Juke Girl

Don't let the opening credits mislead you. The design of the credits and the corny music may mislead you into thinking this is going to be a second-rate comedy. It's actually a fairly effective melodrama, with a good cast, solid visual elements, and a decent script full of memorable lines.

The story focuses on two migrant laborers who are following the crop season in Florida and hoping for work. Their rough-and-tumble encounter with the local "boss" (Gene Lockhart, who makes a great villain although I always think of him as Bob Cratchit) breaks up their friendship, and emphasizes the tension between the boss and the farmers who depend on him for money. Reagan's attempts to help a troubled farmer just make Lockhart angrier, leading to escalating violence. Of course, in the meantime, a romance is blooming between Reagan and a local "juke girl" (Sheridan). He wants to settle down, but she's not ready.

Nicely choreographed action sequences, snappy dialog, and memorable major and minor characters make this WB feature worth seeking out.

Why was Ronald Reagan so cute? I guess not everyone thinks so; my mom compared him to Andy Griffith. But a random woman I met at the ballet agreed with me that he was extremely handsome. I'll always have a soft spot for him, since (in the 1940s) he looked like my high school sweetie pie - and do we ever really get over that one?

Juke Girl is a knock-off of The Grapes of Wrath, but without the old folks. In my opinion, Jane Darwell and Charley Grapewin were the only good parts to that movie. Both focus on the struggles of migrant farmers and the poor, common man. Both have handsome leading men who aren't very good actors. But for my money, I'll take Juke Girl. And not just because Reagan has great hair and a lovely smile. Although, that doesn't hurt.

Even though he wasn't a good actor, Reagan seemed to give his best performances when he was paired with Ann Sheridan. I hope they got along; they certainly had good chemistry together. This was made the same year as Kings Row, and it'd make a great double feature. Even though the title implies a silly movie about a dance hall romance, it actually turns dark in the second half. It's a solid drama with a strange title. Yes, Ann Sheridan plays a hardened dance hall girl who captures the heart of an idealistic farmer, but there's a lot more to it than that. Reagan stands up for George Tobias, a Greek farmer who gets pushed around, and that sets off a series of dramatic events. Gene Lockhart plays a real bad guy, coming off another villainous role in Hangmen Never Die. I don't know why he played bad guys so often, except for the reason that he's extremely good at it! Juke Girl might not be Gone With the Wind, but it's definitely one of the better Reagan movies.

Steve (Ronald Reagan) and Danny (Richard Whorf) are friends who are out of work. When they arrive at a crappy town in Florida, both move in different directions. Danny turns out to be a rather amoral guy and sees that his best bet is working for the local strong-man, Madden (Gene Lockhart). Steve doesn't understand this, as Madden is underhanded and treats the local farmers like dirt. One farmer in particular, Nick (George Tobias), has gotten on Madden's bad side and Madden has decided to ruin him. Can nice-guy Nick manage to defeat Madden and his forces of evil? And, can Steve manage to win the heart of a local juke-girl (a lady who works in a bar and whose job it is to dance with customers and get them to drink)?

This is an interesting film because in many ways it's like a 1940s western...yes, western. While there are no cowboys, the idea of a local boss-man ruining people and using his gang of thugs is very, very common in westerns. It's also interesting to see Reagan playing such a populist sort of role, though it was very much in line with the Reagan of the 1940s (a union man through and through).

So is it any good? Well, for the first 90% of the film, I'd say yes. However, the ending has quite a few problems. Seeing the town inexplicably turn into a lynch mob made little sense--especially when one of Madden's goons is clearly egging them to action. Additionally, Madden's behavior at the very end made little sense--he was evil through all the film--so why would he suddenly do the right thing?! All I know is that it's frustrating to see a good film that folds up at the end of the movie. Worth seeing but it should have been better.

Randy D wrote an excellent review, saying just about everything that needed saying.

But I want to add a note about Betty Brewer. First, what a personality! Her life seems to have been tragic. Details are shrouded in some mystery, but whenever she pops up in a film, if she doesn't steal the whole movie, she at least sure steals the scenes she's in.

That's why I wish she had made more, and I wish she had stayed active into her adulthood.

The other actors in this enjoyable film mostly did very well for themselves, and for us.

The Reagan-Sheridan team always works magic; Richard Whorf is another of those actors who should have attained more "household-name" status, but he stayed busy in films and television a long time, including directing, apparently right up until his untimely death.

There was a long list of great Warner Brothers actors, including Alan Hale, and others, such as Willie Best, who might not be known as of a particular studio.

Howard da Silva played a bad guy, and every time I see him, I just marvel at his range. His Benjamin Franklin in the movie "1776" was just about perfect.

Ronald Reagan doesn't get much of a break from critics, but in "Juke Girl" he was great. He looked good and his acting was right on.

Ann Sheridan probably could do no wrong.

Together, the actors and the story -- although some of the dialog could have used some work -- create a very good movie.

It's funny how one's opinion of a film can change over time. I remember seeing and liking "Escape in the Desert" many years ago, perhaps in the 60s. When I saw it again recently I was really disappointed.

Just the opposite is true of "Juke Girl," which my wife and I just watched this evening on TCM (March, 2009). I had seen the film quite a while back and didn't think much of it. This time, however, I found the film to be quite enjoyable; no prize winner, but interesting from several standpoints. Here are some quite thoughts:

* The acting: As other reviewers have pointed out, it is quite good. The film features the Warner Brothers stock company that appeared in so many films in the late 30s and throughout the 40s. I refer to the likes of Alan Hale, George Tobias, Donald MacBride, etc. Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan are good in the leads.

* Photography: I second the feeling of another reviewer who commented on the film's cinematography. That is especially true of the outdoor scenes, which make up a fair amount of the running time; so many movies from the same year were shot almost entirely on sound stages. It's nice to see what Southern California looked like in the early 1940s (I feel certain that somewhere such as the San Fernando Valley stood in for Florida.)

* Politics: This story almost seems like a second tier version of the "Grapes of Wrath," with its mean, unscrupulous packing house owner and its poor but honest farmers and field workers. It's laid on a bit thick in my view, but it makes for an intriguing storyline.

* One quibble regarding plot: When the mob storms the jail, the sheriff and his deputies, who have threatened to shoot, just stand there and allow themselves to be overcome. Well, I suspect that any self-respecting lawman and his men would have blasted away at that point in their own self-defense if nothing else.

I have no doubt that some will, incorrectly, call this a B movie. Well, with Ann Sheridan as the top billed player, that is of course nonsense. It is indeed an A production, though a bit too predictable in terms of the plot to be considered first-rate. However, if you are a fan of 1940s style Warner Brothers melodramas (and I don't use that term pejoratively), you might indeed enjoy "Juke Girl."