Mickey Rooney's birthday, too

Today isn't only Walter Pidgeon's birthday; it's Mickey Rooney's 88th birthday. However, it's a bit harder to think of a movie to recommend for him. I've already mentioned two of his standout younger performances, those in Hide-Out and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

As for some of his later work, I would like to have mentioned A Slight Case of Larceny, a really fun comedy in which Rooney and Eddie Bracken own a gas station. But, it's not available on DVD. I'm also not a huge fan of the musicals he did with Judy Garland, even though I did mention Girl Crazy.

Perhaps I should post on The Bridges at Toko-Ri, a 1954 movie about the Korean War in which Rooney plays a top hat and scarf-wearing helicopter pilot who rescues flyboys like William Holden. It shows that Rooney could do serious drama in addition the the comedies and light musicals he spent a quarter of a century before this doing.

Mickey Rooney is not only still alive; he's going strong in that IMDb list three movies in post-production. May Rooney have many happy years to come.