Two Guys from Milwaukee

TCM did an interesting marathon of films by Billy Wilder's frequent writing partner I.A.L. Diamond, highlighting primarily films Diamond did not write with Wilder. In this film, Dennis Morgan plays a European prince who tries to hide out as a regular American, which makes for a silly culture clash comedy, with Morgan getting advice on how to act American from cabbie Jack Carson. It's nothing as funny as his work with Wilder, but it's inoffensively entertaining, features a likable cast, and even boast a funny cameo by Bogie and Bacall.

First of all I am a man writing this review and not a left leaning liberated woman. Having gotten that out of the way, after reading some of the other reviews one would have thought that this picture is just like a string of previous released films in which the dim-witted gorgeous leading lady is confused as to whom she really loves and she will let her two (2) alpha male co-stars duke it out to decide who gets to marry her.

I didn't see the leading lady actress Joan Leslie who plays a manicurist named Connie Reed in the same light as most other narrow minded film goers. No, in my humble opinion the attractive Connie Reed by her own admission had been dating a string of men over the past few years tasting the many different shaped lips of her many male suitors not in a deliberate effort to get her main man cabbie Buzz Williams (Jack Carson) jealous but smartly just to see if she would be missing out on anything before she decided if it was worth settling down with her hack driver Buzz.

I viewed actress Joan Leslie as an actress a half century ahead of her time in which this leading lady certainly had a mind of her own and no one was going to tell her who she could date and where she could be seen in public with, even if it looked as if she may be just another gold digger. Kudos also to the original screenplay writers Charles Hoffman, and I.A.L. Diamond who had the foresight to create Connie Reed's character as a liberated and free thinking woman which was well ahead of its time back in 1946 when this film was first released.

If you think the story is about a foreign prince who comes to Brooklyn to escape his royal treatment and just eat hamburgers and swig beer with a cab driver you would be remiss in your thinking. I believe the message really is about a woman named Connie Reed perfectly cast with Joan Leslie who chooses her own future husband. Before she decides to settle down she wants to take advantage of what other men may have to offer her too and she makes no bones about her strong will and backs down to no man, even if that man is a royal prince.

Two Guys from Milwaukee is an underrated film with a message for liberating woman that was decades ahead of its time. Quite possibly the film saved thousands of women from marrying the wrong man and settling for less than they were deserving of in an equal partner. You may have to watch this film more than once to appreciate the same message that I garnered from this classy comedy/romance film but the message is clear. You are woman and we hear you roar!

A very deserving 8 out of 10 rating

This film could have been a classic, because the script by I.A.L. ('Iz') Diamond is first rate. But as it was only his second film, and he had no clout, Warner Brothers threw it away on a B picture directed by an inferior director, David Butler, with a low budget, and a B cast, in which Jack Carson's bad acting made it all a mess. There are sub-texts to this film which few viewers could suspect unless they knew a great deal of background. The story concerns the visit to America of a prince of a Balkan country, whose fate as future king is about to be decided by plebiscite. Although the fate of the Italian monarchy was being decided at this time, the real satirical target of Diamond's script was Romania. Diamond was a Romanian Jew born in Romania, and knew more than a thing or two about Balkan monarchies and their reception in America. Queen Marie of Romania, a contemporary of Diamond's, was the most rapturously received royal visitor the United States ever had until Princess Diana came along. In this satirical tale, the visiting prince, very well played by Dennis Morgan, wants to escape royal protocol and discover what real American life is like. He becomes a 'guy from Milwaukee', along with a real one, a cab driver from Brooklyn played by Carson. Prince Henry (Morgan) eats his first hamburger, falls in love rather quickly with an all-American girl (Joan Leslie, who does an excellent job), and ends up siding with democracy instead of monarchy. Much excellent political satire in the script is completely lost in the film which resulted. S. Z. Sakall is most amusing as the prince's equerry. Diamond gives plenty of reign to the part of a charming little girl, who gets many of the best lines in the film, played by Patti Brady, aged nine. However, all these brilliant touches are wasted in the B film ambiance and because of the total and deadly lack of inspiration of the director. Throughout the film, a constant obsessive thread runs, which is the prince's crush on Lauren Bacall. This is more than just an inside joke, as Bacall was herself of Romanian Jewish descent, like Diamond, so that there is a lot more to all this than meets the eye, and Diamond was bringing in various favourite subjects and people without anyone knowing the background or reasons. Diamond was later to become famous for writing 'Some Like it Hot', 'The Apartment' (for which he won a well-deserved Oscar), and many other famous films. This could have been on the list of his triumphs, but it was written too soon. The film is very funny nevertheless, with some great lines, not always well delivered. You have to imagine the film as it should have been while you watch this.

Two Guys From Milwaukee was a fun, comedic surprise. Yes, it was a little predictable; though, who would win the girl was in question almost until the end. The story moved along quite quickly with smart and snappy dialogue and an array of likable characters.

Beyond the comedy and the quickly developed love story was a very enjoyable window into everyday life in Brooklyn in the mid-1940's--the friendliness, the simplicity (by modern standards), the economic modesty. Director David Butler shot the movie in an intimate fashion, which makes you feel like you're sitting with the characters in the living room, riding the tour bus in Manhattan or waking with them in the morning.

Jack Carson plays the role of Buzz Williams, the very likable Brooklyn cabbie. Carson has played many enjoyable characters, but this one has a unique charm to it. He's a simple enough guy, but with some real life complexity to him. Even during a rather obvious advertisement for democracy (of course, having just won WWII, there's nothing wrong with marketing the winning stuff) Carson delivers the message in a humble, regular-guy-on-the-street way.

All in all, you'll smile through much of the movie and laugh out loud, too. It was a very enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes.

Two Guys from Milwaukee (1946)

** (out of 4)

Warner comedy has Prince Henry (Dennis Morgan) landing in America but not wanting to do the normal Prince stuff like meetings and royal dinners. Instead he wants to see NYC and meet Lauren Bacall. He meets a taxi driver (Jack Carson) and the two hit it off until the Prince starts to have feelings for his girlfriend (Joan Leslie). I've read several positive reviews for this film but I must call it a pretty big disappointment for several reasons. I think my biggest problem with the film was that I simply didn't laugh at anything. I didn't laugh at the Prince getting drunk for the first time and I didn't laugh at anything that followed. The movie was fairly boring, although I give Morgan and Carson a lot of credit because you can tell they're giving it their all to try and get laughs but the screenplay really lets them down. For me the movie dragged from one scene to the next and none of them got any better or had any real energy that would keep me into the story. I think it was pretty predictable that the Prince would end up falling for his friends girlfriend and in many ways this isn't all that funny because I personally felt bad for the taxi driver. There's a running joke of the two men telling everyone that they're from Milwaukee but I didn't find this funny either. I think the film would have been better had the Prince actually done his first goal in trying new things. The movie seems to forget this and by the twenty-minute mark he pretty much knows his way around. The movie does end on a very good note when the Prince's main dream comes true but he also meets her better half.