Tesouro Maldito

This Mongram release has the Bowery Boys going out west to Hangman Hollow to clear Louie of an old murder charge. It seems that in his younger days Louie had found a gold mine while prospecting, but was accused of shooting his partner in the back. And, Louie had the map to find the mine tattooed on his back, or, as Slip says, "tabooed" on his back. The gang springs in to action, arriving out west decked out ten gallon hats and six guns.

Sach and Slip once again dominate most of the movie with their slapstick monkey shines. Gabriel Dell is on hand as a card sharp who Slip sends undercover as gunfighter/gambler The Klondike Kid.

Guest stars include Minerva Urecal, Russell Simpson, Chief Yowlachie, and Iron Eyes Cody.

The funniest scenes occur when the Boys head out west with their beat up jalopy tricked out like a covered wagon being pulled by a longhorn steer. And Slip's parlay with the first Indians they meet is a real hoot.

Bowery Buckaroos is a typical entry the series while it was being put out by Monogram Studios.

Wow is the plot to "Bowery Buckaroos" contrived! It's so bizarre and from out of no where that it looks like the folks who wrote the film were jumping the shark, so to speak. After all, the plot is absolutely insane...even compared to many of the really weird installments later in the series!

When the film begins in New York City, Louie is strumming a guitar and singing a western-style song. Then, a sheriff arrives on horseback to the malt shop...and Louie hides. It seems that he's there to arrest Louie for murder....and he's been looking for it for 20 years. Now never before nor never after did the movies ever mention that Louie was a prospector out west...never. Nor did they mention any treasure map that he's been hiding all these years!! And so, it's not an unfair jump to say that this plot is completely contrived and bizarre.

Slip announces that the gang is headed west--to clear Louie's name AND find that gold mine. As for the mine, the map for it is tattooed on Louie's back...but he absolutely refuses to come with them. So, they draw an identical copy on Sach's back...something this numb-skull shows off as soon as they arrive! Slip isn't much smarter, as he shoots off his mouth and tells a woman he just met that his friend Gabe has infiltrated the local gang and is going by the name of 'Klondike'! What's next?

I could see folks liking "Bowery Buckaroos" because it's fun to see the familiar characters in such an unfamiliar locale. Or, they could just realize that it's very contrived and illogical ....and strongly dislike it. Either opinion could easily be understood. I feel a bit of each! Overall, an enjoyable brainless film!

While Huntz Hall (as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones) reads "Hair Trigger Western Yarns", sweet shop proprietor Bernard Gorcey (as Louie) sings "Louie, the Lout" to Bobby Jordan (as Bobby), William "Billy" Benedict (as Whitey), and David Gorcey (as Chuck). Wrapped up in his western pulp stories, Mr. Hall daydreams about the days of "Cowboys & Indians", and "Louie" hints about a western past... Suddenly, a sheriff enters the scene, on horseback; he claims "Louie, the Lout' is a WANTED outlaw. Then, Bowery leader Leo Gorcey (as Slip Mahoney) arrives to find (his real-life father) the elder Gorcey hiding from the sheriff. Gorcey takes "The Bowery Boys" out west, to solve the case of the falsely accused "Louie".

The New York City group meet up with Cowboys and Native American Indians, in an old-fashioned western setting. Bowery chum Gabriel Dell (as Gabe) arrives in the town ("Hangman's Hollow"), undercover as "The Klondike Kid", to help the "Bowery Buckaroos" clear "Louie" and locate a gold mine. This is one of the cleverest movies in the "Bowery Boys" series. Gorcey delivers some of his best "malaprops" (a nude baby picture is "Exhibition A"); and the rest of the cast is uniformly smooth. The story is very nicely plotted, with Mr. Hall figuring prominently. "Marshall" Minerva Urecal and "Indian" Iron Eyes Cody are terrific. Regulars Bernard Gorcey and Gabriel Dell have good roles, too.

And, this is the last appearance of Bobby Jordan, who was in the originally named "Dead End" (1937) group. In the early 1940s, Mr. Jordan was featured much more prominently in these films - the stories were often about his character - but, as the comic antics of Gorcey and Hall took center stage, Jordan was derailed by both "Uncle Sam" and injury. In "Bowery Buckaroos", Jordan leads the secondary "Bowery Boys" in making the most out of their supporting roles. It's a shame the producers couldn't work Jordan into more stories, perhaps in spin-offs with Mr. Benedict's "Whitey" character (they have some good "bits" herein). In future films, Jordan will be missed.

******* Bowery Buckaroos (10/8/47) William Beaudine ~ Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan

Louie is accused of murder by horse riding sheriff Luke Barlow. The gang has to go west to clear Louie's name with a map on his back. They end up in the old west and get attacked by Indians led by Iron Eyes Cody.

It's a little much for the sheriff to ride a horse in New York City. The Bowery Boys do an old western. I get the idea but there are other ways to make them fish out of water. The funniest bit is the Indians being not as backwards as the Boys thought. They could do that for the whole western idea. Instead, the town is right out of the old west. I don't mind it but it's not as funny. Most franchises have a go-western episode. This one is not the best but it does have Iron Eyes Cody.

Bowery Buckaroos (1947)

** (out of 4)

Eighth film in the Bowery Boys series has the boys heading out West where they must try and prove that Louie (Bernard Gorcey) was framed twenty-years earlier when some said he shot a man in the back. Once out West the boys must pretend (once again) to be someone they're not and get to the truth. Considering most comic duos or groups traveled out West at some point in their careers it should come as no shock that the Bowery Boys would eventually find themselves out there. For the most part this is yet another harmless entry in the series and there are some nice laughs but in the end there's no question that there's no enough to carry the short 66-minutes. I thought the film got off to a very good start with Bernard Gorcey really getting many laughs as he gets a tad bit more to do here than in some of the previous movies. Him telling about the "map" on his back was very funny as was his opening song. Speaking of songs, we get a later scene with the boys driving out West that is very funny as well. Once we get to the West things start off pretty good with a spoof of Indian attacks but after this things slow down rather quickly. I think the biggest problem is that the majority of the jokes simply aren't funny and instead of spoofing the genre the film just gives us one cliché after another. I think had the film kept the spoofing up then it could have gotten a lot more laughs than what's actually here. Leo and Huntz are their typical selves but we get some nice supporting performances by Minerva Urecal, Russell Simpson and Julie Gibson. This here also marked the last entry for Bobby Jordan, which was a shame considering how good he was but it's understandable that he left considering how he wasn't given much to do.