The Cowboy Quarterback

The Cowboy Quarterback (1939)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Really lame comedy about a professional football coach who travels to the middle of nowhere to find Harry Lynn (Bert Wheeler) who is said to be a terrific quarterback. The dimwit is a star at throwing the ball and he turns the Chicago Packers into a winning team but before the championship game he loses money to some gamblers who now wants him to throw the game. THE COWBOY QUARTERBACK is a really bad film that doesn't work on many levels and it pretty much put an end to the career of Wheeler, or at least in leading roles. I guess you can't blame him too much since this here was the first picture he had done after the death of his partner Robert Woolsey and without the duo it's clear Wheeler's entire brand just wasn't the same. Of course, one major problem is the horrible screenplay that doesn't offer up anything funny and instead is just one cliché after another. The film starts off with some really lame jokes aimed at Indians but things don't get any better once the actual football stuff starts. The majority of the stuff is just stock footage and what real footage there is is just poorly directed. Wheeler's character here is incredibly annoying and there's not a single second to where you like him. Marie Wilson isn't too bad as his silly girlfriend but she doesn't have too much screen time. When people talk about the greatest year for movies, 1939 often gets the majority of the votes but there's a clear reason why this thing is never mentioned.

Bert Wheeler is pulled from the Montana rangeland and Marie WIlson to be the star quarterback for a professional football team in Chicago. When gamblers take an interest in the hick, can he resist their blandishments and easy money?

This obviously B production from Warners looks like it might have been a vehicle for Joe E. Brown back in the day, and sure it enough, it was as Elmer the Great. Bert Wheeler is an odd choice for the greatest quarterback of all time, but Marie Wilsonas his girlfriend is fun, as she always is. While assuredly not one of the great comedy classics, this one manages to eke out enough laughs to justify its 56-minute running length. With William Demarest, William Hopper, Gloria Dickson, Eddie Foy Jr., and Clem Bevans.

I am going to say something absolutely terrible and it may shock fans of old time comedy. Wheeler and Woolsey were, with the exception of the Ritz Brothers as well as Hitler and Mussolini, one of the unfunniest comedy teams in history. They were quite popular in the early to mid-1930s but they definitely have not aged well. I've seen most of their films but the best I could find were only tolerable entertainment. Now, by 1939, Woolsey had since died and Bert Wheeler tried to make a go of it in comedy without his annoying partner. Well, considering that Wheeler was the straight man and also quite annoying, the film was at best passable entertainment. This was made even worse by the fact that it was a remake of a mediocre film made only 6 years earlier (ELMER, THE GREAT). In most ways, the original film was better though fortunately Wheeler came off as a bit more likable than Joe E. Brown's character--though Wheeler was still a self-important idiot.

The 44 year-old Wheeler is supposed to be a hot prospect for pro football and the film begins with an agent (William Demarest) arriving in Montana to sign Wheeler to play for the Chicago Packers. Oddly, Wheeler has absolutely no mind of his own (probably because he just seemed really, really dumb) and this decision could only be made by his fiancée, Marie Wilson (playing a role that might have been easily adapted for Woolsey had he lived). Wilson is also quite dumb and together they might have half a brain. But to make matters worse, she's rather abrasive and the coach conspires with the agent to get her back to Montana. Once gone, Wheeler shows that he's a complete idiot and extremely co-dependent--making a mess of living on his own. By the end of the film, however, Wheeler manages to save the day and everyone seems very happy....except for the audience who were still probably waiting for a few laughs, though they never really materialized.

By the way, William Hopper (later of "Perry Mason" fame) is present but with all the personality of a block of wood. He's tall and somewhat handsome but with practically no screen presence at all. Interestingly enough, he himself played a football player in OVER THE GOAL.

An interesting curio if you want to see Wheeler without Woolsey, otherwise this is a recycled plot, the characters aren't engaging at all and the film has the look of a toss-away B-movie. Watchable but nothing more.

Wheeler and Woolsey were not one of my favorite comedy teams. After Woolsey died in 1938, Wheeler had to continue on without him. This is one of those films and it's pretty lame. Basically Wheeler (44 years old) plays a young football prospect in Montana signed up by a scout (William Demarest). The sole joke in the movie is that Wheeler and his girlfriend (Marie Windsor) are morons. This joke is used over & over for comic effect without actually producing any comedy. It's tiresome and dull. William Demarest was a great comedic actor, especially in his Preston Sturges films. He tries his able best here but he can't elevate this material. Avoid unless you happen to be a Bert Wheeler fan...if there is such a creature.

Bert Wheeler flies solo in this football-themed vehicle that runs only about an hour, but has enough convoluted twists for a couple more movies. Starts gamely enough with William Demarest the Chicago Packers scout who flies out to Nevada to find Wheeler, the yokel football superstar, Harry Lynn. Lynn loves his boss, Maizie (not Marie), who runs the local general store (Specializing in "Ice Cream, Pianos, Cement, and Bird Seed"!).

Demarest plays it a little low-key, which is always a plus, but his character ends up being the cause of some manipulations of the two young love birds that lead to the verge of disaster. Suffice it to say, Pete Rose has nothing on Harry Lynn.

In fact, the corruption on display in this movie kinda takes away some of the fun. Wheeler does okay as the football phenom. The rest of the cast is stellar including Eddie Foy as his roommate pal, Eddie Acuff as a pilot, and especially Trevor Bardette in a brief role as a sage Indian. The three tall villains are rather menacing too.

Music: Wheeler sneaks in a little music singing "Mother McCree" while drunk. And William Hopper gets a couple of verses of a cowboy song out.

Good for W&W completest.