Smart Alecks

Yes, the "Eastside Kids" are not exactly as young as the characters they seek to portray, but then this is the movies. I bought 10 CDs of the Eastside Kids for $19.95 and considered it a steal. Their movies are fun to watch, if only for the goofs. This was the fifth movies in the set that I watched. Of course, when I was a lot younger, I used to watch their movies on TV, but that was a long time ago.

I have to disagree with the other opinion about this film. Of the five I have watched so far, this was the best. It actually had a plot, and even subplots, and some good acting. I enjoyed it and laughed out loud at the final scene.

I just wish they had listed Ernest Morrison by his real name in the credits, as they do for all the other actors, instead of listing him as "Sunshine Sammy." Considering the part he has to play, he deserves it, as he plays meatier roles than some of the white actors.

Oh, and they finally got a good looking actress to play the female lead.

Tom

This is one of the better East Side Kids movies with Bobby Jordan playing the one who gets a reward for helping aid in the capture of a criminal because of that criminal refusing to give his baseball back. The leading lady is Gale Storm who a decade later would have a couple of hit TV shows in "My Little Margie" and "The Gale Storm Show". Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison does a couple of entertaining tap dancing routines. And then there's Leo Gorcey who does both comedy and drama in fine form throughout. And don't forget Huntz Hall with some of the funniest lines as well as great slapstick between him and Gorcey. It's easy to see why they'd become such a successful comedy team for years. So on that note, I highly recommend Smart Alecks.

Smart Alecks (1942)

*** (out of 4)

One of the better East Side Kids films has Danny knocking over a racket and getting a $200 reward. The rest of the gang turn their backs on him thinking he's sold them out. Like most of the others, this film suffers from a somewhat stale story but there are plenty of laughs with the best being the one where the gang poison's one of the crooks. The last fifteen minutes turn to drama and the actors handle this very well.

Clancy Street Boys (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Muggs' rich cowboy uncle is coming to town for the first time ever and he thinks Muggs' parents had seven kids instead of one. In order to full them Muggs has to get the gang to play his brothers and Hall to be his sister. Decent entry from The East Side Kids has the usual cheap story but we do gets some good laughs with the highlight being Hall in drag.

During a game of street baseball, angelic slugger Bobby Jordan (as Danny Stevens) scores a hit by capturing dangerous bank robber Max Rosenbloom (as Butch Brocalli). Young Mr. Jordan secretly plans to spend the $200 reward money on new baseball uniforms for "The East Side Kids". But, leader Leo Gorcey (as Muggs McGinnis) wants the money to be split seven ways, with fellow club-mates Stanley Clements (as Stash), Huntz Hall (as Glimpy), Bobby Stone (as Skinny), Ernest Morrison (as Scruno), and David Gorcey (as Peewee).

Misunderstandings put Jordan at odds with his former pals. And, bad becomes worse when former "East Side Kid" Gabriel Dell (as Henry "Hank" Salko) returns, to warn the gang that Mr. Rosenbloom is out of prison, and prowling for Jordan...

"Smart Alecks" uses its cast well. The film's line-up of performers is a classic, and the storyline is a good representation of this particular Bowery boy era. "Introducing Stanley 'Stash' Clements" leads the credits; a good addition to the team, Mr. Clements looks very much like he was brought in as a possible replacement for one of the Gorcey brothers (which is more precisely what happened, in 1956). And, Jordan's pretty sister Gale Storm (as Ruth Stevens) is a treat.

****** Smart Alecks (8/7/42) Wallace Fox ~ Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Stanley Clements, Gale Storm

Whom do kids look up to and imitate? Certainly not parents nor any adults. Kids admire older kids. Thus, the East Side Kids were a good act for the grade school crowd of the 1940s.. Their later Bowery Boys iterations were way too old to be the comedy sensation of the fourth grade. They wore suits for Pete's sake. Thus, the East Side Kids could be-and should be- childishly silly and immature. They had to act like kids and to a great extent, they did. They seemed like a real gang of street kids (albeit a tad too old) as opposed to the adult hapless loafers of The Bowery Boys

Here the bad guys are kids also. Maxie Rosebloom played a character (as usual) so dumb that he made Satch/Glimpy seem like a veritable Stephen Hawkins He was the "boss" of the criminal gang-which only seemed to have one other member, anyway. Perfect!

The only critical issue is: did kids like this movie when it came out? Well, I did