Crashing Las Vegas

Coming WAAAY at the end of the Bowery Boys films, this was old territory for Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall and the gang. Not that anyone knows what "the bowery" is anymore. In this one, Miss Kelly is getting tossed out of her home for not being able to keep up with the rent. The boys win a trip for a week in Las Vegas, and the adventure begins. When they are loud and rowdy in the casino, Slip and Sach attract the attention of some rough characters. this chapter has the usual intentional, goofy word play, but also a whole lot of lowbrow, slapstick humor. A 25 year old bombshell (Mary Castle) distracts Sach. It's all pretty straight-forward. not bad. Directed by Jean Yarbrough; had directed a bunch of the Bowery Boy films. PS. Bowery comes from the dutch word for Farm, as there were many farms there at one time. later, a pretty rough area, also known as skid row. then the edge of Greenwich Village. this one only has about 260 votes so far, so must not be shown on Turner Classics very often.

Crashing Las Vegas marked the end of the line for Leo Gorcey and really the end of the line for the Bowery Boys. When Stanley Clements came on to replace Gorcey he was not really a good foil for Huntz Hall to play off. With the death of Bernard Gorcey the year before who played lovable little Louis Dumbrowsky, a whole lot was taken out of the series as well as out of Gorcey who can't quite get animated enough in this film. The rehashed plot line didn't help either, Allied Artists was plain running out of ideas for the Bowery Boys.

An electric shock gives Huntz Hall psychic powers he can pick numbers out of anywhere. Where else to put this power to good use but in Las Vegas. So it's off to Vegas where Frank Sinatra and the rest of the developing Rat Pack were getting started.

The film could have used the Rat Pack. Not much to say about Leaving Las Vegas. Slinky Mary Castle becomes the latest in a long line of women to vamp a secret out of Satch. The old badger game is tried on him as well. Only Huntz Hall could be fooled into thinking the first floor is the 21st floor, that was a gag more silly than funny.

Sad to say The Bowery Boys were running out of gas.

Leo Gorcey's final Bowery Boys movie (the forty-first in the series!) is a middling affair with a sad story behind it. Between the last film and this one, Leo's father Bernard Gorcey had been killed in a car accident. Bernard, of course, played the lovable Louie the Sweet Shop owner in the series and often stole the scenery from his younger co-stars. But business is business and "the show must go on," so the next Bowery Boys movie went into production. Unfortunately, poor Leo was still reeling from his father's death and perhaps should have been allowed more time to grieve. Throughout the picture, Leo seems 'off.' This is reportedly due to his drinking. He does look rough and seems tipsy, often grinning and shouting his lines for no apparent reason.

Behind-the-scenes drama aside, the picture has a tired plot about Sach gaining mental powers which Slip and the boys use to get money for their previously unseen landlady Mrs. Kelly. She was meant to replace Louie but she isn't funny and brings nothing to the films like Louie did. There's little reason to see this unless you're a fan who wants to see all the Bowery Boys movies. There are some laughs here and there but they are few and far between. Mary Castle provides a bit of welcome eye candy. Louie is missed and the movie suffers from his absence. Things would get a lot worse with Leo gone, though. He was one of the original Dead End Kids and really the glue that held the different groups of "kids" together (no offense to Huntz Hall). Starting with the next picture, Hall would become the star and Stanley Clements would join the gang. The series would limp along for another two years but would never recover from the loss of Leo Gorcey's Slip Mahoney.

This was the first and last Bowery Boys comedy Leo Gorcey made after the death of his father, Bernard. While it can be seen that he is intoxicated during most of the filming, this film is hysterical. Leo and Huntz recite the old wheezy jokes as if they were brand new. The supporting players are poor, but their ineptitude adds to the comedy. This is the first film with Jimmy "Myron" Murphy replacing Bennie "Butch" Bartlett. Murphy and David Gorcey actually get to do more than usual and they even get some good punch lines. True, the story revolves around Huntz Hall, but Gorcey has a lot of funny comments to make during the 63 minutes. It is surprising that the film is so funny since neither Ed Bernds nor Elwood Ullman have anything to do with it. Jean Yarbrough directs this time and he makes it look like his work with Abbott and Costello. The Bowery Boys series was never the same after Leo Gorcey left. He was replaced by that "other guy", Stanley Clements. Clements is OK, but it's like Joe Besser replacing Shemp (not to mention Shemp replacing Curly) in the Three Stooges. Besser and Clements are good performers, but they just don't have the spark of their predecessors. I always wondered why David Gorcey just didn't get promoted; "Chuck" could have been the new chief of the Bowery Boys. Why not?

At the beginning of the episode, Satch (Huntz Hall) gets electrocuted. But instead of dying, this is a Bowery Boys comedy and so that means that he's suddenly endowed with amazing computational skills. When he and Slip go to see a game show, Satch instantly knows who will be picked each time. After seeing him demonstrate this, Slip insists they head to Vegas to win a fortune in order to help a nice old lady they all know. However, Satch keeps finding ways to win huge fortunate...and then lose it. The second time is to a group of crooks who also convince Satch that he's killed someone--and if he just gives them the money, they'll tell the cops it was all an accident!! By now you've clearly noticed that although Satch's brain is changed, when it comes to common sense he's the same old dope he always was!! And, once they get the money back, once again Satch figures out a way to lose it! Will they ever be able to get the money for the old lady? And, will Satch continue to possess extraordinary computational skills?

Overall, this is a very entertaining entry--much more than normal. My only complaint is that the Boys are getting pretty long in the tooth here...and it's no wonder as it came out towards the end of this VERY long series of B-films.