francis is kept to the sidelines way too much in this entry. I mean, when you're watching a series like this one, you're looking for the babbling jackass to entertain you throughout it. What other reason could there be for watching? And while it's mildly amusing to hear a mule berate his master (the well-cast Donald O'Connor) I still think it couldn't have hurt for the writing department to fashion a likable personality for this animal, too. ** out of ****