In the Money

Sach unknowingly dog-sits a diamond studded poodle for a gang of smugglers during a trans-Atlantic voyage.

It's amazing the series lasted as long as it did, surviving well into the TV era with material now common to the little black box. Hall really deserves more credit than he's gotten for his raw comic abilities, on display here in highly energetic form since he knows he has to carry the film. Sure, his style was childish and over the top, but compare that style with Jerry Lewis's nitwit kid from the same era. Yet, Lewis is celebrated in many quarters as some kind of genius, while Hall is largely forgotten. Still, I don't see that much difference in absurd styles, except Lewis was backed by big studio Paramount, while the Bowery Boys depended on poverty row outfits like Allied Artists.

I agree with others-- the series was never the same without Leo Gorcey, a fine comedic talent in his own right and sturdy counterpoint to Hall's goofy shenanigans. As a result, Hall was left to carry on as best he could with budgets not much bigger than a take-out at MacDonalds, which is very much the case here, where everything occurs indoors, even the voyage. Worse, the action appears limited to the same room and hallway that merely get rearranged from one set-up to the next. No wonder it's the gang's swan song. Too bad they couldn't have gone out on a higher note. Nonetheless, their career from Dead End (1937) to this final entry (1958) spans 20 of the most turbulent years in the nation's history and a whole series of changing popular tastes. A pretty good record of longevity, I think, for a gang of likable losers.

The final Bowery Boys film is typical of the series after Leo Gorcey left. Plenty of Sach initiated slapstick. Only Chuck and Blinky provide support in this one.

The plot involves Sach being hired by three jewel thieves to smuggle stolen diamonds on a ship form New York to England. The diamonds are concealed under the fur of a beautiful poodle named Gloria. Sach is hired to be the bodyguard of this valuable canine. There is an inspector from Scotland Yard on board looking for the diamonds.

Lovely Patricia Donahue plays one of the jewel thieves. She really brightens things up.

The series really suffered after Bernard Gorcey died in a car accident and Leo Gorcey left the series. Stanley Clements played Duke, not as a new Slip, but as a combination of the Slip and Gabe Moreno characters. Stanley and Huntz Hall never could duplicate the chemistry between Leo and Huntz.

This last Bowery Boys movie is worth watching, for Patricia Donahue if nothing else. But it is typical BB fare and you like the series, you will like this one, too. I am watching it right now on TCM Saturday morning movies.

The last block of the Bowery in the Bowery Boys series was reached with In The Money. With Huntz Hall having completed his contractual obligation, the series was canceled. Quite frankly it was never the same after Leo Gorcey quit and Bernard Gorcey died.

Still this was a better film than most of the ones with Stanley Clements trying to take Leo Gorcey's place. In The Money finds poor Sach being hired by Leonard Penn for a rather exorbitant salary to escort a dog on an ocean liner to the United Kingdom. Only Huntz Hall would be dumb enough to think that getting a few thousand dollars for this task that something more than fear of dog-nappers was up.

Clements and the rest figure that much out and stow away on the ocean liner with what I will say is a rather clever gimmick. Scotland Yard Inspector Paul Cavanaugh is also eying Penn and his companions John Dodsworth and Patricia Donahue. But the crooks just tell Sach that Cavanaugh is one of those dog-nappers to be avoided. And the poor dummy believes them.

One thing that was a regular item running through the Bowery Boys series is Huntz Hall always getting vamped by a beautiful bad girl. The last of them and one of the best is Patricia Donahue, mainly because she doesn't at first come on sultry. But for such dumbbell Huntz Hall did all right in the screen babe department.

In The Money also illustrates another favorite premise of mine that plot situations can be both dramatic and comedic. If the bad guys were smuggling narcotics instead of jewels, Huntz Hall would have been a drug mule. The same situation could become quite deadly then.

Anyway In The Money was hardly the worst of the series and not the worst of the post Gorcey films.

Huntz hall and david gorcey are in the very last chapter of the bowery boys. Sadly, as dad gorcey had died a couple years before in a freak car accident, leo gorcey (usually played slip) was not part of this, and had left the franchise a couple years back. In this one, sach ends up sailing on a cruise ship, as a courier to smuggle in some diamonds for the bad guys. Co-stars the delicious pat donahue, who was pretty new to hollywood. The storyline is the best part of this, but without slip, most of the jokes just fall flat. I can see why it was the last bowery boys film they ever made. Directed by bill beaudine, who had directed tons of the bowery boys films. Keep an eye out for mike the shop keeper... he was the mayor in andy griffith. It's just barely okay. A real shortie...at just 61 minutes.

Lunching on the sandwich he delivered to a travel agency, messenger Huntz Hall (as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones) impressed some crooks with is dimwittedness. They hire Mr. Hall as bodyguard for a poodle named "Gloria" and book them passage to London, England. Hall hoped "Gloria" was blonde Patricia Donahue (as Babs), but she's no dog. Hall doesn't know it, but Ms. Donahue is part of a smuggling scheme. "Gloria" has been shaved and strapped with fake fur containing stolen diamonds. In order to protect Hall from danger, fellow "Bowery Boys" Stanley Clements (as Stanislaus "Duke" Coveleskie), David Gorcey (as Chuck) and Eddie LeRoy (as Blinky) decide to stowaway on the ship.

"In the Money" was, thankfully, the last film in "The Bowery Boys" series. These films ran from 1946-1958, with highlights including "Bowery Buckaroos" (1947) and "Hold That Baby!" (1949). There were some good films released during the 1950s, but the decline was most noticeable in "Jungle Gents" (1954) and "Crashing Las Vegas" (1956). "The Bowery Boys" was a legally necessary spin-off from "The East Side Kids" (1940-1945), which is nicely represented by "Bowery Blitzkrieg" (1941). Before that, they were most well known as "The Dead End Kids", which boasted many spin-offs and sequels. Comparing "Dead End" (1937) to "In the Money" shows just how exhausted the ideas had become.

**** In the Money (2/16/58) William Beaudine ~ Huntz Hall, Stanley Clements, Patricia Donahue, David Gorcey