User reviews

The last block of the Bowery in the Bowery Boys series was reached with In The Money. With Huntz Hall having completed his contractual obligation, the series was canceled. Quite frankly it was never the same after Leo Gorcey quit and Bernard Gorcey died.

Still this was a better film than most of the ones with Stanley Clements trying to take Leo Gorcey's place. In The Money finds poor Sach being hired by Leonard Penn for a rather exorbitant salary to escort a dog on an ocean liner to the United Kingdom. Only Huntz Hall would be dumb enough to think that getting a few thousand dollars for this task that something more than fear of dog-nappers was up.

Clements and the rest figure that much out and stow away on the ocean liner with what I will say is a rather clever gimmick. Scotland Yard Inspector Paul Cavanaugh is also eying Penn and his companions John Dodsworth and Patricia Donahue. But the crooks just tell Sach that Cavanaugh is one of those dog-nappers to be avoided. And the poor dummy believes them.

One thing that was a regular item running through the Bowery Boys series is Huntz Hall always getting vamped by a beautiful bad girl. The last of them and one of the best is Patricia Donahue, mainly because she doesn't at first come on sultry. But for such dumbbell Huntz Hall did all right in the screen babe department.

In The Money also illustrates another favorite premise of mine that plot situations can be both dramatic and comedic. If the bad guys were smuggling narcotics instead of jewels, Huntz Hall would have been a drug mule. The same situation could become quite deadly then.

Anyway In The Money was hardly the worst of the series and not the worst of the post Gorcey films.

Huntz hall and david gorcey are in the very last chapter of the bowery boys. Sadly, as dad gorcey had died a couple years before in a freak car accident, leo gorcey (usually played slip) was not part of this, and had left the franchise a couple years back. In this one, sach ends up sailing on a cruise ship, as a courier to smuggle in some diamonds for the bad guys. Co-stars the delicious pat donahue, who was pretty new to hollywood. The storyline is the best part of this, but without slip, most of the jokes just fall flat. I can see why it was the last bowery boys film they ever made. Directed by bill beaudine, who had directed tons of the bowery boys films. Keep an eye out for mike the shop keeper... he was the mayor in andy griffith. It's just barely okay. A real shortie...at just 61 minutes.

After a successful run of 58 movies from 1946 to 1958, the Bowery Boys series came to an end with this movie. It probably died from a combination of the inroads television was making, the fact that the boys were getting too old to play adolescents, and the loss of Leo Gorcey for the last 7 movies. (He said he couldn't continue after his father, Bernard Gorcey, died in 1955.) His malapropisms, leadership and confidence was sorely missed by me. Stanley Clements takes his place in this movie, and I counted just one malapropism. Huntz Hall is up to his usual childish tricks (which made him so endearing to his fans, including me), dog-sitting a poodle on an ocean voyage to London for some diamond smugglers. But the other members of the gang, who were stowaways on board, seemed like excess baggage, and Hall just couldn't carry the comedy by himself. The movie didn't have the energy of the early entries, which Leo Gorcey and even Bernard Gorcey provided. A sad ending to a series I enjoyed as a kid.

Sach unknowingly dog-sits a diamond studded poodle for a gang of smugglers during a trans-Atlantic voyage.

It's amazing the series lasted as long as it did, surviving well into the TV era with material now common to the little black box. Hall really deserves more credit than he's gotten for his raw comic abilities, on display here in highly energetic form since he knows he has to carry the film. Sure, his style was childish and over the top, but compare that style with Jerry Lewis's nitwit kid from the same era. Yet, Lewis is celebrated in many quarters as some kind of genius, while Hall is largely forgotten. Still, I don't see that much difference in absurd styles, except Lewis was backed by big studio Paramount, while the Bowery Boys depended on poverty row outfits like Allied Artists.

I agree with others-- the series was never the same without Leo Gorcey, a fine comedic talent in his own right and sturdy counterpoint to Hall's goofy shenanigans. As a result, Hall was left to carry on as best he could with budgets not much bigger than a take-out at MacDonalds, which is very much the case here, where everything occurs indoors, even the voyage. Worse, the action appears limited to the same room and hallway that merely get rearranged from one set-up to the next. No wonder it's the gang's swan song. Too bad they couldn't have gone out on a higher note. Nonetheless, their career from Dead End (1937) to this final entry (1958) spans 20 of the most turbulent years in the nation's history and a whole series of changing popular tastes. A pretty good record of longevity, I think, for a gang of likable losers.

The Bowery Boys limp across the finish line with "In the Money", their final movie. It's a completely laughless affair. The jokes are cornier than usual. Huntz Hall is not as annoying as he often can be but that doesn't mean he's funny in this movie. Hall cannot carry a Bowery Boys movie on his own. He needs the company of Leo Gorcey and Bernard Gorcey. On his own, Hall is in trouble. The production quality of "In the Money" is also lacking. It has the look of a low budget movie of its era. The supporting cast is functional but there aren't any standouts. Patricia Donahue is the best of the bunch, especially the brief moment when she gets wet. "In the Money" is one of the Bowery Boys weakest efforts.

The Bowery Boys series mercifully comes sputtering to an end with this forty-eighth entry. This one has Sach getting mixed up with diamond smugglers and a poodle plot. It's Huntz Hall's show the whole way, for better or worse (bet on worse). The rest of the gang - Stanley Clements, Eddie LeRoy, and David Gorcey - offer typically weak support. The rest of the cast includes Dick Elliott, Paul Cavanagh, and Patricia Donahue. It's a pretty yawn-worthy effort that's only of interest to fans of the series who want to check it off their list. No memorable lines or gags. A forgettable end to a long-running series that itself was preceded by other series (Dead End Kids, Little Tough Guys, East Side Kids). The only Dead End Kid from the beginning still standing at the end was Huntz Hall, whose shtick grew increasingly unfunny (for me, at least) as he got older. Still, pretty impressive to think that a group of kids from a dramatic Broadway play would go on to become a comedy franchise that lasted over twenty years with different series at different studios, and over eighty films.

Sach is delivering lunch to a travel agency. Instead, he gets a job to travel to London. He is to be the bodyguard to Gloria, a dog. In reality, the people hiring him are diamond smugglers using the dog as a mule.

This is the last of the Bowery Boys. So long. Farewell. It's Sach and a few others. The others aren't as funny. Sometimes, they do the jokes wrong. The obvious screwball comedy move is the dog getting away from Sach. He could spend the whole movie chasing after the dog. It would allow for more physical comedy. I can see why the series ended. Sach is the only good one left. This feels tired.

The final Bowery Boys film is typical of the series after Leo Gorcey left. Plenty of Sach initiated slapstick. Only Chuck and Blinky provide support in this one.

The plot involves Sach being hired by three jewel thieves to smuggle stolen diamonds on a ship form New York to England. The diamonds are concealed under the fur of a beautiful poodle named Gloria. Sach is hired to be the bodyguard of this valuable canine. There is an inspector from Scotland Yard on board looking for the diamonds.

Lovely Patricia Donahue plays one of the jewel thieves. She really brightens things up.

The series really suffered after Bernard Gorcey died in a car accident and Leo Gorcey left the series. Stanley Clements played Duke, not as a new Slip, but as a combination of the Slip and Gabe Moreno characters. Stanley and Huntz Hall never could duplicate the chemistry between Leo and Huntz.

This last Bowery Boys movie is worth watching, for Patricia Donahue if nothing else. But it is typical BB fare and you like the series, you will like this one, too. I am watching it right now on TCM Saturday morning movies.

"In the Money" in the very last feature-film in the Dead End Kids, Little Tough Guys, East Side Kids and the Bowery Boys saga that spanned from 1937 to 1958 and included 80 or 90 movies. It is incredible body of cinema work to leave behind by one comedy team.

I recently watched the entire Bowery Boys series on Turner Classic Movies (2016-2017). The old snap, crackle and pop wasn't present in the final few years of the series.I think it would have been a good move on the director's part to incorporate Eddie LeRoy more into Hunt Hall's comedy routine. He was a very likable little guy with spectacles.

I think David Gorcey's Chuck would have been a better foil to Hall's Sach than Stanley Clement's Duke. However, the series was burnt to a crisp by 1958, and happily it ended with this movie.

Lunching on the sandwich he delivered to a travel agency, messenger Huntz Hall (as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones) impressed some crooks with is dimwittedness. They hire Mr. Hall as bodyguard for a poodle named "Gloria" and book them passage to London, England. Hall hoped "Gloria" was blonde Patricia Donahue (as Babs), but she's no dog. Hall doesn't know it, but Ms. Donahue is part of a smuggling scheme. "Gloria" has been shaved and strapped with fake fur containing stolen diamonds. In order to protect Hall from danger, fellow "Bowery Boys" Stanley Clements (as Stanislaus "Duke" Coveleskie), David Gorcey (as Chuck) and Eddie LeRoy (as Blinky) decide to stowaway on the ship.

"In the Money" was, thankfully, the last film in "The Bowery Boys" series. These films ran from 1946-1958, with highlights including "Bowery Buckaroos" (1947) and "Hold That Baby!" (1949). There were some good films released during the 1950s, but the decline was most noticeable in "Jungle Gents" (1954) and "Crashing Las Vegas" (1956). "The Bowery Boys" was a legally necessary spin-off from "The East Side Kids" (1940-1945), which is nicely represented by "Bowery Blitzkrieg" (1941). Before that, they were most well known as "The Dead End Kids", which boasted many spin-offs and sequels. Comparing "Dead End" (1937) to "In the Money" shows just how exhausted the ideas had become.

**** In the Money (2/16/58) William Beaudine ~ Huntz Hall, Stanley Clements, Patricia Donahue, David Gorcey

In the Money (1958)

** (out of 4)

This film marked the forty-eighth and final film in the Bowery Boys series and the quality of the movie was a tad higher than it had any right to be. In the film Sach (Huntz Hall) is paid big cash to take a poodle on a ship and over to England. Something seems fishy so Duke (Stanley Clements) and the gang go on board with him and soon realize that the idiot is being used by some crooked diamond smugglers. It's rather amazing that any series could last for forty-eight movies so on one hand you really do have to tip your hat but then again it's not like they had enough decent stories to carry so many films. With that said, this final entry is not unlike most others as we have the dimwitted Sach getting involved with crooks and we know that in the end he'll find his way out and everyone will live happily ever after. In terms of laughs this film doesn't offer too many but what keeps it from being boring is the fact that the cast are in high gear and really deliver nice performances. I do wonder what was going on with Hall who knew this was going to be the final film in the series. He had pretty much been playing this character from the mid 30s on so perhaps his emotions just got the best of him and he decided to go all out. To be fair, there were only a few films where he was lacking in terms of energy. I thought he managed to do a fine job with the part here, although he did seem to tone down some of the characters dumber characteristics. Thankfully the performance is full of energy and this here really helps keep the film moving because there aren't many laughs in its 61-minute running time. Clements and the boys don't get much to do, although their bit pretending to be English stowaways was pretty good. Once again Bill Elliott appears briefly as the shop owner, although he's not given much to do either. For the most part the story itself is pretty far-fetched and lame but this could be said about countless films in the series. Needless to say, if you're not a fan of the movies then you're probably going to be hitting the stop button early on but fans should be mildly entertained and it's somewhat refreshing when you watch these in order that you've finally arrived at the end. There's no question that the series was on its final legs but at the same time it's rather hard saying goodbye to the boys.

The Bowery Boys made an astounding 48 films. This doesn't even count the films they made as the East Side Kids or Dead End Kids or Little Tough Guys. In fact, by the 48th the only 'boy' who was prominently featured was Huntz Hall (age 38) as even Leo Gorcey had enough and retired a few pictures earlier. Intead of burying the concept because it had become stale, Allied Artists kept churning out more even though the formula had long since worn thin. So, in light of this, I wasn't particularly excited about seeing this last film.

When the film begins, a crook can easily see that Sach is a complete moron and hires him for some dubious scheme that involves Sach sailing to England. What illegal or unethical scheme is afoot? They say he's going to be a young lady's bodyguard...but there's obviously much more to it than this! See the film and find out for yourself what stupid situation Sach has gotten himself into this time.

In addition to the use of some bad stock footage to show that they went to England (and saying 'London Bridge' when the one in the footage was 'Westminster Bridge'), the film features the usual dopey antics of Sach. If these make you laugh, great. For me, however, it just felt to familiar...and a bit tired. In other words, if you've already seen a lot of the Bowery Boys films, this one will be tiresome. If you haven't, it's agreeable enough but nothing special.

By the way, the guy carrying the tray in the final scene is Snub Pollard, a wonderful silent film comedian. In the talking picture era, he dropped his painted on mustache and appeared in a variety of random bit parts.

Very disappointed in this movie it just didn't work. The original cast was Irreplaceable. Not too much humor and very few slips of the tongue. Disappointing.

Yes, the very last Bowery Boys episode, but not all that bad. In fact, the film had a slightly higher budget (there was an upgrade in the sets, and with an ocean liner background) and director William Beaudine returned to close it all out.

"One Take" Bill was fondly remembered for doing most of the scenes (after lots of rehersals) in a single take, going back to the days of the EAST SIDE KIDS in the early 40s. He also understood how the guys worked, especially Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall, letting them do the scenes their way, which meant lots of schtick and ad libs. Hall really goofs it up here, running all over the script, and why all us kids loved this series.

Switching scenes from the Bowery, which was a great idea by writer Elwood Ullman, Sach snags a job as a dog sitter for a classy French Poodle, unaware that diamond smugglers are using the dog (the diamonds wrapped around it in a fake fur piece), taking the gang on a wacky ocean voyage from New York to London.

The episode is nuts, mostly because of Huntz Hall. He's the whole show. Stanley Clements as Duke, more or less played his role straight, much in the style of Bud Abbott. True, it wasn't quite the same without Leo Gorcey anymore, but Stan did a fairly good job just being exasperated to the max, and every once in awhile tossing in some malaprops, like Gorcey. David Gorcey (as Chuck) remained through the entire series, truly the original Bowery Boy. Eddie LeRoy played Blinkey, whose style was a lot like Whitey, played by Billy Benedict. Amazing to see how the Bowery Boys decreased in size in this final episode, as compared to the episodes a decade earlier.

Another big surprise here are some fine supporting actors; veteran Paul Cavanagh as the very British police inspector and actress Patricia Donahue playing Babs. Donahue would move on to tv to appear in some terrific dramatic parts. Look for comedian Norma Varden in a bit, playing a fancy British lady, reminiscent of her appearance in LOOSE IN LONDON (1953). Funnyman Dick Elliott returned as Mike, owner of the diner.

Lots of credit also going to writer Ullman, who wrote scores of short films for the Three Stooges, later the camp 60s film THE GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI. Best scene comes at the end with a goofy chase up and down halls and rooms in a hotel, again reminding you of the Stooges.

In a historical note. The scene with Sach out on the hotel building ledge, trading goofy lines with Norma Varden, may have inspired the famous wall climbing bits in tv's BATMAN. It sure has that feel.

If only this final episode was in color.

Thanks much to TCM for running this classic series and Warner Brothers for remastering the original episodes into dvd box sets. The original cover artwork is a treasure for fans. A job well done.