Oh, Yeah?

James Gleason and Robert Armstrong are a couple of boomers -- itinerant railroad men who hop from one line to another. They wind up operating out of a switching yard in the middle of nowhere where Zasu Pitts and Patricia Caron run the commissary and pay roll and everything that doesn't require too much muscle, and they all wind up intending to settle down. When one of the workers wins big in a crap game, gets his money stolen, and beaten unconscious, fingers point at Armstrong.

Director Tay Garnett and D. P. Arthur Miller try their hardest, but they shoot a lot of this outdoors and the sound rigs aren't up to it. Neither is the slow-and-dumb characterization of Armstrong very interesting. On the plus side, there are a couple of tracking shots early on, plenty of contemporary railroad slang in the dialogue, and the final sequence, which is shot half wild, permits some movement with undercranking that makes it genuinely interesting. On the whole, though, it has aged very poorly.

"Oh, Yeah?" is a very early talkie and it's unusual in that it has practically no plot whatsoever! rail-riding hobos, Dude and Dusty (Robert Armstrong and James Gleason), get jobs with the railroad. And, on their spare moments they romance a couple ladies who work for the commissary. Oddly, despite having jobs and the audience being told that they are working double-shifts at one point, you never really see them work and they ALWAYS seem to be off work. And, amazingly, not a whole lot more happens during the course of the film!!

"Oh, Yeah?" is a slow and meandering film. It even has time for a few musical numbers which seem a bit out of place considering that the plot isn't exactly complicated or developed. Because of this, it's slow going and tough to love this film. The actors seem to try their best but the script just doesn't give them nor the audience much.

I watched this with a friend, and we both laughed quite a bit throughout, at the right parts. These characters are from the rough-hewn part of society. No apology or rationalization is made for them. They are often their own worst enemies, and seem immune to the idea of planning beyond lunch. I saw in their low key antics a less heavy-handed, less slicked up and franchised Abbott and Costello. If you know Sturges' Sullivans Travels, you will surely recognize in the bonfire scene, (where raiload workers gather in the half light and share a moving sing-along rendition of Abide with Me, capped by Sturges stock company player Harry Tyler singing a wonderfully touching and awkward archaic rendering of The Engineer's Child) a parallel with the later film's movie night scene. I've mentioned Abbott and Costello. I could as well have mentioned George and Lenny. The misadventures of James Gleason and Robert Armstrong convey a little of both. There is room to watch this film in pity, quiet reflection, and quiet laughter. Fans of DJ humor likely won't get it. But if you've seen a few pre-code films and understand the rhythm, timing and relatively freer form storytelling, I suggest you give it a try. We liked it.

Robert Armstrong and James Gleason play, respectively, hobos Dude and Dusty, riding the rails until they take a job on the same line they have been sponging rides off of. Dude falls for the railroad timekeeper, Pinkie(Patricia Caron), and Dusty falls for a waitress at the railroad restaurant, the oddly named "The Elk" (Zasu Pitts). When they take the job, two supervisors are discussing that there have been two men, possible employees, that have been stealing from the railroad, and to keep a look out. Now Dusty and Dude had a fight with these exact two guys when they were still hobos, were bound to see them in camp, yet nothing ever comes of it.

There is much filler in this film. There is a prolonged scene of the workers eating in the railroad restaurant that doesn't really have a point, and there is a throwaway scene of the workers sitting around a campfire at night singing off-key that I could have done without. Even the scenes where there is dialogue and action run too slow, but it is not to the point where I was bored.

As for the romances, the one between Dude and Pinkie seems to come out of nowhere. All she does is smile at him and days later they are talking matrimony. But she turns out to be smarter than most girls in these early talkie romances. She says that Dude is one step above a bum, and he needs to change. She says he can start by putting a hundred dollars of each paycheck into savings. He agrees.

As for Dusty and "The Elk", because both Gleason and Pitts were great at verbal comedy, you actually see their relationship grow through conversation.

So everything is looking up until Dude breaks his promise and loses most of his paycheck at gambling one night, but was seen depositing one hundred dollars the next day, and he happened to be the last person seen with "Splinters" who was beaten and robbed that same night of an unknown amount, and is lying in a coma unable to say what happened.

What does happen is everybody blames Dude because of the circumstantial evidence. Even Dusty and Pinkie believe he is guilty. So Dude hops the next train out leaving his job and girl behind, crestfallen that nobody believes him. How will this all work out? Watch and find out.

Questions I had - What exactly IS a railroad timekeeper? If everybody thought Dude beat and robbed Splinters why didn't they detain him rather than just let him leave? If Splinters was not dead why did they not wait until he came to and ask him what happened? Will all of these people not know each others' real names until they have to fill out a marriage certificate? Oh, and one more thing. Some have mentioned that the fight scenes on the train looked silly because of the speed. That is because those scenes had to be done with silent film due to the early sound pedigree with sound dubbed over it, thus the scenes just did not come out at the right speed.

I agree with other reviewers who noted the film has some unnecessary padding. However, I loved the friendship between Dude and Dusty, and found Robert Armstrong and James Gleason very believable in the roles. It was an enjoyable film and worth a viewing.