Blondie's Hero

Towards the end of the long-running Blondie series, it was obvious that the films had seen much better days. While I am fan of them, I am not blind to the fact that in their last few films the writers simply ran out of ideas and the series had simply jumped the shark, so to speak. Gone were the usual plots and in their place plots that just made no sense. "Blondie's Hero" might just be the worst of these, with a plot that seems as if it was randomly tossed onto the film!

Dagwood decides to join the Army Reserves...which is incredibly odd since he did NOT serve in WWII a decade earlier. Why is he suddenly joining now...now that there is no war (the Korean War was about to begin but it came as a bit of a surprise)?? And, why would they want to take a man nearing 40?! What motivated this sudden change?! Who knows?!

At the same time Dagwood is away at training, a con man (William Frawley) convinced him to sell his house for a huge profit. What he doesn't realize is that the guy is a crook and he sells the house while the family is gone and runs away with the money.

Both of these plots seem awfully far-fetched and strange...and because of that the film never really works. Gone is the normal, lovable and sweet comedy and in its place is something a bit like "Buck Privates"...especially with that stupid runaway tank bit...one, oddly, that had zero repercussions for Dagwood. If you see the film, you'll understand what I mean. Overall, a bad film....no other way to say it. And, it's one that you should never show to people not familiar with the series...lest they refuse to watch any more!!