La fine équipe

Nothing is going right for simple clerk Wilfred Simpson (Joe E. Brown). Harry St. Clair has his eyes on Wilfred's girlfriend Phyllis Jenkins (Maxine Doyle). Wilfred gets the town riled up and everybody blames him for the chaos. Phyllis is frustrated. Wilfred decides to enter a 6-day bike race to compete against Harry and impress Phyllis.

In the modern sense, Wilfred is not an appealing boyfriend. He's petty and jealous and rather angry. It's the olden days and allowances must be given. I do like some of his idiocy, not all of it. He's better as an innocent. In this, he's an annoying jerk and that doesn't make him funny.

Six Day Bike Rider is a standard Joe E. Brown comedy featuring the big mouth as a clueless braggart postal inspector who has his girl (Colleen Doyle) stolen in front of eyes by a traveling trick cyclist (Gordon Westcott). Determined to get her back he enters a marathon against his foe but runs into a lot of obstacles just trying to get to the velodrome.

As a kid I found Joe E Brown quite amusing in small doses whether in KIx commercials or supporting roles. His sad sack demeanor and trade mark yapper made him a living caricature and a very popular star in the early and mid 30s with Fireman Save my Child and Alibi Ike both baseball films that were tailor made for the former semi - professional ball player. In Six Day he does display some of his athletic prowess but he fares much better with a bat in his hand than a bike under him and and Bike Rider goes flat early.

"6 Day Bike Rider" stars Joe E. Brown. Interestingly enough, of the hundreds of movies I've watched from the early-30's, I'd never seen a Joe E. Brown movie, and he was pumping out films as early as 1927. I can't say I'm terribly impressed with him, but he's no worse a comedian than Jimmy Durante.

He plays Wilfred 'Mildew' Simpson, an avid bike rider who is a cross between the Absent-Minded Professor and Ernest from Ernest Goes to Camp. The entire premise of the movie is that Wilfred is trying to win a six-day bike race with his partner, Clinton Hemmings (Frank McHugh). They're up against a big time cheater named Harry St. Clair (Gordon Westcott). Before the race began there was bad blood between Harry and Wilfred because Harry almost took Wilfred's girl, Phyllis (Maxine Doyle).

The movie is pretty dumb, but harmlessly so. I'd say it's more for kids due to the wacky nature of it and the interesting choices of words Wilfred uses instead of more harsh language. I didn't love the movie and I didn't hate it.

Free on Odnoklassniki.

Hysterical Joe E. Brown plays a nearsighted buffoon in a series of pratfalls, sight gags filled with goofy characters participating in improbable events that might leave you giggling at all the silliness.

Just a look at Joe E's silly mugging will make you smile.

This is the type of small-town/countrified fun we came to know and love with the "Ma and Pa Kettle" series of films and in the 60's with such fare as the "Beverly Hillbillies", "Green Acres" and "Petticoat Junction".

The difference here is that the humor is clean, innocent, charming...and old-fashioned. Which is just "hunky-dory" with me!

Joe E. Brown's type of humor here may appear dated to some, but is has a place in the history of film comedy in reflecting the sober type of fun which has sadly fallen completely by the wayside in recent years.

It's not a classic...but worth a look for all its screwball moments.

Joe E. Brown during the early Thirties starred in a successful string of films decided to appeal to the rural audiences in contrast to most of Warner Brothers films which were decidedly urban based. 6 Day Bike Rider is a very good example of the kind of film Brown did while there. Over at Fox Studios Will Rogers was doing the same kind of films.

Joe is the bumptious country lad who seems to have two left feet, but does know how to ride and race a bicycle. Trick cyclist Gordon Westcott is making some moves on Joe's girl Maxine Doyle which is doubly bad because Westcott is slightly married to Dorothy Christy. Westcott plays your very old fashioned Snidely Whiplash type villain here, he does everything but twirl his mustache.

When he thinks Westcott's run off with Doyle, Brown hears he's entered a 6 day cycling contest and he enters too with partner Frank McHugh. The rules have them entering as two man teams and the track is a roller derby type affair.

Brown who takes a pratfall as good as I've ever seen has plenty of them in this film. Lots of good sight gags during the racing sequence which is about 25 minutes long.

6 Day Bike Ride is a good introduction to the comedy of Joe E. Brown.