The Life of Jimmy Dolan is a 1933 film directed by Archie Mayo.
Jimmy Dolan (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) is a boxer who, as the film opens, has just won a world championship. He is also a complete phony who for public relations purposes mouths platitudes about clean living and abstaining from alcohol, while in real life he enjoys booze and loose women.
Jimmy is unpleasantly surprised when a guest in his hotel room who's been witnessing the drinking and debauchery is revealed to be a reporter. Enraged at the prospect of being exposed as a hypocrite, Jimmy punches the reporter in the face, and the reporter falls down—and his head slams into a spiked fireplace grate. He dies.
Doc, Jimmy's amoral but quick-thinking manager, promptly exits, but not before taking Jimmy's bankroll, watch, car, and girlfriend Goldie. Doc proceeds to kill both himself and Goldie in a drunk-driving accident. The cops now have a dead body which they identify as "Jimmy Dolan", allowing the real Jimmy to escape and make his way west. Jimmy is however a penniless hobo when he collapses on the grounds of a rural orphanage. Jimmy, using the name "Jack Daugherty", falls in love with pretty Peggy (Loretta Young) who runs the orphanage. There's one problem, though: a detective named Phaxter who isn't convinced that Jimmy Dolan is dead.
Two future huge stars have bit parts: Mickey Rooney is "Freckles", one of the kids at the orphanage, and B-Movie cowboy John Wayne pops up near the end as a boxer named Smith. The Life of Jimmy Dolan was remade just six years later as They Made Me a Criminal.
Tropes:
- Accidental Murder: A drunk, angry Jimmy punches the reporter in the face. The reporter falls over, hits his head on a spiked metal grate, and dies.
- Amoral Attorney: Jimmy's lawyer. First, he conspires to allow Jimmy to skip town, which is a violation of his duty as an officer of the court. Then, after Jimmy asks the lawyer to retrieve the $10,000 that Jimmy has in a safe deposit box at the bank, the lawyer keeps all but $250 of it.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Jimmy is reluctant to admit that he loves Peggy, saying "That's for sissies!"
- Cock-a-Doodle Dawn: Emphasizes how early it is when Jimmy has to rise with the dawn, to start a day's work at the orphanage.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Jimmy's lawyer, explaining how Doc was ID'd as Jimmy, says "You're as good as dead," then repeats "you're as good as dead" as realization hits. He tells Jimmy that with "Jimmy Dolan" having been declared dead, Jimmy can skip town and avoid arrest for murder.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: Doc, driving drunk, careens off the road and into a tree. The car instantly bursts into flame, burning Doc and Goldie to a crisp.
- Exploding Calendar: Pages fly off a calendar as Jimmy trains, getting in shape for the big boxing competition.
- Foreshadowing: Jimmy, who knows his manager Doc is a smarmy weasel, says that if Doc got the chance he'd take Jimmy's bankroll, Jimmy's watch, and Jimmy's girl. Minutes later Doc does just that, sneaking away with the money, the watch, and Goldie.
- Hypocrite: A radio announcer reports "'No booze, no women,' said the new champion. Right after this the camera pans across the hotel room to show it littered with empty bottles, before stopping at a drunk Jimmy on the couch, nestled up to a sexy blonde.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: Jimmy is trying to fight righty and is getting pounded. Phaxter tells him between rounds not to bother because Phaxter already knows who he is. Jimmy then switches to his natural lefty, does a lot better, and lasts long enough to win the orphanage its money.
- Imagine Spot: A scene near the end has Phaxter bringing Jimmy, in handcuffs, to his boss. Phaxter rubs his boss's face in how he was wrong and Phaxter was right. It's a fantasy in the mind of Phaxter as he watches Jimmy in the ring.
- The Killer Was Left-Handed: Phaxter notes that the charred corpse found in the car had Dolan's watch on the left wrist, while Jimmy Dolan was a lefty and thus wore his watch on the right wrist. No one listens.
- Let Off by the Detective: Phaxter, moved by how Jimmy has turned his life around, elects not to arrest him. So Jimmy winds up getting away with involuntary manslaughter.
- Male Gaze: Jimmy casts a lecherous glance at Peggy, as emphasized by a camera that starts at Peggy's feet and goes all the way up her body.
- My Greatest Failure: In the backstory, Phaxter arrested a man for murder, and that man was tried, convicted, and executed, and then sometime later the real killer confessed. Phaxter is haunted by the possibility of making a mistake, which is why he can't let the Jimmy Dolan thing go.
- Orphanage of Love: Peggy's orphanage, which is dedicated to the care of young orphans with "infantile paralysis" (aka polio).
- Plot Hole: Why does Doc sneak Jimmy away before stealing his bankroll and watch? Basically, he has to in order for there to be a story, because if he'd just left Jimmy in the hotel room with the dead body Jimmy would have been arrested.
- Running Gag: Jimmy keeps using fancy vocabulary words and then having to explain himself. When a trainer who is massaging him hits a sore spot, Jimmy says "Exercise discretion! That is, look what you're doing!"
- Saving the Orphanage: If the orphanage can't come up with $2000 for a tax payment, it will close. That's why Jimmy agrees to participate in a boxing competition, which is how Phaxter tracks him down after Jimmy's photo runs in the paper.
- Shower Scene: A beefcake example, as rugged Douglas Fairbanks is shown showering after a training session.
- Train-Station Goodbye: How the film ends, with Phaxter getting on the train, letting Jimmy go, and telling him to keep his picture out of the paper. An astonished Jimmy watches as the train heads off.
- Video Credits: For all the major players (but not Rooney or Wayne!) at the start of the film, as was Warner Brothers house style at that time.
