Follow the Leader

There's a good bit of fun to be had in this one. It's the sort of thing you can just put on in the background and don't have to pay too much attention to. There are some good (unintentional) laughs in this quickly-made film. It's got a certain charm to it.

"Follow the Leader" begins with Corporal Muggs McGinnis being discharged from the army...even though WWII isn't finished. This is because Muggs cheated on the eye exam...and his vision was so bad they Army rejected him. But Muggs' determination to make America a safe place for democracy, apple pie, and the Kardashians make him want to serve his country. So when a new member of the old gang, Spider (Billy Benedict), is murdered, Muggs smells a rat and investigates. Additionally, a long-time member of the gang, Danny, has been jailed...and Muggs is determined to free him as well. And, to do so, he works undercover as a member of a gang he thinks might be behind all this.

This is clearly a WWII positive propaganda film meant to drum up support for the country at war. As such, it's pretty good stuff and is pretty entertaining...especially for an East Side Kids film. Overall, a bit more intelligent than usual for the franchise...with Huntz Hall and Leo Gorcey playing it more seriously and less for dopey laughs.

By the way, although Billy Benedict played Spider, he soon became Whitey...a DIFFERENT member of the gang. And, Bernard Gorcey is in this one but he's not playing Louie...the malt shop owner in nearly all the remaining East Side Kid/Bowery Boys films.

FOLLOW THE LEADER (1944) is a pretty remarkable entry in the East Side Kids series. It's got more drama than usual and an intricate crime plot involving theft of government supplies during WWII. The film gets off to a jolting start when Corporal Muggs McGinnis (Leo Gorcey), who'd left the East Side with sidekick Glimpy (Huntz Hall) to join the army, is shocked to learn that he's been discharged because of his eyesight. (He'd memorized the eye chart to pass his physical, but failed when re-tested with a different eye chart at the base.) He goes back to the East Side and tells the bad news to his mother and she embraces him and he cries. (Did we ever see Gorcey's character cry in any other films in the long road from DEAD END, 1937, to CRASHING LAS VEGAS, 1955?) He also learns that Danny, the one he'd left to run the East Side Kids in his stead, has been jailed on a charge of stealing cases of medical alcohol from the government warehouse where he works. Muggs is soon embroiled in trying to find out who framed Danny.

Suspicion centers on a new member of the gang, Spider O'Brien (series regular Billy Benedict), who was working with Danny at the warehouse. Muggs and Glimpy keep an eye on him and spot him taking money from local crook "Fingers" Belmont (series regular Gabe Dell), who works for an East Side gangster/nightspot owner. Long story short: Spider's killed and Muggs is a suspect, but he uses his army connections to be allowed to go undercover and infiltrate the robbery gang. It all culminates in quite a suspenseful finale after Muggs has helped the gang unload the stolen merchandise at Maxie's, the nightspot run by Larry (Jack La Rue), Fingers' boss, but is then held captive after they get wise to him. Coincidentally, Milly (Joan Marsh), Muggs' sister, works as a cigarette girl at Maxie's and is the only one in a position to call for help. At one point, she has to find a way to divert the boss, feigning a little after-hours interest, until Glimpy and the other Kids can arrive. It's quite a scene and the attractive Marsh pulls it off beautifully. (This was Marsh's last movie before she quit the business--for good. She'd played a rich girl in an earlier East Side Kids movie, MR. MUGGS STEPS OUT, 1943.)

It's a pretty intense mix for an East Side Kids film. What holds it all together so neatly is Gorcey's performance as the proactive neighborhood group leader who manages to serve his country even when unable to wear the uniform. He's smart, tough, crafty, fearless, patriotic, and forthright. He's also learned, thanks to his military training, to be more respectful of authority than he is in the other films, an attitude improvement that keeps him out of jail here. This is quite uncharacteristic of him and he was back to mouthing off to cops in the next film.

Aside from Gorcey and Hall, Gabe Dell is the only other original Dead End Kid in the cast. He often played a bad egg in these films and he's worse than usual here, going so far as to kill one of the Kids. Curiously, Billy Benedict's character, Spider, is positioned as brand new to the group here, even though he'd already appeared in four other East Side Kids movies as, essentially, the same character, but with different names. (He was usually listed as "Skinny.") His character is killed in this film, yet he would return in five more East Side Kids movies and become a regular member of the follow-up series, the Bowery Boys. Aside from Gorcey, Hall and Benedict, the East Side Kids here include about seven other guys, generally played by nondescript actors who at least look like they might have come from the Lower East Side rather than Central Casting. Another series regular, black actor "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison, who normally played Scruno, appears only in a dream sequence in the film's opening where Glimpy dreams about being on a South Seas isle, lured to a jungle hut by a sexy native girl (future film noir femme fatale Marie Windsor!), only to be lifted up by natives and dumped into a cooking pot under cannibal leader Gorcey's orders. (One of the natives is Everett Brown, who'd played Big Sam in GONE WITH THE WIND only five years earlier.)

Bernard Gorcey, Leo's father, plays the owner of Ginsberg's Deli, where Glimpy waits for Muggs' phone call on the night of the big undercover operation and eats poor Ginsberg out of house and strudel. The elder Gorcey would, of course, go on to play Louie Dumbrowsky, soda shop proprietor and the boys' unofficial godfather, in the Bowery Boys movies right up until his death in 1955.

FOLLOW THE LEADER (Monogram, 1944), directed by William Beaudine, reverts back to early "East Side Kids" formula of having more drama than comedy, with dose of heavy sentiment included. For this 17th edition, Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall team up, with plot summary more on Gorcey's character. Joan Marsh, who appeared in MR. MUGGS STEPS OUT (1943) returns to the series, this time as Mugs' sister. In earlier entries, there was no indication of Mugs ever having a sister, let along any relatives. He did later acquire a beloved mother who affectionately calls him "Ethelbert." Mary Gordon has that honor here as she did in MILLION DOLLAR KID (1944). As much as Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell and Billy Benedict get opening credit as "The East Side Kids," only Gorcey and Hall have that distinction while Dell and Benedict play different character roles, something quite common in a series with no consistencies from one movie to another.

The story opens with "Mugs" Maginnis (Leo Gorcey) and "Glimpy" Freedhoff (Huntz Hall) in the Army. Because he memorized the eye chart over a revised one, Mugs, who loves military life, is discharged from active duty. Accompanied by Glimpy on furlough, Mugs returns home to the Bowery and to the old gang where he left Danny (David Durand) in charge of both club and the treasury. It is learned that Danny is in jail and that the club has a new member, "Spider" O'Brien (Billy Benedict), from Brooklyn. Mugs not only takes an immediate dislike towards Spider but suspects him to be connected with a series of warehouse robberies for which Danny is accused. Mugs also has a strong dislike towards W. W. "Fingers" Belmont (Gabriel Dell), a former member of the East Side Kids now a big shot working under Larry (Jack LaRue), proprietor of the Club Maxie, where Mugs' sister, Milly (Joan Marsh) works as a cigarette girl. After Fingers overhears Spider reveal his connection to the robberies to Mugs, he and his partner, Slug, beat Spider to death, leaving his body inside the club. Fearing of being accused, Mugs takes it upon himself to learn the identity of the ringleader by acquiring Spider's old job and clear Danny's name.

Featuring East Side Kids support by Bobby Stone ("Speed"); Buddy Gorman ("Skinny" Bogerty); and Jimmy Strand (Dave); with Bryant Washburn (The Colonel); and J. Farrell MacDonald (Officer Clancy) in support. Look quickly for former East Side Kid member "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison seen uncredited in his former role of Scruno during Glimpy's dream set on an isle surrounded by hula girls. Gene Austin with the Sherrill Sisters appear as night club performers singing "Now and Then," and "All I Want to Do is Play the Drum." With this being nearly a Mugs movie where he's the sole character, Leo's father, Bernard Gorcey has an amusing bit playing Mr. Ginsberg, delicatessen owner.

Reportedly done in six days, this being typical Monogram procedure by getting things done quickly and cheaply. Even that one scene involving Mugs and Glimpy in the Army are obviously done with rear projection screen. Script repeats itself from earlier segments leading to a typical finish. The Danny character now played by David Durand is obviously a continuation to Bobby Jordan's Danny, right down to the striped shirt used from earlier editions. With Mugs still being the leader to follow, he gets to perform against type in a tearful moment when being dismissed from the Army for his poor eyesight. Regardless of pros and cons, FOLLOW THE LEADER is average yet agreeable material all told in 64 minutes. Available on DVD. (**) Next edition: BLOCK BUSTERS (1944).