Live Wires

As this was the first entry in "The Bowery Boys" film series, it seems a good time for a Bowery kid round-up. After "Dead End" (1937) hit big, the original gang of six screen scene stealers - Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Gabriel Dell, and Bernard Punsly - became "The Dead End Kids" aka "The Little Tough Guys". The alternating name was dictated by interpersonal studio and actor conflicts, with the main group evolving into "The East Side Kids". This group regularly featured half the original team - Mr. Jordan, Mr. Gorcey, and Mr. Hall (along with others). The original leader, Mr. Halop quit after leading the "Little Tough Guy" group; later, he would be employed to start "The Gas House Kids" (which included Bowery regular Benny "Bennie" Bartlett). Mr. Dell would continue to make his irregular appearances, and Mr. Punsly retired altogether.

Presently, popular "East Side Kid" leader Gorcey and manager Jan Grippo gained the upper "East Side" hand, and took control of the series. Continuing as "The Bowery Boys" are Gorcey (as Terrence "Slip" Mahoney), Hall (as "Sach"), Jordan (as "Bobby"), and William "Billy" Benedict (as "Whitey"). Brother David Gorcey took the week off, but father Bernard Gorcey appears in "Louie's Sweet Shop" (though not yet as its proprietor). Filling in for the former is William Frambes (as Homer), in a one-shot appearance as a Bowery Boy; previously, Mr. Frambes was as a member of rival group "The Cherry Street Boys" (with Billy Benedict) in the East Side Kids' "Clancy Street Boys" (1943). "Live Wires" is fairly typical plot-wise. Gorcey unwittingly gets a job as a snake-oil salesman, with the gang assisting; inevitably, the get-rich-quick scheme leads to gangsters.

**** Live Wires (1/12/46) Phil Karlson ~ Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Mike Mazurki, Bobby Jordan

Enjoyable if unspectacular flick about a hothead who, unable to hold down a job, gets a job where he starts running into gangsters. Phil Karlson's "Live Wires" was the first movie in which the group previously known as the Dead End Kids got called the Bowery Boys. There's nothing particularly original about this movie, but the protagonist's short temper and Archie Bunker-like malapropisms provide plenty of laughs. Leo Gorcey's accent certainly drives the role.

I should note that the only movie in which I've previously seen this crowd was the 1937 crime drama "Angels with Dirty Faces", starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien and Humphrey Bogart. Obviously this is a completely different kind of movie. It's not the greatest comedy, but an okay way to pass an hour and a half. Quite silly, but likable.

You either like the Bowery Boys films with their low brow humor or you don't. I like them. They're silly, funny, and light hearted. Slip gets and loses one job after another for being too hot tempered and quick with his fists but since his sister who he lives with has a steady job he doesn't worry about it. That is, until she gets fed up and insists he get a steady job. He first thinks he's going to make a bundle as a street peddler selling Pierce's Peerless Stain Remover. In this skit, Gorcey well demonstrates how very good he was at patter. Of course, the peddler scam doesn't work out and he then gets a job at the repossession firm that Sach is working at (somewhat surprisingly Sach has a steady job). They get the assignment of finding a couple of crooks, Patsy Clark and the crook known as The Pidgeon. Slip tells the boys that in tracking down Patsy they'll first make a list of the possibilities and then "It's just a process of illumination." Slip does indeed find Patsy who turns out to be a towering, violent and menacing crook played by Mike Mazurki. There are a number of pretty funny bits in the movie but my favorite was the scene at the high class nightclub, the 'High Hat' where Slip takes his girlfriend as part of a car repo job. After hearing from Slip that "money is no objection," the snooty waiter recommends a 1928 champagne. Slip and his girlfriend are mightily annoyed and insist that the waiter bring something newer than that.

My favorite scene in the whole movie by far was the scene between Leo Gorcey and Mike Mazurki about 50 minutes into the movie. That scene was much funnier than anything else in the movie. It was the only time during the movie that I laughed out loud. This is not a terribly funny movie except for some amusing gags here and there, but that scene was on a whole other level. They were perfect together. They would have made a great comedy team.

Other than that this movie is just a curio from the 1940's. It's watchable and is a breezy 64 minutes long so it's not a big time investment. But nothing too great and nothing to bad. I watched it one Saturday - or was it Sunday. Anyway, it's an okay way to kill an hour on the weekend.

About a guy who lives with his sister, who is his own worst enemy, and finds himself involved in self inflicted confrontations. Jumping from gig to gig because he keeps finding trouble, his sister is fed up with him.

I thought this was fun to watch. Not laugh at loud funny but entertaining. The lead character played by Leo Gorcey was getting on my nerves after a while, and I was surprised his sister put up with him for as long as she did. The movie is only an hour long but the events of Leo running into trouble, and his sister telling him off, got repetitive quickly. I wished it was a little longer because him transitioning to his new job as a repo, felt rushed. We only see him repo two people and they both happen in the last 20 minutes. I thought it would be the many funny adventures of being a repo man. Nevertheless it was still a fun watch.