Gianni e Pinotto reclute

Legendary comedy duo Bud Abbott and Lou Costello play sidewalk salesmen / con artists Slicker Smith and Herbie Brown, who get into trouble with the law. To avoid being arrested, they cut into a line which they think is for a movie showing. Surprise, surprise...they're now on their way to enlist in the Army! Resigning themselves to their fate, they get another surprise when the cop who tried to arrest them, Michael Collins (Nat Pendleton), turns out to be their drill sergeant!

Bud & Lou earned this initial feature film vehicle for Universal due to their success on radio, and they really make the most of it. These guys really were naturals at their craft, and perform their material breathlessly. In order to get things to feature length, some time is devoted to musical numbers - especially by The Andrews Sisters - and a major subplot about spoiled rich boy Randolph Parker III (Lee Bowman) butting heads with his former employee Bob Martin (Alan Curtis) while they both aggressively pursue camp hostess Judy Gray (the very lovely Jane Frazee). But the movie is never more entertaining than when Bud & Lou are on screen. Some real hilarity comes from the way that they frustrate Collins with their antics; there are inspired moments of silliness. Bud is also a joy as he keeps devising ways to get Lou into trouble - note his ingenious method of helping Lou shed one pound so Lou can meet the maximum weight requirement.

Lively and engaging, "Buck Privates" is directed with brio by Arthur Lubin, features some catchy music ("Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"), and wraps up in a traditional "misfits make good" manner. The supporting cast also includes folks like Samuel S. Hinds, Harry Strang, Nella Walker, Carleton Young, Tom Tyler, and Shemp Howard. It's good fun, and paved the way for further Bud & Lou big screen adventures.

Seven out of 10.

This is one of my favourite outings from Bud & Lou, the start of their phenomenally successful career in the service comedies and one of a series of smile-jerkers from them and Universal. This was also the one that made it for them in the movies and turned them into America's no. 1 box office stars during the War.

They're a couple of street tie-selling con artists who unwittingly join the Army (along with playboy Lee Bowman) in trying to escape the clutches of the Law in the shape of cherubic Nat Pendleton. It's not so easy to escape ones duty however, and so follows a series of unconnected inconsequential adventures learning to be soldiers or lovers all with that special lighthearted wartime Universal treatment. A&C went through their routines with impeccable timing and a professionalism that belied all the slapstick. Favourite bits: playing unintelligible (to me) clubhouse dice; Abbott inoculated and Costello's reaction; the mathematics of borrowing USD 50; the historic performance of Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by the Andrews Sisters and then the sudden end to the boogie-woogie boxing match; the unusual deadpan arrangement to Jane Frazee's I Wish You Were Here. The Voice Of Hellzapoppin returns! No kidding but what chance did the Japanese and Germans really have - sorry for identifying who the enemies were in these socially inclusive times, because they weren't in the film - to pit themselves against all this? The American War Machine was awakening, with the might of Hollywood behind it and A&C playing their part with their entertaining flagwavers the same as George Formby did on a smaller scale for the British War effort.

The box office success - and critical praise too - of this took Universal by surprise and they didn't make nearly as much money as they could have, a mistake they never made again with A&C. Recommended, an antidote to now and to me always a joy to behold and hear.

BUCK PRIVATES (1941) **** Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in their first starring film (their debut in "One Night in the Tropics" were supporting comic foils) catapulted them into the stratosphere of movie stardom as the premiere comedy team of the 1940s and this film was the lifesaver for their home studio Universal which was precariously close to bankruptcy until the release of this comic masterpiece with the boys in over their heads as unknowing volunteers in the US Army. Uproariously funny particularly their drill instruction scenes with Bud and Lou improvising ("What time is it?" "None of your business!") Look for frequent co-stars the musical singing siblings The Andrews Sisters (who sing the smash "The Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy") and also look for Shemp Howard, of The Three Stooges, in the mess sequence with Lou.

BUCK PRIVATES (Universal, 1941), directed by Arthur Lubin, introduces the comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello into leading roles, following their debut as secondary characters in ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS (1940). With the exception of Lee Bowman's name listed first in the closing casting credits, it's obvious that this military comedy rightfully belongs to Abbott and Costello. A box-office sensation for a "B" movie upon its release, and Universal's biggest money maker at that time, BUCK PRIVATES marked a whole new beginning in a long series of popular comedies featuring the comic dual.

Prior to the opening credits, the film starts off in documentary style of current events with President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Draft Bill on September 14, 1940, with the enlistment of peacetime buck privates. Once the credits finish rolling on the screen, the movie gets underway first with a brief introduction of draftees Randolph Parker II (Lee Bowman), a millionaire Yale man, and Bob Martin (Alan Curtis), his now ex-chauffeur, entering the Army Recruiting Headquarters draft board, followed by a great opening with the main attractions of the evening: Marty "Slicker" Smith and Herbie Brown (Bud and Lou), former vaudevillians now Time Square street merchants selling dollar neckties for a dime. Joe Collins (Nat Pendleton), an officer of the law, goes after them for peddling without a license, a chase that leads them into an army recruiting center where they mistake it for a movie house playing "You're in the Army Now." While inside, Smith and Brown, believing they have signed up for a raffle drawing, unwittingly enlist themselves into the Army as buck privates. Once transferred to Camp Creely for basic training, guess who turns out to be their sergeant? One guess. His last name is Collins. "Ooooh, boy!!!!"

In between comic highlights by the boys, a handful of popular 1940s tunes, by Hughie Prince and Don Raye include: "You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith," (sung by The Andrews Sisters); "Gee, I Wish You Were Here" (sung by Jane Frazee); "I'll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time" (sung by The Andrews Sisters); "When a Private Becomes a Captain" (sung by Lou Costello and recruits); "Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy" (Academy Award nominee as best song) "Bounce Me Brother With a Solid Four" and "You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith" (sung by The Andrews Sisters).

As much as musical interludes can become intrusions in comedy films, for BUCK PRIVATES, they are delights, especially those introduced by the Andrews Sisters (Laverne, Maxine and Patti). "Apple Blossom Time," slower in tempo, remains memorable, even today. Judy Frazee, a charming screen personality and vocalist, appeared in a great number of "B" musicals throughout the 1940s, all forgotten. Because of her association with this film, it has become the only one featuring her to remain in circulation today. Others in the cast consist of Samuel S. Hinds as Major Emerson; Shemp Howard as the Cook; Mike Frankovitch as himself/radio announcer; and the Boogie-Woogie Dancers of Company B.

Bud and Lou actually participate more on their comic supplements than in the story, such as it is, which goes to Lee Bowman and Alan Curtis. Bowman is the millionaire playboy drafted into the army while his mother (Nella Walker) makes every effort to get him released within a week, however, it is his father (Douglas Wood) who arranges in keeping his pampered girl-chasing son in boot camp for a year in order to make a man out of him. Curtis plays Randy's chauffeur, now enlisted and placed in the same regiment. No longer obligated to his employer, he gives Parker his two week notice with a sock in the jaw. Both men become rivals, especially for the love and affection of Judy Craig (Jane Frazee), Bob's girlfriend, now working as army hostess. A cliché subplot was revamped for Laurel and Hardy's own military comedy, GREAT GUNS (20th-Fox, 1941), but due to the freshness and appeal of Abbott and Costello, BUCK PRIVATES is by far, a better film, thanks to these now famous routines: the dice game; the rifle drill; the boxing match with Costello in the ring with a muscular fighter with their sergeant (Pendleton) as referee; along with several of their other notable skits such as "Go ahead and play," that would be repeated again and again in their future comedies. An almost perfect yet dated comedy, the only dull spot in BUCK PRIVATES is the overlong maneuver sequence near the end where the focus becomes more on Bowman and Curtis than Abbott and Costello.

Because BUCK PRIVATES was such a sensation, it was later reissued in theaters through Realart, and found popularity to a new generation on television and later video cassette by the 1980s. Cable broadcast history consists of American Movie Classics where it premiered New Year's Day 2001 as part of its "Who's on the First" Abbott and Costello marathon, and later on Turner Classic Movies starting in July 2004.

A sequel, BUCK PRIVATES COME HOME (1947) brought forth Bud and Lou, with Nat Pendleton reprising their roles in a highly entertaining comedy that centers upon the characters returning to civilian life, with Pendleton in fine comedic form as their former sergeant returning to his old beat as a cop and after the twosome selling neckties on the street again. So before attempting to watch the sequel, be sure to catch the original, both currently available on DVD. (***)

While this was the Abbott & Costello's second feature, and only Abbott's second film (Costello had appeared in several films as a stuntman and background extra in the late '20s), you sure couldn't tell, as the pair handled themselves like veterans. They are so assured and confident here that they appear to be making up their routines as they go along, although in reality they had polished them to near perfection during their years in vaudeville, burlesque and on the Broadway stage. This film is a terrific example of the flawless timing that not only convulsed their audiences but astounded other comedians (Steve Allen said that he had never seen anyone who could match them). Some criticism has been directed at the duo for the insertion of superfluous and usually second-rate musical numbers in most of their films--a decision made by Universal Pictures which the team had no control over--and while that may be true for several of their subsequent efforts, it isn't here. The numbers are well staged and the songs, especially "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," are infectious. The "plot" about a spoiled rich boy and his servant who enlist in the army is lame, but it doesn't really matter. This is a showcase for Bud and Lou's talents, and they don't disappoint. Director Arthur Lubin said that he pioneered the use of two cameras to cover scenes mainly because Costello was so off-the-wall and bounced all over the place so much that one camera simply couldn't contain him, so he ordered up another camera and had it trained exclusively on Costello. The boys do their best routines here--The Crap Game, The Ten/Forty routine, the Drill routine--and they are a joy to watch. Anyone who thinks that Bud Abbott wasn't the best straight man in the business should watch the Drill routine and check out how he consistently and skillfully reins in Costello whenever Lou's manic energy takes him too far outside the skit while still allowing him the freedom to employ the ad-libs and improvisations he was famous for. Abbott never really got as much credit as he deserved, and this scene alone shows why he deserved it.

Abbott & Costello did make some films that were beneath their talents, and some that were just plain unfunny, but this is definitely not one of them. This is a tremendously enjoyable film. Highly recommended.