In the Money

The final Bowery Boys film is typical of the series after Leo Gorcey left. Plenty of Sach initiated slapstick. Only Chuck and Blinky provide support in this one.

The plot involves Sach being hired by three jewel thieves to smuggle stolen diamonds on a ship form New York to England. The diamonds are concealed under the fur of a beautiful poodle named Gloria. Sach is hired to be the bodyguard of this valuable canine. There is an inspector from Scotland Yard on board looking for the diamonds.

Lovely Patricia Donahue plays one of the jewel thieves. She really brightens things up.

The series really suffered after Bernard Gorcey died in a car accident and Leo Gorcey left the series. Stanley Clements played Duke, not as a new Slip, but as a combination of the Slip and Gabe Moreno characters. Stanley and Huntz Hall never could duplicate the chemistry between Leo and Huntz.

This last Bowery Boys movie is worth watching, for Patricia Donahue if nothing else. But it is typical BB fare and you like the series, you will like this one, too. I am watching it right now on TCM Saturday morning movies.

Sach unknowingly dog-sits a diamond studded poodle for a gang of smugglers during a trans-Atlantic voyage.

It's amazing the series lasted as long as it did, surviving well into the TV era with material now common to the little black box. Hall really deserves more credit than he's gotten for his raw comic abilities, on display here in highly energetic form since he knows he has to carry the film. Sure, his style was childish and over the top, but compare that style with Jerry Lewis's nitwit kid from the same era. Yet, Lewis is celebrated in many quarters as some kind of genius, while Hall is largely forgotten. Still, I don't see that much difference in absurd styles, except Lewis was backed by big studio Paramount, while the Bowery Boys depended on poverty row outfits like Allied Artists.

I agree with others-- the series was never the same without Leo Gorcey, a fine comedic talent in his own right and sturdy counterpoint to Hall's goofy shenanigans. As a result, Hall was left to carry on as best he could with budgets not much bigger than a take-out at MacDonalds, which is very much the case here, where everything occurs indoors, even the voyage. Worse, the action appears limited to the same room and hallway that merely get rearranged from one set-up to the next. No wonder it's the gang's swan song. Too bad they couldn't have gone out on a higher note. Nonetheless, their career from Dead End (1937) to this final entry (1958) spans 20 of the most turbulent years in the nation's history and a whole series of changing popular tastes. A pretty good record of longevity, I think, for a gang of likable losers.

Sach is delivering lunch to a travel agency. Instead, he gets a job to travel to London. He is to be the bodyguard to Gloria, a dog. In reality, the people hiring him are diamond smugglers using the dog as a mule.

This is the last of the Bowery Boys. So long. Farewell. It's Sach and a few others. The others aren't as funny. Sometimes, they do the jokes wrong. The obvious screwball comedy move is the dog getting away from Sach. He could spend the whole movie chasing after the dog. It would allow for more physical comedy. I can see why the series ended. Sach is the only good one left. This feels tired.

In the Money (1958)

** (out of 4)

This film marked the forty-eighth and final film in the Bowery Boys series and the quality of the movie was a tad higher than it had any right to be. In the film Sach (Huntz Hall) is paid big cash to take a poodle on a ship and over to England. Something seems fishy so Duke (Stanley Clements) and the gang go on board with him and soon realize that the idiot is being used by some crooked diamond smugglers. It's rather amazing that any series could last for forty-eight movies so on one hand you really do have to tip your hat but then again it's not like they had enough decent stories to carry so many films. With that said, this final entry is not unlike most others as we have the dimwitted Sach getting involved with crooks and we know that in the end he'll find his way out and everyone will live happily ever after. In terms of laughs this film doesn't offer too many but what keeps it from being boring is the fact that the cast are in high gear and really deliver nice performances. I do wonder what was going on with Hall who knew this was going to be the final film in the series. He had pretty much been playing this character from the mid 30s on so perhaps his emotions just got the best of him and he decided to go all out. To be fair, there were only a few films where he was lacking in terms of energy. I thought he managed to do a fine job with the part here, although he did seem to tone down some of the characters dumber characteristics. Thankfully the performance is full of energy and this here really helps keep the film moving because there aren't many laughs in its 61-minute running time. Clements and the boys don't get much to do, although their bit pretending to be English stowaways was pretty good. Once again Bill Elliott appears briefly as the shop owner, although he's not given much to do either. For the most part the story itself is pretty far-fetched and lame but this could be said about countless films in the series. Needless to say, if you're not a fan of the movies then you're probably going to be hitting the stop button early on but fans should be mildly entertained and it's somewhat refreshing when you watch these in order that you've finally arrived at the end. There's no question that the series was on its final legs but at the same time it's rather hard saying goodbye to the boys.

The Bowery Boys series mercifully comes sputtering to an end with this forty-eighth entry. This one has Sach getting mixed up with diamond smugglers and a poodle plot. It's Huntz Hall's show the whole way, for better or worse (bet on worse). The rest of the gang - Stanley Clements, Eddie LeRoy, and David Gorcey - offer typically weak support. The rest of the cast includes Dick Elliott, Paul Cavanagh, and Patricia Donahue. It's a pretty yawn-worthy effort that's only of interest to fans of the series who want to check it off their list. No memorable lines or gags. A forgettable end to a long-running series that itself was preceded by other series (Dead End Kids, Little Tough Guys, East Side Kids). The only Dead End Kid from the beginning still standing at the end was Huntz Hall, whose shtick grew increasingly unfunny (for me, at least) as he got older. Still, pretty impressive to think that a group of kids from a dramatic Broadway play would go on to become a comedy franchise that lasted over twenty years with different series at different studios, and over eighty films.