Blues Busters

When the story begins, Sach is in the hospital for an operation and has convinced everyone he's on death's door. The truth is it's just a tonsillectomy and soon he's discharged. But there's an unexpected side effect....Sach now is able to croon like Tony Martin and Bing Crosby!! I've had several operations and unfortunately never had that happen with me! But as you probably guessed, instead of just bringing Sach fame and fortune, it also brings problems. Are Sach and the gang up for all this?!

In many of the Bowery Boys' films, Sach develops some sort of amazing power--such as the ability to accurately predict outcomes in gambling and amazing intellect. Here, he's got a great singing voice. Overall, a cute installment of the series and like the rest, it's light and entertaining...but hardly life changing!

Blues Busters (1950)

** (out of 4)

Sach (Huntz Hall) goes into the hospital to have his tonsils removed and when he comes out he has an amazing, crooning singing voice. Slip (Leo Gorcey) decides to make money off of him so they turn Louie's shop into a nightclub but this causes trouble with the club owner across the street. Number twenty in the series is one of the lesser entries as it starts off pretty well but the one-joke nature gets tiresome rather quick and in the end I had a hard time making it through the rather short 67-minute running time. The early jokes in the hospital were pretty funny as were the scenes where Hall discovers his talent but after this it's one boring joke after another. As I go through this series I'm starting to re-think my opinion on director Beaudine who previously had been a favorite of mine. When you see the style of his films and compare them to other director's in the series you really start to see a product that is rather rushed and one that really doesn't look like a "B" picture. There were several sequences that just seemed like they were under performed and that a little better editing and perhaps a different take would have made the scene better. For the most part we get a one-joke film as Sach becomes a hot property and you've got two sides fighting over him. The one thing I didn't understand is that, in the end, Louie is broke yet they had a pack house for three shows a night so why he was broke at the end is beyond me but then again, perhaps I'm just putting too much thought into it. I think Hall is in pretty good form as he is obviously having a good time singing even though he's dubbed. His "acting" of a crooner was pretty good and his facial gestures at least gave us a few nice laughs. Gorcey, both father and son, are also in good form but Gabriel Dell is pretty must wasted in his part. I wasn't too impressed with any of the supporting players as they all struck me as being underwritten and none of the performers brought anything to the role. The real stand out here is John Lorenz who dubs Hall and I must admit that I really enjoyed the songs and his voice. However, this is a comedy and I just didn't laugh enough to make the film work.

Huntz gets a rare chance to show his serious side, and the result is an absorbing study into how much latent talent there always was within the Bowery Boys troupe.

Bernard and Leo Gorcey along with Huntz make a great comic film trio indeed. But in 'Blues Busters', Huntz becomes a teen singing idol following a tonsillectomy which changes his voice to a rich baritone a la Bing Crosby. (There's flawless dubbing to the real voice of John Lorenz.) Louie's Sweet Shoppe is transformed into a nightclub, as Louis Dumbrowsky and the Boys attempt to capitalize on Sach's newly-developed gift of song.

The great title tune "Bluebirds Keep Singing in the Rain" and other ditties make 'Blues Busters' a rare and offbeat must-see entry in the Bowery Boys saga, and will be a reminder of the great old moviegoing days when you left the theatre humming.

Highly recommended to all.

The archetypal Bowery Boys movie, which shows Huntz Hall and Leo Gorcey at their best.

Sach, in one of those Bowery Boy incidents, accidentally ends up singing strikingly like Bing Crosby. All the boys capitalize on his success and everything is honky dory until Sach decides he has forgotten where he came from and starts acting like a diva.

This series, although labelled "B," which it was, has a lot of humor, strong characterizations and is simply a lot of un. You will notice that it is a family affair, with Butch (or is it Chuck) played by David Gorcey and, of course, Louie Dumbrowski is Leo "Slip Mahoney" Gorcey's Dad, Bernard.

THe earlier series, the "Dead End Kids," was also very good, although those films have not aged as well given production techniques. That series, though starred Billy Halop and Bobby Jordan, in addition to Gorcey, Hall, and Gabe Dell. Jordan did appear in some Bowery Boy movies.

BLUES BUSTERS (Monogram, 1950), directed by William Beaudine, the 20th entry to the long running 48 film "Bowery Boys" series, is regarded possibly the most entertaining of its entries. If not the best, then the most different from any film thus far or since. Following the earlier patterns of newspaper stories, "film noir" mysteries or even a hillbilly comedy, BLUES BUSTERS comes across as most original for being classified as a musical. Unlike their earlier "East Side Kids" series (1940-1945), the production values are first rate (though not with the MGM gloss) with good comedy, songs and fine story regardless of this not being highly original.

Naturally set in the Bowery district of New York City, the story starts off with the Bowery Boys: Whitey (Billy Benedict), Chuck (David Gorcey), Butch (Bennie Bartlett), and their ringleader, "Slip" Mahoney (Leo Gorcey), accompanied by their closest friend, Louie Dumbrowski (Bernard Gorcey), owner of Louie's Sweet Shop, visiting the hospital room where their goofy pal, Horace Debussy Jones, better known as "Sach" (Huntz Hall) is recovering from the removal of his tonsils. Later back at the suite shop, the Bowery Boys hear some nice vocalizing not from a radio but from Sach. To help pay back Louie for supplying the hospital expenses for Sach, Slip comes up with an idea of quick cast by showcasing Sach to the crooning sensation of a "Bing Crosby" or "Frank Sinatra." Rejected by Rick Martin (Craig Stevens), owner of the Cabana night club near Louie's, Gabe Moreno (Gabriel Dell), Slip's pal now working as a song plugger, assists the gang by reverting Louie's Sweet Shop into Louie's Bowery Palace. Sach's singing and tap-dancing specialty by Sally Dolan (Phyllis Coates), Slip's girlfriend, soon attracts crowds to standing room only. This forces Martin to lose customers and having his own vocalist, Lola Stanton (Adele Jergens) singing to a near empty night club. With the help of Lola, she manages to engage Sach, now known as "The Bowery Thrush," to go under contact with Martin. In spite of his fame and fortune, Sach lives to regret it. Others in the cast include Paul Bryar, Matty King, William Vincent and Alphonse Martel.

Songs include: "Wasn't It You?" "The Battle of Jerricho," "The Blue Birds Keep Singing in the Rain," "Let's Have a Heart-to-Heart Talk," "The Blue Birds Keep Singing in the Rain" (tap dance solo by Phyllis Coates); "You Walked By," "You Better Be Looking Out for Love," "Let's Have a Heart-to-Heart Talk," "Swanee River," "Dixie" and "The Blue Birds Keep Singing in the Rain" (reprise).

For anyone who has ever seen Eddie Bracken singing like Bing Crosby in the seldom televised OUT OF THIS WORLD (Paramount, 1945) may see similarities between this and BLUES BUSTERS. Naturally the singing voice for Huntz Hall is dubbed but not by the similar sounding Bing Crosby. Although a night club story has some rumbles, there's no Slip Mahoney giving out the signal to his Boys for a "Routine Six." Quite different in format yet change is often good for the advancement of a series such as this. Hall is still amusing but not overly goofy or childlike as he would be in the latter entries. Best moments: Slip trying to sing in Sach's place; and good somber moment between Slip and Sach that doesn't make any disturbance to the story. The finish, however, is true classic in the best Bowery Boys tradition. Of the series regulars, this would become Gabriel Dell's farewell performance as Gabe Moreno.

Available on DVD, BLUES BUSTERS, at 67 minutes, can be seen and enjoyed whenever it turns up on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: August 8, 1999). Next installment: BOWERY BATTALION (1951). (***)