Bowery Blitzkrieg

This East Side Kids film from Monagram has a two track plot line with two estranged best friends Leo Gorcey and Bobby Jordan. Gorcey is training for the amateur Golden Gloves boxing tournament when he's offered a nice hefty bribe to tank it.

As for Jordan he gets himself involved with a young punk played by Bobby Stone who commits a series of robberies until he's caught and Stone shoots Jordan after Jordan prevents him from shooting police officer Warren Hull who is both going out with Charlotte Henry who is Jordan's sister and Hull is also training Gorcey for his fight.

Playing a very small role is trainer Pat Costello who had a more famous brother Lou Costello whom he occasionally doubled for as they had similar builds. Pat has a very nice scene where plays straight man to Huntz Hall trying to show him what a corner man does in the boxing game. Interesting to see a Costello as a straight man.

The two estranged kids do come together in the end though I won't tell about the courageous, but almost costly decision Gorcey makes involving Jordan.

Note the title, Bowery Blitzkrieg. That German word was coming into the English language as an idiom for a lightning attack that the opponent has no time to defend against be it in war or in the ring.

It's a Monagram Picture so don't expect too much production values, but Bowery Blitzkrieg does have a nice sentimental story in it if your taste runs in that direction.

The public domain prints suck. Bad print. Sound is horrible. But these comedies were fun.

The Plot East Side Kids: Fighters Danny Breslin and Muggs McGinnis, once boyhood chums, have drifted apart. Policeman Tom Brady - because his own former friend fell into a life of crime and got the electric chair - takes rough and tumble Muggs under his wing to turn the lad's life around, but Danny, brother of Mary Breslin (whom Tom plans to marry), is also at risk. Everyone believes studious Danny is on his way to being president someday, but while Tom's focus goes toward putting Muggs on the straight and narrow, ambitious petty criminal Monk Martin's been working slyly on steering Danny into a life of crime. Adding a little complication, racketeers get involved, trying to set up a fixed fight with Muggs.

At this point, leo gorcey was still known as "muggs". He and the gang are playing pool. When monk (bob stone) starts rumors that muggs is talking dish about danny's sister, danny picks a fight. Now the coppers are involved, and muggs is locked up, and off to reform school. Monk is so slimey, and is clearly no good; when he talks, you can just feel the lies falling out as he speaks. Can muggs get himself out of this mess before it goes too far? His family and friends are trying to help, but he can't seem to stop finding trouble. This one is okay... doesn't have the fun word play that gorcey would be known for. Directed by wally fox. This was the first of nine east side kids films in the 1940s that he directed. A little ironic that the film was called blitzkrieg, filmed just a few months before pearl harbor. According to wikipedia dot org, the term had appeared in a german periodical, but was used mostly by the western media.

I enjoyed this lightweight pre-war drama/comedy.

In those days I guess life was simple. Tough Irish kids had golden hearts if you could just get them a mentor in the police department. Fighting showed character. There were good guys and bad guys. Loyalties ran strong. Not much a good right/left combo would not solve.

But, you know, this movie was fun. It all fell together. There were moments of drama. There was some humor. Muggsy, the anti-hero turned hero was a likable kid. The lines were snappy. The exposition brisk.

So, hey, watch this movie with your young kids. See the gang at the pool hall. Learn about bad guys trying to fix fights. Learn about loyalties to the family, to the gang, and to the police force. See Muggsy take on all comers, from the college-bound kid, to the police, to organized crime, to the reform school.

This sixth "East Side Kids" film is one of the better Bowery boy adventures. During this era, the movies focused on the characters played by Leo Gorcey (as Muggs) and Bobby Jordan (as Danny). Usually, Mr. Jordan and an adult relative provided the storyline, for leader Gorcey and the lads. Criminal activity and reform school were a part of many plots. "Bowery Blitzkrieg" has all the elements which were, obviously, very popular with young audiences (or, they wouldn't have made so many of these films).

The storyline is a "Bowery Blitzkrieg". Apparently, Gorcey and Jordan have taken up boxing (wouldn't you know it?). It's clear from shirtless Jordan's opening workout (cut from some versions of this film) that hunky Jordan is the gang's choice for champ. Instead, Jordan decides to pursue an education. Probably, this put a strain on the otherwise tight Gorcey/Jordan (Muggs/Danny) relationship. This would help explain some, but not all, of the ensuing contrived, continuity-starved events...

Jordan meets sleazy, seductive Bobby Stone (as Monk Martin), and is sucked into becoming the driver for Mr. Stone's petty thievery. Stone drives a wedge between Jordan and "The East Side Kids" by telling him that Gorcey has been talking dirty about Jordan's sister, Charlotte Henry (as Mary Breslin) and her "copper" fiancé. At the local pool hall, Jordan gets the best of his old pal, which helps land Gorcey in reform school. After becoming chummy with law enforcement, Gorcey is paroled, by Jordan's sister's policeman boyfriend, Warren Hull (as Tom Brady).

Officer Hull wants Gorcey to become law enforcement's champion boxer. Gorcey is a success at boxing, but draws criminal interest; and, he is paid to throw an upcoming "big fight". Meanwhile, Jordan continues to drive the getaway car for more of Stone's robberies. On the eve of the "big fight", policeman Hull catches up with Jordan and Stone; then, a dramatic shoot-out connects Gorcey and Jordan in life-or-death struggles…

Jordan and Gorcey do very well with the script (and they can still pass for reform school age delinquents). Future regular Stone has one of his best "Bowery" roles; he and Jordan have an unusual (gay?) relationship, and their dramatic shoot-out is surprisingly well done (by director Wallace Fox), for the series' budget. Former "Dead End" kid Huntz Hall joins the "East Side" cast, happily; he's an amusingly thirsty ringside trainer. And, intelligent Ernest Morrison's "Scruno" has a great "against type" bit. Watch for some of the cast's better Bowery moments.

******* Bowery Blitzkrieg (8/1/41) Wallace Fox ~ Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Bobby Stone, Huntz Hall