Feudin' Fools

I am way behind on the Bowery Boys movies but I am catching up. Most of their movies are pretty funny but, of course, they have a couple of duds too. "Feudin' Fools" belongs somewhere in the middle of the pack. It does have a few laughs but not that many. Thanks to its short running time (63 mins) it doesn't wear out its welcome. "Feudin' Fools" is not one of the Bowery Boys movies that will turn someone into a fan. But if your already familiar with their movies, it's watchable.

Sach inherits property in rural hillbilly country. The gang arrives to find a rundown farm. Sach also inherits a local war with a rival family but he manages to hide his Jones name. Then a trio of criminals shows up looking to use the farmhouse as their hideout.

The Bowery Boys are headed into the hills. They are fish out of water. There is plenty of ridiculous rural comedy and a couple of babes. The bank robbers are a little left field but they are a good plot device. This is better than most Bowery Boys flicks. It's silly fun like always.

Sach learns that he is the sole heir to a southern plantation. Naturally, he and the others set out in their old jalopy for a life of ease. Unfortunately, the place turns out to be the biggest rundown dump this side of Hooverville! Also, the Jones family is involved in a feud with the Smith family, and the rustic Smith men are determined to kill the last surviving member of the Jones clan, namely Sach. Louie arrives to see the boys. Throw in a gang of bank robbers and you have all the ingredients for the Bowery Boys brand of slapstick humor.

No Whitey in this one, and only Butch and Chuck round out the BB gang. But, they are mainly background scenery anyway.

Anne Kimbrell and 6'2" Dorothy Ford provide the female interests in this entry.

O. Z. Whitehead appears as Yancey Smith. He often acted in John Ford films, but preferred the theater to movies. O. Z., or Zebbie, as he was known, had a long term and very private relationship with Katherine Hepburn.

Feudin' Fools is an enjoyable entry in the Bowery Boys series.

Feudin' Fools (1952)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Sach (Huntz Hall) learns that his Southern uncle has left him the family farm so he packs up Slip (Leo Gorcey) and two others and head south. Once there they realize that Sach's family is feuding with another, which leads to many problems but things take a turn for the worse when the boys get mixed up with a bank robber (Lyle Talbot). The shocking thing is that it took the series twenty-seven films before they'd tackle the redneck genre, which had been popular since the silent days. Everyone from Buster Keaton to Abbott and Costello had played city folk traveling to the south and getting involved with rednecks but it took a while for our Bowery Boys. They really should have waited because the jokes here are just downright pathetic, boring and feature not an ounce of imagination. Whenever you watch one of these films you can expect a few jokes to fall on their face but this one here has pretty much everyone of them doing so. I was really surprised to see how poorly written this thing was and the perfect example happens early on when the boys arrive in town and we get a good fifteen-minute sequence of them hiding in the cabin while the rednecks are outside shooting. We get a wide range of jokes from them trying to wave a white flag only to be shot at to the redneck looking in the window and Sach thinking they're a picture. Neither of those scenes are funny and they're actually the best written gags, which is rather scary. Both Gorcey and Hall appear to be mailing in their performances as there's not a touch of energy from either of them and this is especially true of Gorcey. Talbot is clearly just cashing a paycheck and none of the rednecks stick out in a good way. FEUDIN' FOOLS is certainly one of the series low points and it's rather hard getting through the short 63-minutes.

The writers obviously kept tabs on what Abbott and Costello were doing. In response to A & C's COMIN ROUND THE MOUNTAIN, thus came FEUDIN FOOLS. Many thanks to series writer Tim Ryan.

Sach inherits a farm from his uncle who lived in the South, way out in the middle of nowhere? Also a giant dose of poetic license at work; Slip, Sach and everyone else piles into the jalopy and drive all the way from New York to Kentucky? Their destination is a place called Hogliver Hallow. The story is about Smith versus Jones (Sach Jones, that is), a hillbilly feud that has gone on for generations, and the gang gets caught in the middle. Toss in a broken down farm house. "It looks like a rest home for old vampires!" Slip exclaims.

Good support from reliable heavy Lyle Talbot, playing a gangster called BIG JIM, who gets shot robbing a bank, only to take refuge with his goons at the Jones farm.

Louie (Bernard Gorcey, Leo's real dad) is a hoot playing Dr. Dumbrowski, who pretends to operate on Talbot in order to stall for more time and, hopefully, trick and capture the gangsters. Chock full of Leo Gorcey's malaprops and Huntz Hall is super nuts.

In one scene he opens a trap door and offers the bad guy to go first. The answer NO. "In that case, I'll see if there's a ladder!" Keep an eye on Benny Baker as Corky, one of Big Jim's mob. Benny played everything from sidekicks to bad guys, perfect window dressing for this story.

Note the cartoon characters of Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall at the beginning of the film, which always made me wonder what a terrific cartoon series this would have been. Possibly inspired by the cartoon characters of Laurel and Hardy in their comedy films at Fox in the 40s.

Character actress Anne Kimbell plays Elly May. Did that name inspire the writers for the BEVERLY HILLBILLIES? Look for Robert Bray, later to star on LASSIE, playing one of the detectives. Veteran western actor Fuzzy Knight plays Traps.

A real treat from start to finish, and good theme music thanks to Edward Kay, who scored many of the episodes. Huntz Hall has a super closing line.

Applause to director William Beaudine for pulling this one through, and with some clever touches. On remastered dvd via Warner Brothers box sets, generally containing 6 to 8 episodes per box.