Trouble Makers

Trouble Makers was kind of in the middle of the Bowery Boys stories. Sach (Huntz Hall) and Slip (Leo Gorcey, along with his real dad and brother, of course!) get into the usual trouble when they accidentally witness a moidah. keep an eye out for Lionel Stander, who made films for years, but we all know him as Max in Hart to Hart. in this one, slip and sach take up jobs as bellboys in a hotel to keep an eye on things and figure out how the body disappeared. of course, they take on the bad guys, and there must be a big rough and tumble at the end. bake at 350 for an hour and you have a bowery boys adventure. Directed by Reginald Le Borg.. the first of three he would make with the gang. it's the usual fare, probably aimed at a younger audience.

Plus Fritz Feld, Lionel Stander, Helen Parrish and the usual top-notch supporting cast of toughs and characters.

Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) are in the sidewalk star-gazing business when they see a murder committed in a room at the El Royale Hotel, blocks away. In spite of the fussy-and-fidget objections of the hotel manager, Andre Schmidtlapp (Fritz Feld), the Bowery Boys (including Frankie Darro and Billy Benedict with lines and David Gorcey and Benny Bartlett looking on...as usual) and their friend Police Officer Gabe Moreno (Gabriel Dell)search the murder room and find nothing beyond learning that the room is occupied by "Silky" Thomas (John Ridgely.) Police Captain Madison (Cliff Clark)reprimands Gabe for leaving his beat on a false alarm, but later tips from Slip and Sach help Gabe lead raids on Silky's gambling operations.

The latter sends Gabe's former friend "Feathers" (Frankie Darro)to Gabe with a bribe offer but Gabe refuses. The boys read about the killing of a Professor Prescott and identify him as the man they saw murdered. Slip and Sach tell the professor's daughter, Ann Prescott (Helen Parrish), they will find her father's killers, and they get jobs as bellhops at the hotel. "Hatchet" (Lionel Stander), one of the gangsters, thinks Sach is a former cellmate and this causes a complication or two along the way.

Twelfth Bowery Boys movie from Monogram has Slip and Sach witnessing a murder through a telescope. But when they take the cops to the scene of the crime, the body is gone and no one believes there ever was a murder. So, naturally, they set out to investigate the matter and find the killer. An enjoyable entry in the series. Nothing to get excited about but good. Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall are their usual lovable selves. The rest of the Boys (Bennie Bartlett, David Gorcey, William Benedict) don't get a lot to do in this one. Gabriel Dell plays a cop this time and figures heavily into the plot. Bernard Gorcey returns as Louie and he's always a treat. Helen Parrish provides the pretty. John Ridgely and Frankie Darro are solid baddies, but it's Lionel Stander who steals the show as an ex-con who mistakes Sach for a criminal he used to know. It's not the best Bowery Boys picture but it's entertaining. The short runtime and quick pace help. Any movie where the bad guys have names like Silky, Feathers, and Hatchet is going to be a fun one.

An entertaining addition to the Bowery Boys comedy series has Slip and Sach (Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall) accidentally witnessing a murder in a hotel room window through a telescope down on the street below. They alert their friend Gabe (Gabriel Dell) who has now graduated to the stature of a rookie police officer, but when the boys investigate the hotel there is no body to be found and Gabe is reprimanded by his superiors. It's then up to Slip and Sach to take on jobs as bellhops in the hotel to try and solve the mystery and prove what they saw. This is a good and satisfying chapter, with funny bits featuring Gorcey and Hall at the top of their game. Both actors have some strong moments...Gorcey is given some extra-humorous malapropisms to deliver with gusto, and Huntz has to get tough and even push Leo around in a scene where he pretends to be an ex-con. It's good to see Gabriel Dell put to solid good use in his part of a young policeman, and the roles in general are well cast this time around -- Frankie Darro, Lionel Stander and John Ridgely play the shady characters, with Fritz Feld as the hotel manager. This entry comes off as tighter and better polished than usual, and one wonders whether this was due in part to Reginald LeBorg taking over from William Beaudine as director. *** out of ****

Trouble Makers (1948)

*** (out of 4)

Good entry in the long-running series has Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) witnessing a murder inside a hotel but no one will believe them as no body was found there. Gabe (Gabriel Dell), now working as a cop, tries to investigate but ends up suspended off the force so it's up to the boys to try and figure out who did the killing and why. This was a nice surprise as it turned out to be one of the better entries in the series as we get some very good laughs, nice crime action and a fairly good mystery as well. These Bowery Boys movies often tried mixing various genres but rarely did they all work so well as they do here. What really helps the film is the wonderful supporting cast, which is full of some veteran actors. By having such great support the film didn't have to rely on Gorcey and Hall to get all the laughs. Lionel Stander, who would be blacklisted in upcoming years, is perfect as "Hatchet" Moran, a gangster who loves his friend "Abby" who just happens to be a machine gun. John Ridgely, veteran of many Warner classics, plays Silky Thomas, the main suspect. Both actors are excellent in their roles with Stander getting a great number of laughs and Ridgely being very believable in the crime boss role. Also strong here is Helen Parrish as the murder man's daughter. Both Gorcey and Hall are a lot better here than they were in a couple of the previous films. Gorcey gets some wonderful mangled dialogue that he nails perfectly and even Hall gets some terrific scenes. He plays extremely well with Stander as the two go down memory lanes of when they were knocking off various locations (Stander's character thinks Sach is a former gangster). Dell is also really coming into his own, acting wise, even though he's playing yet a different character. This film really stands out because it actually appears like they took their time with a good screenplay and got some respectable actors to help share the load. The film starts off with some great laughs and they continue all the way through the picture.