Here Come the Marines

After 175 years, the United States Marine Corps decides it's time to bring "The Bowery Boys" into the fold. First contacted is loquacious leader Leo Gorcey (as Terrence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney), but pals Huntz Hall (as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones Jr.), Gil Stratton (as "Junior"), David "Condon" Gorcey (as Chuck), and Benny "David" Bartlett (as "Butch") are quickly called up for duty. We see no basic training or hazing, unfortunately; but, comedy takes charge as Mr. Hall is given a whistle and made "Sergeant" of his Bowery-populated barracks. Meanwhile, Mr. Gorcey suspects a beaten Marine is connected to a crooked gambling ring.

One of many military-themed Bowery adventures, "Here Come the Marines" proves the law of diminishing returns is alive and well in this feature film series. Most obvious is probably that Hall works hard with the material; he demonstrates fine comic abilities and entertainingly carries the movie. At one point, Hall is asked, "Don't you know a dud when you see one?" At least, Hall gives this rather dull story his best, with few re-takes (Leo needs to watch his head when getting out of the lower bunks). Also notable is that this is the last appearance of Mr. Stratton, a two-time "Bowery Boy" member who would soon fine better character roles.

**** Here Come the Marines (6/29/52) William Beaudine ~ Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Gil Stratton, Hanley Stafford

Here Come the Marines (1952)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Number twenty-six has Slip (Leo Gorcey) drafted into the Marines and soon after Sach (Huntz Hall) and the other three join him. It goes without saying but Sach causes one major problem after another but he accidentally stumbles onto a special chemical, which gets him in good with the Colonel who just happen to serve with his father. As Sach goes higher up the ladder, the boys begin to investigate the murder of a marine and it might lead back to a gambling house. Gorcey still has his name above the title here but as with the previous entries, there's no doubt that this one has him taking a backseat to Hall who ends up playing the lead and doing a very good job with it. Usually I can only take so much of him but he actually gets in a pretty good groove here and manages to make the film his very own. I think Hall does a very good job here and I think this is without question one of his best performances as Sach. The dumbness is all here but I think what really works is him slowing rising up the ladder and getting to boss around Slip and the other guys. Seeing Hall get to play the tough guy was extremely fun and I think it added a touch of freshness to the film. Gorcey is also pretty good in his role but the less of him really didn't turn out to be that much of a negative. Paul Maxey turns in a nice performance in his small role as the ring leader of the gambling house and Myrna Dell gets a few nice laughs as the blonde bimbo. We even get Bernard Gorcey in a couple funny bits. No matter what name they were under, the service type comedies were always rather familiar and this one here certainly doesn't offer anything new but I think there are enough laughs to make it worth viewing for fans of the series. I think the weakest aspects involve the gamblers since this has been seen way too many times before.

Slip gets a draft notice from the government. He joins the Marines but it's a lot tougher than expected. Sach and the boys follow him into the Marines. Sach gets promoted by his father's war buddy and he becomes the boys' superior. It's good clean fun from the Boys during the depths of the Korean War. It is simple Bowery Boys silliness and nothing more.

The army got bashed in "Bowery Battalion" and then the navy got it in "Let's Go Navy" now it's the Marines turn to taste the slapstick antics of the BBs.

This one opens with a salesman trying to unload a movie projector on Louie. He shows Louie and the boys stock footage of WWII combat action. The paratroopers shown jumping and landing is the actual film of the 503rd PRCT landing on Corregidor on February 16, 1945.

The Boys get drafted into the marine corps. Aturally, Sach gets into trouble by impersonating a doctor, and then a chef. But when Colonel Brown learns that Sach's dad was his sergeant from WWI, he promotes him to sergeant. Sach turns into the toughest marine since John Wayne in "Sands of Iwo Jima." While on a Sach ordered 20-mile hike with full packs, slip finds a badly beaten up marine, along with a unique playing card. The boys get a pass and are steered to an illegal gambling joint by gorgeous fur-draped Lulu Mae. Slip sees that the cards are the same as the one he found by the beaten marine. Can the BBs use this information to bring these crooks to justice?

Hanley Stafford plays Colonel Brown. He is best remembered for playing "Daddy" to Fanny Brice's "Baby Snooks" on the radio for many years.

Myrna Dell is Lulu Mae. She and fellow actress Marguerite Chapman are credited with having invented the autograph show. They started with just two chairs and a card table at a supermarket and it evolved into the big industry that it is today. Quite a legacy for those two lovely ladies.

"Here Come The Marines" is a very good entry in the Bowery Boys series. Worth watching.

When Slip is drafted into the Marines, his buddies join him and make our country just a little less safe in this twenty-sixth Bowery Boys film from Monogram. As if the idea of putting the gang in the military wasn't enough (this was at least their third such movie by this point), a murder mystery is added onto things. Because nothing says Bowery Boys like sleuthing I guess. This is a pretty routine entry in the series and not a particularly funny one, either. Leo Gorcey has a few decent malapropisms ("I'm declined to agree with you" and "I'll depreciate your cooperation," for example) and Huntz Hall does his usual shtick. Bernard Gorcey's Louie doesn't get as much to do here but his few scenes are enjoyable. This marks the second and final appearance of Gil Stratton in the series. He maybe said three lines in both movies he was in so no great loss there. The other two members of the group, David Gorcey and Bennie Bartlett, do next to nothing. The series always focused primarily on Slip, Sach, and (later on) Louie but at least former Bowery Boys like Whitey and Gabe were given some stuff to do. I don't even remember the character names of these three. Anyway, this is not one of the better Bowery Boys movies. It's worth a look if you're a fan of the series but most viewers will probably be a little bored.