That Gang of Mine

I have never been a huge fan of the Dead End Kids, the East Side Kids or the Bowery Boys--they just aren't the sort of films I enjoy. However, I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this little public domain film--it's well worth your time and not 100% predictable.

The film begins with Muggs (Leo Gorcey), out of the blue, announcing that he wants to be a jockey! Where this idea would come from is a tad hard to believe--as it is when they stumble upon a guy who just happens to have a horse that can't help but win! At this point in the film, I was far from impressed as it all seemed incredibly contrived. Fortunately, it did get better. In the crazy world of films, you'd expect that by the end of the film Muggs and the horse would be a huge success--and fortunately that is NOT where it went. The idea of an untrained knuckle-head learning overnight to be a top jockey is patently ridiculous--and fortunately the film does NOT go there. Where exactly it goes is something you'll have to see for yourself.

Another thing you may want to pay attention to is the treatment of black performers in the film. While the owner of the horse is occasionally a walking stereotype, he's also an amazingly decent and complex character--and very sympathetic. He's not just another 'dumb black man'--but someone with kindness and intelligence--something you don't often see in films of the era.

Overall, the film offered a few surprises and taught me that the best way out of your problems is to beat someone up--probably NOT the best object lesson, but entertaining nonetheless. A notch above the norm for East Side Kids films.

Plot-- Gorcey's convinced beyond reason that he's a born jockey and can win a trophy race if he can just ride his favorite horse. And that's despite the riding mistakes he keeps making and the Kids' own doubts. So what's the outcome going to be.

The flick's more dramatic than most Kids entries. The slap-happy's at a minimum, while Gorcey's efforts at becoming a jockey aboard promising race horse Blue Knight takes over the storyline. Gorcey shows his acting chops, going through more moods than usual as he confronts many horse-riding set-backs. Movie really belongs to veteran Black actor Clarence Muse as Blue Knight's loving care-taker. Significantly, Black-man Muse's character remains sympathetic, worldly wise, and not mocked for laughs in the style of the day. Still, there are some amusing lines as when one Kid says he has an idea while another Kid wonders if it hurts! Anyway, the entry has its own particular merits, along with a rather surprise ending that I wasn't expecting. But don't look for many humorous head-swats, or antics from that great looney, Huntz Hall.

Muggs wants to follow in the footsteps of a kid who left the street years earlier to become a jockey. Muggs' idol turns out to be a stuck up kid who wants nothing more than to forget the old days now that he is a successful jockey. undeterred Muggs continues on his quest and eventually has the chance to ride a champion horse.

Very good East Side Kids movie that nicely balances the serious and the silly. Muggs attempt at bettering himself and the gang is nicely handled, and the craziness of the gang prevents things from getting too dark.

Definitely worth seeing for both fans and non-fans of the series.

In That Gang Of Mine, the East Side Kids get themselves involved in the horse racing game when they offer shelter to Clarence Muse and the thoroughbred horse he won in a poker game. Muse has been around the race tracks for a long time and he's convinced he's got a winner on his hands. As it turns out Leo Gorcey has ambitions to be a jockey and the horse and Gorcey's ambition form the basis for the plot of this film.

The horse may be talented and Milton Kibbee whose son Eugene Francis hangs out with the East Side Kids agrees. They pony up the entry and stabling fees and then later takeover the training of the horse itself with their stable string and their professional trainer. Clarence Muse however is not cut out of the picture at all.

The problem is Gorcey who just hasn't got the experience and maybe not the raw talent needed to be a jockey. But he doesn't want to hear that from anyone. Both Gorcey and Muse deliver some really great performances in That Gang Of Mine, making it maybe the best of the East Side Kids features.

Also in the cast is Canadian jockey Nick Wall playing a rather arrogant top jockey who came from the East Side and forgets his roots or would like to. When Gorcey finally wakes up and smells the coffee he gives Wall an attitude adjustment and Wall rides him in the big race at the finale.

Definitely the best or one of the best of the East Side Kids features.

That Gang of Mine was the second Monogram East Side Kids movie and was the first to feature Leo Gorcey as Muggs, the archetypal character he would play uninterrupted for the next seventeen years. Thanks to his small stature, he gets roped into jockeying in this episode, and while the narrative is no more complex or interesting than in any of the other series entries, the film has points of interest. First and foremost is the direction of Joseph H. Lewis, the 'B' specialist who is remembered today for Gun Crazy and The Big Combo. Lewis does his best to create interesting moments in the film, notably during an opening sequence atop a swaying gangplank. Also of considerable interest is the third billed presence of Clarence Muse as Ben, the African-American trainer of the horse Muggs' is going to ride. Whilst his role isn't entirely free of the racial stereotyping of the period, Muse is such a fine actor that he inevitably rises above it, offering perhaps the finest acting performance of ANY of the post-Warners East Side Kids/Bowery Boys productions. It's also worth noting that Sam--the analogous character in the recent Hollywood production Seabiscuit--has virtually no dialogue and simply follows orders. Things really haven't changed as much as we'd like to think they have.