Feudin' Fools

While shooting the breeze at Louie's "Sweet Shop", Leo Gorcey (as Slip Mahoney) and "The Bowery Boys" learn Huntz Hall (as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones) has inherited a plantation south of the Mason-Dixon line. Adopting a southern accent, Mr. Hall accompanies Mr. Gorcey, David "Condon" Gorcey (as Chuck), and Benny "Bennie" Bartlett (as Butch) to the "Jones" farm. There, they are startled to learn the area's hillbilly "Smith" family spends their time shooting everyone in the "Jones" clan dead - putting Hall's life in danger. Gags include Gorcey gets cow's milk sprayed in his face, and Hall crowing like a rooster after eating chicken feed. Cock-a-doodle-don't.

*** Feudin' Fools (9/21/52) William Beaudine ~ Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Bernard Gorcey

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."

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.

Sach learns that he is the sole heir to a southern plantation. Naturally, he and the others set out in their old jalopy for a life of ease. Unfortunately, the place turns out to be the biggest rundown dump this side of Hooverville! Also, the Jones family is involved in a feud with the Smith family, and the rustic Smith men are determined to kill the last surviving member of the Jones clan, namely Sach. Louie arrives to see the boys. Throw in a gang of bank robbers and you have all the ingredients for the Bowery Boys brand of slapstick humor.

No Whitey in this one, and only Butch and Chuck round out the BB gang. But, they are mainly background scenery anyway.

Anne Kimbrell and 6'2" Dorothy Ford provide the female interests in this entry.

O. Z. Whitehead appears as Yancey Smith. He often acted in John Ford films, but preferred the theater to movies. O. Z., or Zebbie, as he was known, had a long term and very private relationship with Katherine Hepburn.

Feudin' Fools is an enjoyable entry in the Bowery Boys series.

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.