Jail Busters

Back in 1950, the Bowery Boys made "Triple Trouble"...a film where they deliberately got arrested so they could go to jail and work undercover to expose a crime ring. Well, only five years later, they made "Jail Buster"...a film where, once again, they deliberately got arrested so they could go to jail and work undercover to expose a crime ring responsible for beating up their friend, Chuck! I guess with 48 Bowery Boys films, repetition is inevitable!

Early in the film, you meet an old friend of Sach and Slip...Chuck. Chuck, by the way, was played by David Gorcey, Leo's (Slip) brother an the son of Louie (Bernard Gorcey). Chuck is a reporter and is going to prison undercover. But someone knows his identity and soon he's beaten within an inch of his life! So Sach, Slip and Butch (who barely says a word in the movie) break into a jewelry store in order to get sent to prison so they can investigate! A dumb plan...even dumber because the only one who knows why they did it and can prove they are not crooks is Cy (Lyle Talbot). This isn't just because only one person knows...but also because Cy turns out to be a crook and he has no intention of letting anyone know why the three guys broke into that jewelry store! Not surprisingly, the boys make the warden and the captain of the guards (Percy Helton and Barton MacLane) hate them because of their dopey antics! What's next? See the film. More surprising is that these two have essentially allowed a prisoner, Lannigan (Anthony Caruso), run the place as well as his criminal empire!

This plot is just too much like "Triple Trouble". It really isn't inspired by it...it's more a remake. But remaking a film only five years later AND with mostly the same cast...well, that's just lazy filmmaking. In fact, I'd recommend you see one or the other...but not necessarily both! I think "Jail Busters" is very slightly better made and "Triple Trouble" more original.

Chuck, usually along just to fill one of the three back seats in the Bowery Boys jalopy, actually has a pivotal role in this entry in the series. He gets the role that was ordinarily played by Gabe Dell. But only because Gabe Dell isn't in this one.

In "Jail Busters," Chuck (David Gorcey billed as David Condon), a reporter for The Blade newspaper, gets beaten up while trying to get a story on prison corruption, and the rest of the Bowery Boys, Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall), and Butch (Bennie Bartlett), get themselves arrested so that they can complete the expose from inside the prison, while serving a short---they think---six month sentence.

Inside the Big House, they learn that ex-gangsters Ed Lannigan (Anthony Caruso), Tom Tomcyk (John Harmon) and "Big Greenie" (Michael Ross), are living in the lap of luxury within the prison, by paying off Jenkins (Barton MacLane), the corrupt Captain of the Guards.And, on the side, the Boys, Sach in particular, slowly send Dr. Fordyce (Fritz Feld), the prison psychiatrist, off the deep end as they clumsily go about their investigation.

They also learn from the new Prison Warden, Mr. Oswald (Percy Helton), that they have been framed by Bowman (Lyle Talbot), a "Blade" reporter. and are there for a full six-year term.

Outside, Chuck and Louie Dumbrowsky (Bernard Gorcey)are marked for death as they try to help Slip, Sach and Butch. Clearly, it is time for the Bowery Boys to make an exit stage-left out of the prison. Using a tunnel map given them by Hank Gaffney (Harry Tyler), their stir-crazy cellmate, they try an escape. But Gaffney's map brings them up through the floor of the Warden's office, and out of the frying pan into the fire.

Drat! What next?

At last, David "Condon" Gorcey (as Charles "Chuck" Anderson) has a job! - he's working undercover, for the "New York Blade", to expose prison corruption. But, just when you thought "Chuck" might take center stage, he's beaten up by gangsters, and sent to a hospital "full of sick people." Learning about his noble task, fellow "Bowery Boys" Leo Gorcey (as "Slip" Mahoney), Huntz Hall (as "Sach" Jones), and Benny Bartlett (as "Butch" Williams) get themselves arrested, to continue the investigation from within prison walls. Or, so they think! - "Jail Busters" features the usual idiocy, with an immensely satisfying supporting cast. Mouth-popping psychiatrist Fritz Feld (as Fernando F. Fordyce) steals the show, as he loses his mind.

***** Jail Busters (9/18/55) William Beaudine ~ Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Fritz Feld

Those other Bowery Boys besides Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall were lucky to get a line of dialog in any of the films throughout the series. The fact that one of them was David Gorcey, younger brother of Leo and other son of Bernard Gorcey didn't help either. But in Jail Busters we finally think that David gets his place in the sun.

He gets a job working on a newspaper edited by Lyle Talbot and he's on the investigation when he gets beaten up real bad and left for dead. David was working on a story about prison corruption. So the Boys take over where he left off with Louie Dumbrowsky as their outside contact man. Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, and Benny Bartlett decide to commit a crime and get thrown into state prison, the better for a cover going undercover. It works only too well.

Long before Martin Scorsese showed all those wise guys living the life of luxury in prison in Goodfellas, Anthony Caruso and his crew were doing quite well that way, paying off head guard Barton MacLane and others right under the nose of warden Percy Helton.

Of course this a Bowery Boys comedy and these guys are the last ones anyone would send undercover for anything. Despite Huntz Hall's oafishness and Leo Gorcey mangling the English language the boys do manage to get the job done. In a hilarious couple of scenes they also manage to drive prison psychiatrist Fritz Feld to seek some therapy.

Jail Busters (1955)

** (out of 4)

Number thirty-nine is yet another weak one. This time out Chuck is an undercover reporter who enters prison for an assignment but he's nearly beaten to death when he finds too much out. Slip, Sach and Butch agree to go undercover as well but they end up getting taken advantage of by a reporter (Lyle Talbot) who has a gambling debt. JAIL BUSTERS isn't the worst film in the Bowery Boys series but it's certainly no where near the top either. At 61-minutes there's very little in terms of story but I guess that's to be expected as the series was clearly running on more fumes than anything else. There's not really any type of story here because the only crooked thing being done inside the prison is that certain members get to take hot baths and enjoy good food. That's certainly far from ground breaking material and that's one reason why nothing here is too interesting. Another problem is that the screenplay doesn't offer many laughs, which is the main reason this thing stalls out. I'm really not sure why more wasn't tried but perhaps director Beaudine simply didn't get any laughs on his first take and decided to leave things as is. It's not like we're treated to several comic bits that don't work because the fact is that very few attempts at humor are even made. When they are they really don't work either and especially several sequences where a doctor tries to figure out why the boys are so stupid. Both Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall seem bored with the project as neither of them seem too interested in anything going on. It seems like both are pretty bored with the material as their performances lack any energy. Bernard Gorcey doesn't have much to do and the rest of the cast are wasted as well. Even Talbot doesn't get to do much. Percy Helton gets a few good moments as the Warden but it's not enough to save the film.