Bowery Battalion

The gang mistakes a practice air raid for the real thing. They immediately sign up for the military. Slip tries to stop them but gets trapped himself. The boys get into constant trouble at camp but end up rescuing Louie and saving a secret weapon from foreign spies.

This was released soon after the start of the Korean War. I doubt it's anything deliberate. This is not wartime patriotism but rather a random coincidence. "At ease" is a funny button to a comedy scene. The spy stuff is very convoluted but that could work in a screwball comedy. I would leave Louie out of this one or at least interrogate him into the story in a more simple way. All in all, this is ok for Bowery completist.

Only hampered by the lack of production values that Allied Artists gave this film, they had just changed their name from Monogram Pictures, prevents me from giving this more stars. Bowery Batallions finds the Bowery Boys joining the army and catching a ring of spies, presumably Communist spies given the year of the film, 1951.

The film is also a great example of how Leo Gorcey was not any smarter than the others, just that he was loud and asserted his authority that way. Huntz Hall and the other geniuses join the army because of a rash of patriotism that wanted them to defend the USA after they mistook a simulated air strike on New York for the real thing. Huntz Hall shooting at planes with kid's cap pistol is a sight.

Leo however joins the army because the same recruiting sergeant who signed Huntz and the gang gets Leo to sign this piece of paper and he can 'visit' his friends. The funniest sequence in the film by far is when he and the other guys grab some uniforms off the rack because they don't like the ill fitting duds the army has given them. Problem is that they're officers uniforms and when wearing them, they're directed to the officer's club for eats and start mingling with the brass they're in a heap of trouble when day one in the Armed Forces hasn't finished.

Donald MacBride is in the film in his usual role as an exasperated authority figure, in this case a sergeant trying to make these boys fit to defend their country. All in all it's a fine Bowery Boys comedy and it might make you fans of their's if you've never seen any of their films.

While sharing a soda with a young blond boy, hapless Huntz Hall (as Horace De Bussy "Sach" Jones) mistakes a mock "Air Raid" drill for the real thing. Feeling patriotic, Mr. Hall takes three of "The Bowery Boys" to join the U.S. Army. Soon, wise guy leader Leo Gorcey (as Terence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney) arrives to find father Bernard Gorcey (as Louie Dumbrowsky) has barricaded his "Sweet Shop", fearing an attack. After learning his missing pals have gone to enlist, Mr. Gorcey seeks to retrieve them. But, Leo Gorcey is tricked into enlisting himself, by drill sergeant Donald MacBride (as Herbert Frisbie).

After turning the elder Gorcey away as too old, the Army recruits heroic "Major Dumbrowsky", due to his past service record (he invented the "hydrogen ray"). Meanwhile, son Gorcey, Hall, William "Billy" Benedict (as Whitey), Buddy Gorman (as Butch), and David Gorcey (as Chuck) provide Sgt. MacBride and the Army with "Bowery Boy" high-jinx. The best bit involves Gorcey and the gang unwittingly donning officers' uniforms. MacBride's engaging "Sgt. Frisbie" characterization gives the tired, old plot some spark.

**** Bowery Battalion (1/24/51) William Beaudine ~ Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Donald MacBride

Bowery Battalion (1951)

** (out of 4)

Number twenty-one has Slip, Sach and the other three joining the Army accidentally when they think the country comes under attack. Once there they battled with Sgt. Frisbie (Donald MacBride) as Louie (Bernard Gorcey) is called to Washington, D.C. as it turns out he was a WW1 hero who just happened to create a special bomb. Soon a couple spies are trying to kill Louie and it's up to the boys to try and keep him safe. I'm surprised it took so long for the studio to send the boys to the Army especially when you consider most comedy team do this at some point in their careers. Even by 1951 the "dumb recruits" battling the mean drill Sergent had already grown old and sadly this film doesn't add anything new or fresh. I think the biggest problem with the film is that they're working with an incredibly unoriginal story and there's not single attempt to do anything with it. We get so many forced situations that you can't help but sit there and feel as if you've seen it countless times before and done much better. The running gag here is that the boys keep doing dumb things and keep getting thrown into jail. This happens around four times. It wasn't funny the first time and it's certainly not funny any of the other times. I was really surprised at how unfunny many of the scenes where even if they weren't original. Usually the scene where the men try to follow all the instructions at least gets a few laughs but not here. The only saving grace happens early on when the boys don't like their outfits and try on some others, which just happen to belong to some Majors. The boys start going around not fully understanding why everyone is saluting them but of course they figure it out after it's too late. I think Hall comes off the best here as he's at least energetic and tries to keep things moving. Leo doesn't get to do much, which is shocking but even more so is the fact that he's not given any good dialogue to mix up. Daddy Gorcey comes off a little better and especially in the early scene where he tries to enlist. I think the stuff dealing with him missing the boys was quite touching in its own right. With that said, we've simply seen this type of film way too many times and this one here just isn't funny enough to bother with.

I am watching Bowery Battalion (1951) on TCM right now. Sach sees an air raid drill going on in the Bowery and thinks it the real thing. He, Whitey, Butch, and Chuck rush down the army recruiting office to serve their country in time of war. When finds out what they've done, he goes to get them out, but winds up signing enlistment papers too! When the recruiting sergeant asks Slip his occupation, he responds with "spy." That sounds a little better than "shiftless loafer." Naturally, the boys get in trouble from the start and wind up in guardhouse. Louie misses the boys so much he tries to enlist, but is turned down. However, Louie was actually a hero in WWI for bravery under fire. He was also known for inventing a hydrogen ray, which supposedly could devastate the enemy, but was later proven impractical. The army wants to catch some spies lurking around the base, and decides to recall Louie and make him a major. Then they can use him and his hydrogen Ray weapon as bait to catch the bad guys. Naturally, things don't go as planned and Louie gets kidnapped. Can the boys come to his rescue in time?

The opening theme is a snappy rendition of "You're in the army now." Leo Gorcey is credited first, above the title. Then Huntz Hall by himself. The supporting actor page lists Bernard Gorcey and William Benedict (Whitey) in larger letters than Buddy Gorman (Butch) and David Gorcey (Chuck).

Bowery Battalion (1951) is an entertaining BB movie and is made better by the performance of Donald McBride as Sergeant Frisbie. This one is well worth watching.