Palooka

I found this gem in the bargain bin but it is a must see for anyone interested in classic movies. I am a huge Jimmy Durante fan and he was terrific, but I thought Lupe Valez stole the show. She was an incredible comedic actress who died much too young. She lead a tragic life but you would never know it by her performance here. Jimmy Durante was just non stop in your face comedy. He was a great entertainer with heart and intensity. Also, William Cagney did a wonderful job as Al McSwatt and Marjorie Rambeau was unforgettable as Mayme Palooka. This had me laughing from start to finish and the ending was the biggest laugh of all.

PALOOKA (United Artists, 1934), an Edward Small Production for Reliance Pictures, directed by Benjamin Stoloff, is a boxing comedy based on then popular comic strip character by the name of "Joe Palooka," as created by Ham Fischer. Starring Jimmy Durante in his first leading role, the title character goes to the third billed Stuart Erwin, a yokel farm boy who develops himself into a prizefighter like his once famous father.

The under five minute prologue opens in the horse and buggy/gas-lit "Shine On, Harvest Moon" 1890s era of New York City's Broadway district that presents Joe Palooka as the infant son of famous boxer, Pete Palooka (Robert Armstrong), notable for his corkscrew punch. Pete enters the backstage entrance of the theater to meet with his wife, Mayme (Marjorie Rambeau), in her dressing room to get a good luck kiss from her for the upcoming fight. After winning the boxing title, Pete has a victory party, forgetting his promise to spend it with Mayme. Mayme, however, enters the celebration where she catches her womanizing husband with Trixie (Thelma Todd), which thus ends their relationship in marriage. Twenty years later, Mayme, a retired entertainer country living on a farm in Brookfield, New York, has done well raising her son, Joe (Stuart Erwin), now a young yokel helping with the farm chores. While driving down the road to deliver eggs to the train station for his mother, Joe witnesses an incident on the side of the road involving a prizefighter, "Dynamite" Wilson (Al Hill) socking Knobby Walsh (Jimmy Durante) for money owed him. In Knobby's defense, Joe knocks out Dynamite in one punch, thus, having Knobby talking Joe into becoming his prizefight manager once he learns of Joe being the son of the grand champ in his day. Because Mayme wants nothing to do with fighters and her association with husband, Pete, Joe tells his mother about acquiring a big city job working for Knobby in "the leather business," while his best girl, Anne Howe (Mary Carlisle), knows and keeps his secret. Mayme, however, learns the truth while listening to a sports radio program and hopes her son "gets his block knocked off." Although Joe is not a natural fighter as his father, he does have a stroke of luck fighting with Al McSwatt (William Cagney, James Cagney's look-alike brother), who arrives drunk at City Stadium in Paterson, N.J., unable to function at his best. Now that Joe is phony champion through a series of fixed fights arranged by Knobby, Nina Madero (Lupe Velez), a cabaret entertainer, changes her affections from McSwatt to Joe, changing the country boy yokel to an over-confident, obnoxious leather-pusher, no longer the good boy his mother had raised nor the prizefighter Knobby had earlier discovered. If that's not enough, McSwatt wants to have a rematch fight against Joe Palooka to win back Mona's false love and affections.

Other members of the cast include: Franklin Ardell ("Doc' Wise, McSwatt's Manager); Tom Dugan ("Whitey," Joe's trainer); Louise Beavers (Crystal, the Palooka Maid); Frederick "Snowflake" Toones ("Smokey"); Stanley Fields ("Blackie"); Gus Arnheim and his Orchestra; and Rolfe Sedan (Alphonse, the Dressmaker). Look quickly for Guinn Williams ("Slats") in one brief scene at the start of the movie. Though there are several songs credited for PALOOKA, only "Would You Like Me a Little Bit More?" (sung by Lupe Velez in the Paradise Club sequence); and Jimmy Durante's signature song, "Inka-Dinka Do" are performed.

Aside from watching early Jimmy Durante with full head of dark hair with his familiar (sometimes forced) mannerisms to get his quota of laughs, and the casting of Stuart Erwin in the title role, there's that Mexican Spitfire Lupe Velez arousing much attention as the flirtatious Mona, who is called a "tramp" by Joe's mother. Robert Armstrong, better known for his leading role in KING KONG (RKO Radio, 1933), makes a satisfactory former boxing champion hoping to win back both wife and son in the latter portion of the story. Marjorie Rambeau, (in a performance that makes one think of actress, Gladys George) essays both younger and later middle-aged portrayal as a tough gal with conviction, even down to packing a wallop as good as her boxer husband.

Initially theatrically released at 86 minutes, PALOOKA was later reissued with Astor Picture distribution in edited form of 74 minutes along with elimination of Thelma Todd's (1906-1935) name from the opening cast credits. The reissues have been those that were made available to television for many years.) PALOOKA also became a 45 minute featurette on public television's "Matinee at the Bijou" in the early 1980s). It was also in the early 1980s that PALOOKA, now a public domain movie title, was distributed to video cassette (and later DVD) by various distributors. Only the Hal Roach Company was the only distributer to release the film to home video in complete 86 minute edition. In later years, American Movie Classics cable channel broadcast the complete/unedited PALOOKA during the 1999/2000 season.

Although Joe Palooka and Knobby Walsh were later portrayed a decade later by Joe Kirkwood Jr. and Leon Errol in a second feature film series for Monogram Studios (1946-1951), it's the Jimmy Durante and Stuart Erwin combination that's better known for being amusingly good to the last punch. Inka Dinka Do. (**1/2 boxing gloves)

I got a kick out of this film for the first half of it, but it got so stupid with the main characters that I had a hard time finishing it. However, it was still worth a look to see Lupe Valez. I had read what a strange character she was in real life, and that she was sexy woman, so at least I have now seen her. She was a very pretty lady and not shy, either. This film just made it under the wire before the Hays Code came along, so Lupe showed us about all of her breasts. They weren't anything noteworthy, but she certainly showed what she had and a year later, she would have been forced to cover up.

Stu Erwin plays the boxer "Joe Palooka." He plays a really inept fighter and stupid guy in general who is endearing for awhile but wears thin. The same goes for Jimmy Durante's role of fight manager "Knobby Walsh." He really wears thin.

Anyway, this is typical early '30s material which means very corny and dated in the humor and romance department, sometimes hilarious and a bit racy and edgy but one that bogs down midway through.

If they're not going to refer to the source in any conceivable way, they should use a different name. Doughy milk toast Stu Erwin can be quite good in the right roles but not as Joe Palooka or any fighter. Yeesh. However it is a real treat to see a completely out of control Jimmy Durante and a completely out of control Lupe Velez. The rest of the cast is interesting enough, I always like Robert Armstrong and it's fun to see Cagney's brother, Billy though he doesn't have nearly the character or screen presence of Jimmy. The whole story is just plain dumb but it gets a rave for that little gem, Lupe Velez and that master of farce, Jimmy Durante.

Wow. PALOOKA might have just about every boxing cliché known to films, yet somehow it manages to be very likable and a great film for lovers of old B-movies. Much of this is because the dialog hums and the stars do the most with the material.

Stu Erwin plays Joe Palooka--a farm boy who is discovered by a boxing promoter (Jimmy Durante) and becomes a nation-wide sensation. Erwin is good as a country boy though he is an odd choice to play the title character. In the comic, Joe was a heavyweight boxer but Erwin is pretty scrawny--and far from physically imposing. Despite the odd casting, Erwin is pretty good. Plus, able supporting characters help his performance quite a bit.

I am surprised to admit this, but probably the best actor in the film was Jimmy Durante. In the past I have been HIGHLY critical of some of his films, though the fault wasn't entirely Durante's. MGM foolishly paired him with Buster Keaton in sound films--even though Keaton's style was the polar opposite of Durante's. Keaton was a silent comic and Durante was brash and loud--very, very loud! Here, however, his insanely loud and dynamic persona actually works--much like it did in Hollywood PARTY. I liked how he constantly poked fun at himself and the ending with him and his new wife was wonderful--you just have to see it to believe it.

As for the plot, there are so many familiar plot elements--the bad woman who turns Joe's attention away from his virtuous girlfriend and boxing, the mother who is determined that her son won't throw his life away in the ring, the estranged father, etc., etc., etc.. Yet, despite all this it is also highly entertaining and fun throughout. A very good B film that is more enjoyable and fun than its score of 6 would usually indicate.