Crashing Las Vegas

Leo Gorcey's final Bowery Boys movie (the forty-first in the series!) is a middling affair with a sad story behind it. Between the last film and this one, Leo's father Bernard Gorcey had been killed in a car accident. Bernard, of course, played the lovable Louie the Sweet Shop owner in the series and often stole the scenery from his younger co-stars. But business is business and "the show must go on," so the next Bowery Boys movie went into production. Unfortunately, poor Leo was still reeling from his father's death and perhaps should have been allowed more time to grieve. Throughout the picture, Leo seems 'off.' This is reportedly due to his drinking. He does look rough and seems tipsy, often grinning and shouting his lines for no apparent reason.

Behind-the-scenes drama aside, the picture has a tired plot about Sach gaining mental powers which Slip and the boys use to get money for their previously unseen landlady Mrs. Kelly. She was meant to replace Louie but she isn't funny and brings nothing to the films like Louie did. There's little reason to see this unless you're a fan who wants to see all the Bowery Boys movies. There are some laughs here and there but they are few and far between. Mary Castle provides a bit of welcome eye candy. Louie is missed and the movie suffers from his absence. Things would get a lot worse with Leo gone, though. He was one of the original Dead End Kids and really the glue that held the different groups of "kids" together (no offense to Huntz Hall). Starting with the next picture, Hall would become the star and Stanley Clements would join the gang. The series would limp along for another two years but would never recover from the loss of Leo Gorcey's Slip Mahoney.

The boys have collected money for their beloved landlady Mrs. Kelly's down payment. Sach is working in the kitchen when he gets an electrical shock. Suddenly, he can predict all the numbers. The boys have tickets to television contest "To Live like a King". Slip wins a trip to Vegas. He has an idea for him and the boys. As Sach goes on a winning streak, he gains some unsavory attention.

The story is a bit convoluted, more than usual. They could have done so much more with a Vegas premise. I'm not looking for the real thing, but that would have been amazing. Sach has always been an idiot, but his idiocy here is not fun. It is much more annoying than anything else. One would also think that the casino wouldn't allow Sach to keep winning. It's a whole different side of the story that is ignored. This one is a little frustrating.

Crashing Las Vegas marked the end of the line for Leo Gorcey and really the end of the line for the Bowery Boys. When Stanley Clements came on to replace Gorcey he was not really a good foil for Huntz Hall to play off. With the death of Bernard Gorcey the year before who played lovable little Louis Dumbrowsky, a whole lot was taken out of the series as well as out of Gorcey who can't quite get animated enough in this film. The rehashed plot line didn't help either, Allied Artists was plain running out of ideas for the Bowery Boys.

An electric shock gives Huntz Hall psychic powers he can pick numbers out of anywhere. Where else to put this power to good use but in Las Vegas. So it's off to Vegas where Frank Sinatra and the rest of the developing Rat Pack were getting started.

The film could have used the Rat Pack. Not much to say about Leaving Las Vegas. Slinky Mary Castle becomes the latest in a long line of women to vamp a secret out of Satch. The old badger game is tried on him as well. Only Huntz Hall could be fooled into thinking the first floor is the 21st floor, that was a gag more silly than funny.

Sad to say The Bowery Boys were running out of gas.

In a plot rehash, an electrical jolt gives Huntz Hall (as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones) psychic powers, so luckless Leo Gorcey (as Terrence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney) decides to take his pal and fellow "Bowery Boys" David "Condon" Gorcey (as Chuck) and Jimmy Murphy (as Myron) to Las Vegas. This film featured the last appearance of Mr. (Leo) Gorcey, who had been with the troupe since "Dead End" (1937). Gorcey had already become somewhat secondary to Mr. Hall, who would become the series' credited "star" with the next film ("Fighting Trouble").

Sadly, the noticeably absent "Sweet Shop" owner Bernard Gorcey (who played "Louie" in the series) had just passed away, following a car accident; he was the father of "Bowery Boys" Leo and David Gorcey. In this film, Bowery leader Leo Gorcey is clearly drowning his sorrows, and appears unwell much of the time. In an unrelated milestone, "Crashing Las Vegas" featured the first appearance of a new "Bowery Boy", with Jimmy Murphy's "Myron" replacing Benny Bartlett's departed "Butch". Even without the off-screen drama, this is a less than mediocre series entry.

** Crashing Las Vegas (4/22/56) Jean Yarbrough ~ Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Jimmy Murphy

Crashing Las Vegas (1956)

** (out of 4)

The forty-first and final Bowery Boys film to feature Leo Gorcey as he's walk from the series after this entry due to a dispute with the studio as well as fighting his own personal demons after the death of his father Bernard who played Louis in the series. In the film Sach (Huntz Hall) gets electrocuted and begins to see numbers in his head. After winning a trip to Las Vegas Slip (Gorcey) decides to use his dumb friend to make a killing but a couple small-time hoods find out about his talents and kidnap him. CRASHING LAS VEGAS is far from the disaster that its reputation would have you believe but at the same time there's no question that the series was running out of gas. It seems this movie is best remembered for the antics of Leo Gorcey, which apparently had him constantly drunk throughout the making of the flick and apparently he destroyed several props and sets. I'm not sure how much of this leaked over into people judging his performance here but many reviews state that it's obvious he's drunk and I really wouldn't say that. There's a sequence towards the end where his foot is up on a bed while he's questioning Hall and he's shaking during this period but outside of this he really didn't act any different from previous films (where he was drinking as well). At times his eyes are obviously bloating but again, you can see this in previous films. In his final appearance he certainly doesn't have enough energy to carry the picture but he is a step up from the previous film. Hall is also apparently bored and he doesn't add any life to the picture either. None of the supporting players are all that memorable and this includes Doris Kemper who is obviously filling in for Bernard Gorcey. CRASHING LAS VEGAS really doesn't feel like a Bowery Boys picture for several reason. One, of course, is the fact that Bernard and his sweet shop aren't here. Another is that director Yarbrough is obviously not too interested in anything going on and the constant long shots really make you feel apart from the film. There's a game show sequence early in the film that isn't too badly done but at the same time it feels as if it belongs in a different film. There's a prison sequence that contains a couple laughs but that's pretty much it. CRASHING LAS VEGAS said goodbye to Gorcey and while it's not a good film to go out on you can at least respect that he did make it to forty-one films, which isn't something very many actors could do.