Million Dollar Kid

This installment of the East Side Kids finds the gang very much reformed and even, dare I say it, kind of sweet! Early in the episode, the gang see an old guy getting mugged...and they save the guy. Given the gang's reputation, the police immediately think THEY mugged the guy but the man speaks up for them. In fact, he's quite rich and invites them to use his gymnasium any time they want! The man seems great...and that's why things get tough later in the show. The gang realizes that one of the muggers was actually the man's own son!! But, learning that his oldest son was just killed in the war, Muggs and the rest conspire to not only reform the young man but beat the tar out of his 'associates'! Yes, the East Side Kids are, in effect, social workers!!

This is an enjoyable installment--one of the better ones in the series. I think most of this is because too often, Muggs was a complete jerk but here he's more likable and less jerkish! A definite improvement and an interesting story. My only real complaint are that a few of the 'kids' are really, really old...especially Herbie...who was really about 35 and supposed to be a teen!!!

This is easily among the better of the many features starring the East Side Kids. It has an interesting story that includes some thoughtful moments in addition to the broad humor. It also has plenty of the group's spontaneous horsing around, and it includes a funny (and all too brief) scene between Leo Gorcey as Muggs and his father Bernard as a messenger.

The story has Muggs, Glimpy, and the rest of the crew saving a rich man from a mugging, befriending him, and then trying to protect him and his family from a variety of criminals and impostors. It works surprisingly well, even most of the more serious moments. Gorcey's style is effective in this kind of story, because he keeps his character's hardened edge even when he is doing something good, thereby usually making him more believable.

The main emphasis is still, of course, the raucous comedy, and the gang gets some good moments at the expense of all of the other characters at one time or another. It's a good movie, and it's probably one of the entries in the series most worth seeing.

An east side kids story, as they were known before they were the bowery boys. The sound quality is pretty terrible, but the story is solid, if you stay with it. The version showing on tubi streaming is a copy of a copy, so hopefully you can find a better copy. The east side kids help a millionaire when he gets mugged. When his family experiences even more drama in the next couple days, the gang sticks around to help out. Co-stars noah beery, who died in 1946, just a couple years after this. Keep an eye out for the telegram messenger... that was bernard gorcey, leo's real pop, in one of his many, early, uncredited roles. Later in the bowery boys films, he would run the shop where they kids hung out. It's pretty good, if you can get past the ambient sound issues. Directed by wallace fox for monogram pictures, in a 65 minute shortie. Fox directed a bunch of the east side kid films in the 1940s. The war was still going, so that is part of the story too. Keep an eye out for john duncan (roy)... he was robin, in the 1949 version of batman and robin!

The East Side Kids, now sans Sunshine Sammy Morrison and Bobby Jordan but with Huntz Hall and Billy Benedict, rescue a rich passerby (Herbert Heyes, later to play Mr. Gimble in Miracle on 34th Street) from a mugger. The grateful tycoon invites the boys over to his pad, where a fully equipped gymnasium awaits them. There are subplots involving Heyes ne'e'r do well son (Johnny Duncan, a few years before playing Robin in the Columbia serial Batman and Robin )and his feisty daughter (Louise Currie). The otherwise unknown Al Stone delivers an amusing one-off performance as cousin Herbie, an erstwhile East Side Kid whose relationship with Muggs and Glimpy is somewhat convoluted. One of the wittier series entries.

They should have been called the Bowery Boys in my opinion. This film takes place during World War II in New York City and doesn't forget that there is a war going on the world at the time. Leo Gorcey plays Malone, the leader of the East Side Boys who live in the Bowery which was the poor side of Manhattan. In this film episode, the East Side Boys help a millionaire when he is attacked by thieves. The East Side Boys save the day and the millionaire's gratitude is quite generous. He invites the boys to his wealthy home and introduces him to the pretty young lady who is engaged to a questionable foreigner and his son who lives at home. The millionaire's other son is off in the war. There is a party and the boys help out. This film was cute for it's time period and doesn't shy away but also entertaining with some laughs along the way.