Killer McCoy (1947): Roy Rowland’s Sports-Family Melodrama, Starring Mickey Rooney and Ann Blyth

Roy Rowland directed Killer McCoy, a family tale about a boxer starring Mickey Rooney, cast in a different kind of role than the usual.

The picture was a remake of The Crowd Roars (1938).

The supporting cast featuring Brian Donlevy, Ann Blyth, James Dunn, Tom Tully, and Sam Levene.

Tommy McCoy is a tough New York City boy, close to his dad Brian, a performer in vaudeville.

One night while his dad performs in boxing event, Tommy accepts challenge to step into the ring, and knocks out his opponent.

Lightweight champ Johnny Martin is impressed, and takes the McCoys on the road, letting Brian perform and showing Tommy the ropes of the boxing business.

Tommy wins several fights and gains popularity. But when he kills a man in the ring, he wants to quit. Then he discovers that his dad is heavily in debt to racketeer Jim Caighn and has gambled away Tommy’s earnings.

Tommy begins romantic relationship with the gangster’s daughter, Sheila. He is expected to throw a big fight so that Caighn can collect payoff from his gambling rivals. To ensure his dive in the eighth round, Sheila is taken hostage.

But she manages to escape, which inspires Tommy to knock out his foe.

Mickey Rooney had intended to appear in a biopic of jockey Tod Sloan but it was postponed. Cyril Hume wrote the script and Sam Zimbalist was assigned to produce.

Both MGM and Rooney wished to change his established screen image, in such movies as the series Andy Hardy.

Elizabeth Taylor was announced as his costar, but she was replaced by Ann Blyth, when the script revised her character’s age.

The film was a hit, earning $2,201,000 in the US and $990,000 elsewhere making a profit of $768,000.

Cast

Mickey Rooney as Tommy McCoy/Killer McCoy
Brian Donlevy as Jim Caighn
Ann Blyth as Sheila Carrson
James Dunn as Brian McCoy
Tom Tully as Cecil Y. Walsh
Sam Levene as Happy
Walter Sande as Bill Thorne
Mickey Knox as Johnny Martin
James Bell as Father Patrick Ryan
Gloria Holden as Mrs. Laura McCoy
Eve March as Mrs. Martin
June Storey as Arlene – Waitress
Douglas Croft as Danny Burns, Newsboy
Bob Steele as Sailor Graves
David Clarke as Pete Mariola

Roy Rowland Filmography

Hollywood Party (1934)

A Night at the Movies (1937)

A Stranger in Town (1943)

Lost Angel (1943)

Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)

Boys’ Ranch (1946)

The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947)

Killer McCoy (1947)

Tenth Avenue Angel (1948)

Scene of the Crime (1949)

The Outriders (1950)