Bowery Buckaroos

Wow is the plot to "Bowery Buckaroos" contrived! It's so bizarre and from out of no where that it looks like the folks who wrote the film were jumping the shark, so to speak. After all, the plot is absolutely insane...even compared to many of the really weird installments later in the series!

When the film begins in New York City, Louie is strumming a guitar and singing a western-style song. Then, a sheriff arrives on horseback to the malt shop...and Louie hides. It seems that he's there to arrest Louie for murder....and he's been looking for it for 20 years. Now never before nor never after did the movies ever mention that Louie was a prospector out west...never. Nor did they mention any treasure map that he's been hiding all these years!! And so, it's not an unfair jump to say that this plot is completely contrived and bizarre.

Slip announces that the gang is headed west--to clear Louie's name AND find that gold mine. As for the mine, the map for it is tattooed on Louie's back...but he absolutely refuses to come with them. So, they draw an identical copy on Sach's back...something this numb-skull shows off as soon as they arrive! Slip isn't much smarter, as he shoots off his mouth and tells a woman he just met that his friend Gabe has infiltrated the local gang and is going by the name of 'Klondike'! What's next?

I could see folks liking "Bowery Buckaroos" because it's fun to see the familiar characters in such an unfamiliar locale. Or, they could just realize that it's very contrived and illogical ....and strongly dislike it. Either opinion could easily be understood. I feel a bit of each! Overall, an enjoyable brainless film!

And darn proud of it! BOWERY BUCKAROOS actually gave Leo Gorcey's real-life dad, Bernard (as Louie), a sizeable role, which he always wanted in the first place. Here sweetshop owner Louie stands accused of murdering an old mining partner, forcing the Bowery Boys to head west to right a terrible wrong! How Louie wound up in the west is shear poetic license, as he was supposedly a born and bread citizen of the Bowery! Go Figure! Behind the scenes, according to Gorcey, his dad was forever threatening to quit the series because his role was not big enough, and keep in mind that his son was EXECUTIVE PRODUCER! There's also the rather interesting footnote, according to one of the supporting players, that Gorcey would snag funny lines from other actors! Apparently, he got a dressing down for what he did. Did it stop him? Not quite. According to director Edward Bernds, who directed several of the Bowery Boys films in the 1950s, Gorcey took the lead and, with the lead, most of the laughs, of course splitting the winnings with co-star Huntz Hall. He later concluded that Gorcey, in his own way, was quite clever and kept the series running strong on one-liners and comedy. Lots of cowboys and Indians in this one, courtesy of Monogram Pictures, which aside from the Bowery Boys, made a fortune off its western production unit. Special guest stars include veterans Iron Eyes Cody, Chief Yowlachie (as Chief High-Octane!), western heavies Black Jack O'Shea and Bud Osbourne. Nice supporting role by series regular Minerva Urecal as Kate Barlow, a sort of "mature" Miss Kitty from GUNSMOKE! This, unfortunately, was Bobby Jordan's final appearance in the series, after seven years, beginning with the East Side kids in 1940. Jordan's roles grew increasingly smaller, as he was just about hanging around, so he decided to strike out on his own. Some biographers claim it was a mistake as his roles in other films were also minor, and he may have been typecast as being one of the Bowery Boys in the first place. Gabe Dell, likewise, went solo a few years later, however, he made it a point to re-direction his career, attending acting classes and made a successful return to Broadway and then back to Hollywood. Best of the best. You ain't seen nothin' yet UNTIL you see and "hear" Louie sing "Louie the Lout!" You're darn tootin'! One of about eight Bowery Boys series entries in Warner Brothers dvd box sets, which have noticeably gone down in price over the years as they can be quite expensive.

While Huntz Hall (as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones) reads "Hair Trigger Western Yarns", sweet shop proprietor Bernard Gorcey (as Louie) sings "Louie, the Lout" to Bobby Jordan (as Bobby), William "Billy" Benedict (as Whitey), and David Gorcey (as Chuck). Wrapped up in his western pulp stories, Mr. Hall daydreams about the days of "Cowboys & Indians", and "Louie" hints about a western past... Suddenly, a sheriff enters the scene, on horseback; he claims "Louie, the Lout' is a WANTED outlaw. Then, Bowery leader Leo Gorcey (as Slip Mahoney) arrives to find (his real-life father) the elder Gorcey hiding from the sheriff. Gorcey takes "The Bowery Boys" out west, to solve the case of the falsely accused "Louie".

The New York City group meet up with Cowboys and Native American Indians, in an old-fashioned western setting. Bowery chum Gabriel Dell (as Gabe) arrives in the town ("Hangman's Hollow"), undercover as "The Klondike Kid", to help the "Bowery Buckaroos" clear "Louie" and locate a gold mine. This is one of the cleverest movies in the "Bowery Boys" series. Gorcey delivers some of his best "malaprops" (a nude baby picture is "Exhibition A"); and the rest of the cast is uniformly smooth. The story is very nicely plotted, with Mr. Hall figuring prominently. "Marshall" Minerva Urecal and "Indian" Iron Eyes Cody are terrific. Regulars Bernard Gorcey and Gabriel Dell have good roles, too.

And, this is the last appearance of Bobby Jordan, who was in the originally named "Dead End" (1937) group. In the early 1940s, Mr. Jordan was featured much more prominently in these films - the stories were often about his character - but, as the comic antics of Gorcey and Hall took center stage, Jordan was derailed by both "Uncle Sam" and injury. In "Bowery Buckaroos", Jordan leads the secondary "Bowery Boys" in making the most out of their supporting roles. It's a shame the producers couldn't work Jordan into more stories, perhaps in spin-offs with Mr. Benedict's "Whitey" character (they have some good "bits" herein). In future films, Jordan will be missed.

******* Bowery Buckaroos (10/8/47) William Beaudine ~ Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan

The eighth Bowery Boys film from Monogram has Louie the Sweet Shop owner wanted for murder from his days living out west. Louie explains to the Bowery Boys how he was framed, which leads Slip and the others to decide to head out west to clear Louie's name. There's cowboys and Indians and a treasure map in this one, as well as a twist ending that will either make you laugh or have you throwing something at the screen.

Fun work from Bernard Gorcey as Louie in the beginning of the movie, including singing an adorable song called "Louie the Lout." The guest stars include Iron Eyes Cody, Russell Simpson, Minerva Urecal, and Julie Gibson. The Boys themselves (Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell, William Benedict, David Gorcey) are all good. This is the last Bowery Boys film for Bobby Jordan, who had been with the team since their Dead End beginnings. He grew tired of being a background player while Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall got the lion's share of the funny material (and profits). After this he did mostly TV work for the rest of his career before dying of cirrhosis at the age of 42. A sad end for an underrated talent. Ironically, it was Jordan introducing the boys to Jan Grippo that got the Bowery Boys series started. Grippo would act as producer on the first 23 Bowery Boys films. Anyway, as Slip Mahoney would say, "trivial trigonometries aside" this is a fun entry in the series with the Boys doing their shtick in a different setting than New York.

The Bowery Boys go west in this film to clear the good name of their patron Louis Dombrowski owner of Louie's Sweet Shop where the kids hangout mainly because most of the time they have no gainful employment.

Bernard Gorcey who played Louie in the series tells the kids he's got a past life out west when he was prospecting and his partner killed and Louie framed for the murder. The past comes home when rustic western sheriff Russell Simpson comes east after searching twenty years for this varmint.

Of course it's up to Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall and the rest of the gang to clear the elder Gorcey of this blot upon his name and restore the gold mine that Louie and his partner found to his daughter, Julie Gibson.

The Bowery Boys are in their usual fish out of water element where Gorcey fractures the language trying to sound smart and Hall just plays it as dumb as he is. Still fortune does smile upon them as they scrape through for yet another film in the series. This one's pretty funny in spots. Check out their third degree torture of head villain Norman Willis with an angry Brahma Bull.