Fighting Trouble

Sach (Huntz Hall) is trying to be a photographer. Sach and Duke (Stanley Clements) go to the newspaper and the editor gives them an assignment to photograph gangster Frankie Arbo. Unbeknownst to them, everybody who tries end up with a beating.

Leo Gorcey left the series over money. Sach is without Slip. It doesn't work as well. There is a relationship chemistry that is missing in this one. Huntz Hall hasn't changed but Stanley Clements is not the same. Most of the comedy is just falling flat. As for the story, nobody watches these movies for the stories. This is an old franchise on its last legs.

Fighting Trouble (1956)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

This forty-second film in the Bowery Boys series finally had Huntz Hall getting top-billing as Leo Gorcey retired from the series after the previous film. Stanley Clements, who appeared in several East Side Kids films, replaces Gorcey and this first offering of the new comic team doesn't work at all. After one of their friends is falsely accused of stealing two-hundred dollars, Sach (Hall), Duke (Clements) and the rest of the gang decide to start working for a newspaper editor who needs a photograph of a notorious gangster. Sach, the camera man, must try and snap a picture but before long the boys are in over their heads. The Gorcey-Hall team were never going to be confused with Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello but they were decent in their "B" movies. After watching this film you can see how much chemistry they actually had together because Hall and Clements certainly don't mix and match very well. It really seems like two comedians trying to work together but not knowing each others style or timing because there are some really embarrassing moments throughout the film. One happens when the boys bust in on the editor and it appears the two just don't know how to do the bit or how to time everything off the other. Another silly sequence has the boys sneaking into the gangster's girlfriends apartment where they pretend to be fashion designers. No laughs follow simply because of the bad timing between the two. Hall's Sach getting the lead was a long time coming but the character really comes across quite annoying when Gorcey isn't here to level him out. Just take a look at the scene where there's an easy picture to take but the way Hall blows it is just annoying and never funny. As you'd expect, there's silliness running throughout the picture and when the boys come under attack by the gangsters nothing funny happens. This first film in the "new" series is certainly a major bust and at just 60-minutes it still feels way too long.

The Bowery Boys attempt to soldier on without Leo Gorcey's Slip Mahoney in this forty-second entry in the series. The plot has Sach trying to get a picture of a notorious gangster. It's a yawner that sets the template for the remainder of the Bowery films. Huntz Hall is now the only star, so almost all of the gags revolve around him. If you're not a fan of his limited comedic talents, then you may want to sit this one out. Personally, I always enjoyed Leo Gorcey's malapropisms more than Hall's rubberfacing buffoonery. I also enjoyed the chemistry between Gorcey and Hall, which is sorely missed with Gorcey's replacement -- the dull and colorless Stanley Clements. He plays Duke, the supposed new leader of the gang. He's basically just a straight man for Hall, yelling at him and attempting to mimic the dynamic Hall had with Gorcey. He gets few gags of his own and none that are funny. Also joining the series is Queenie Smith as the Boys' landlady, a pathetic attempt to replace the irreplaceable Bernard Gorcey, who died the year before. In the background are forgettable David Gorcey and Danny Welton (his only Bowery film). This isn't fun. Obviously the series is well past its expiration date here. It's never funny but, if you're a big Huntz fan, maybe you can find something of worth here.

Even Huntz Hall seems to be tiring of the schtick in this post-Leo Gorcey Bowery Boys entry. It's the usual stuff only with fewer laughs, and without the Gorcey's (bar David, still filling his familiar role of Chuck) Huntz looked pretty bored.

The one thing you can say about Fighting Trouble is that billing wise Huntz Hall finally came into his own in the series. For years Leo Gorcey got top billing and Hall was only the first featured name albeit in larger type.

Hall was certainly the attraction here because try as they might the chemistry between Leo Gorcey and Hall just is not there with Stanley Clements. You wonder why Clements is hanging around with these guys half the time.

In this one Hall's trying to get into the newspaper photography business and he takes an advance from editor Tim Ryan to get the goods on mobster Tom Browne Henry. With the help of Clements and the rest including their landlady Queenie Smith they get more than just pictures on Henry. Playing mob molls and very well are the statuesque Adele Jergens and Laurie Mitchell.

Queenie Smith as Mrs. Kelly was trying to take the place of Bernard Gorcey as Louie Dumbrowski. When Bernard was killed and Leo just quit the series altogether after his dad died a whole lot was just gone.

This does have its moments, but Allied Artists should have just quit the whole business/