Feudin' Fools

I am way behind on the Bowery Boys movies but I am catching up. Most of their movies are pretty funny but, of course, they have a couple of duds too. "Feudin' Fools" belongs somewhere in the middle of the pack. It does have a few laughs but not that many. Thanks to its short running time (63 mins) it doesn't wear out its welcome. "Feudin' Fools" is not one of the Bowery Boys movies that will turn someone into a fan. But if your already familiar with their movies, it's watchable.

The twenty-seventh film in the Bowery Boys series at Monogram has Sach inheriting a farm in Kentucky. The boys travel South and wind up in the middle of a hillbilly feud. A by-the-numbers plot if there ever was one, the only saving grace is the fish-out-of-water aspect of seeing the New Yorkers interacting with the hillbillies. The series was struggling by this point to come up with an idea that was even in the same zip code as original. Leo Gorcey still has a few chuckle-worthy malapropisms and Huntz Hall plays the buffoon to the hilt, but it all just goes so far. David Gorcey and Bennie Bartlett hang around in the background. You'd forget they were there except for the few times they're given something to do, like carry the bags for Slip. Bernard Gorcey, frequently the best part of the '50s Bowery Boys films, isn't in this one much but once he joins the gang in Kentucky things pick up. There are hillbilly jokes galore here like moonshine stills, revenuers, feuds, and the obligatory pretty farmer's daughter. My favorite part of the movie is this exchange between Slip and Sach:

Slip: "I think we better sympathize our watches." Sach: "You mean synchronize?" Slip: "I was usin' the past tense."

The usual recipe for a Bowery Boys film... Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, and his father and brother, of course. in this chapta, Sach inherits a "plantation", but when they arrive, it's a broken down shack. and that shack is plunk in the middle of the feud between the Smiths and the Joneses. and Sach's last name is JONES! word gets around that a Jones is back in town, so the neighbors start shootin'. and gangsters show up... and the guys have to hold off the Smiths who shoot first and ask questions later. has a one-track plot... kind of drags on and on. ok, we get it, the neighbors don't want any Joneses around. not one of the better episodes. the early ones are so much better. Directed by Bill Beaudine, who made 31 of these with the Bowery Gang, and all in the 1940s and 1950s. Talk about milking the golden goose! this one was pretty much in the middle of the series.

The writers obviously kept tabs on what Abbott and Costello were doing. In response to A & C's COMIN ROUND THE MOUNTAIN, thus came FEUDIN FOOLS. Many thanks to series writer Tim Ryan.

Sach inherits a farm from his uncle who lived in the South, way out in the middle of nowhere? Also a giant dose of poetic license at work; Slip, Sach and everyone else piles into the jalopy and drive all the way from New York to Kentucky? Their destination is a place called Hogliver Hallow. The story is about Smith versus Jones (Sach Jones, that is), a hillbilly feud that has gone on for generations, and the gang gets caught in the middle. Toss in a broken down farm house. "It looks like a rest home for old vampires!" Slip exclaims.

Good support from reliable heavy Lyle Talbot, playing a gangster called BIG JIM, who gets shot robbing a bank, only to take refuge with his goons at the Jones farm.

Louie (Bernard Gorcey, Leo's real dad) is a hoot playing Dr. Dumbrowski, who pretends to operate on Talbot in order to stall for more time and, hopefully, trick and capture the gangsters. Chock full of Leo Gorcey's malaprops and Huntz Hall is super nuts.

In one scene he opens a trap door and offers the bad guy to go first. The answer NO. "In that case, I'll see if there's a ladder!" Keep an eye on Benny Baker as Corky, one of Big Jim's mob. Benny played everything from sidekicks to bad guys, perfect window dressing for this story.

Note the cartoon characters of Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall at the beginning of the film, which always made me wonder what a terrific cartoon series this would have been. Possibly inspired by the cartoon characters of Laurel and Hardy in their comedy films at Fox in the 40s.

Character actress Anne Kimbell plays Elly May. Did that name inspire the writers for the BEVERLY HILLBILLIES? Look for Robert Bray, later to star on LASSIE, playing one of the detectives. Veteran western actor Fuzzy Knight plays Traps.

A real treat from start to finish, and good theme music thanks to Edward Kay, who scored many of the episodes. Huntz Hall has a super closing line.

Applause to director William Beaudine for pulling this one through, and with some clever touches. On remastered dvd via Warner Brothers box sets, generally containing 6 to 8 episodes per box.

One day while idling at Louie's Sweet Shop on the Bowery, Huntz Hall learns he's now the proud owner of a nice bit of farm land somewhere in the South. So he and the rest of the Bowery Boys head down to Dixie where they do find Hall has a piece of land next to a family of rustics named Smith.

The only problem is that these folks just don't cotton to anyone named Jones. They think they've driven the Joneses out, but just the name Jones gets them thar trigger fingers to itch.

Add to that a group of bank robbers who've just robbed the bank in Hog's Liver Hollow who seek refuge at the Jones farm and you have the ingredients of the plot for Feudin' Fools.

The Bowery Boys were getting a little stale with this one. The comparisons to Abbott&Costello's Comin' Round the Mountain are fairly obvious and Bud&Lou's film is far better than this one.

Still Bowery Boys fans should like it.