Two Guys from Milwaukee

European Prince Henry (Dennis Morgan) is on a tour of the United States. He's tired of prepared meetings with the powerful. He wants to meet regular folks and Lauren Bacall. He sneaks away from his entourage for a 24 hour escape. He befriends cabbie Buzz Williams (Jack Carson).

The prince gets discovered rather quickly but they transition into a fun fake love triangle. It's fun until it's not. The fight is a little too much and would only work if they're falling down drunk. A drunken fight could be fun. It takes a while for it to wrap up. They do finally end this after a lot of praising of America and the common man. It's hokey but it probably won over the post-war audience.

This film could have been a classic, because the script by I.A.L. ('Iz') Diamond is first rate. But as it was only his second film, and he had no clout, Warner Brothers threw it away on a B picture directed by an inferior director, David Butler, with a low budget, and a B cast, in which Jack Carson's bad acting made it all a mess. There are sub-texts to this film which few viewers could suspect unless they knew a great deal of background. The story concerns the visit to America of a prince of a Balkan country, whose fate as future king is about to be decided by plebiscite. Although the fate of the Italian monarchy was being decided at this time, the real satirical target of Diamond's script was Romania. Diamond was a Romanian Jew born in Romania, and knew more than a thing or two about Balkan monarchies and their reception in America. Queen Marie of Romania, a contemporary of Diamond's, was the most rapturously received royal visitor the United States ever had until Princess Diana came along. In this satirical tale, the visiting prince, very well played by Dennis Morgan, wants to escape royal protocol and discover what real American life is like. He becomes a 'guy from Milwaukee', along with a real one, a cab driver from Brooklyn played by Carson. Prince Henry (Morgan) eats his first hamburger, falls in love rather quickly with an all-American girl (Joan Leslie, who does an excellent job), and ends up siding with democracy instead of monarchy. Much excellent political satire in the script is completely lost in the film which resulted. S. Z. Sakall is most amusing as the prince's equerry. Diamond gives plenty of reign to the part of a charming little girl, who gets many of the best lines in the film, played by Patti Brady, aged nine. However, all these brilliant touches are wasted in the B film ambiance and because of the total and deadly lack of inspiration of the director. Throughout the film, a constant obsessive thread runs, which is the prince's crush on Lauren Bacall. This is more than just an inside joke, as Bacall was herself of Romanian Jewish descent, like Diamond, so that there is a lot more to all this than meets the eye, and Diamond was bringing in various favourite subjects and people without anyone knowing the background or reasons. Diamond was later to become famous for writing 'Some Like it Hot', 'The Apartment' (for which he won a well-deserved Oscar), and many other famous films. This could have been on the list of his triumphs, but it was written too soon. The film is very funny nevertheless, with some great lines, not always well delivered. You have to imagine the film as it should have been while you watch this.

First of all I am a man writing this review and not a left leaning liberated woman. Having gotten that out of the way, after reading some of the other reviews one would have thought that this picture is just like a string of previous released films in which the dim-witted gorgeous leading lady is confused as to whom she really loves and she will let her two (2) alpha male co-stars duke it out to decide who gets to marry her.

I didn't see the leading lady actress Joan Leslie who plays a manicurist named Connie Reed in the same light as most other narrow minded film goers. No, in my humble opinion the attractive Connie Reed by her own admission had been dating a string of men over the past few years tasting the many different shaped lips of her many male suitors not in a deliberate effort to get her main man cabbie Buzz Williams (Jack Carson) jealous but smartly just to see if she would be missing out on anything before she decided if it was worth settling down with her hack driver Buzz.

I viewed actress Joan Leslie as an actress a half century ahead of her time in which this leading lady certainly had a mind of her own and no one was going to tell her who she could date and where she could be seen in public with, even if it looked as if she may be just another gold digger. Kudos also to the original screenplay writers Charles Hoffman, and I.A.L. Diamond who had the foresight to create Connie Reed's character as a liberated and free thinking woman which was well ahead of its time back in 1946 when this film was first released.

If you think the story is about a foreign prince who comes to Brooklyn to escape his royal treatment and just eat hamburgers and swig beer with a cab driver you would be remiss in your thinking. I believe the message really is about a woman named Connie Reed perfectly cast with Joan Leslie who chooses her own future husband. Before she decides to settle down she wants to take advantage of what other men may have to offer her too and she makes no bones about her strong will and backs down to no man, even if that man is a royal prince.

Two Guys from Milwaukee is an underrated film with a message for liberating woman that was decades ahead of its time. Quite possibly the film saved thousands of women from marrying the wrong man and settling for less than they were deserving of in an equal partner. You may have to watch this film more than once to appreciate the same message that I garnered from this classy comedy/romance film but the message is clear. You are woman and we hear you roar!

A very deserving 8 out of 10 rating

A Balkan prince making an official tour of the United States jumps off the train to mingle with the common people and experience the "real" America. Prince Henry (Dennis Morgan) befriends a cabbie from Brooklyn named Buzz Williams (Jack Carson) and gets a street-level view of New York City with the help of Buzz's family and friends.

The prince particularly enjoys seeing the sights with Buzz's girlfriend, Connie (Joan Leslie), who is a manicurist. In a short time, they grow very close, setting up a romantic triangle that is the crux of the film. All three characters are very likable and the romantic complications are kept light. In fact, Buzz and Connie have an unusual relationship. When Connie has to make a choice between the two gents, it is handled very well.

Within the story are plugs for democracy (in the immediate aftermath of the world war). This coincides with the beginning of the American effort to export its political system.

Warner Brothers also used the film to promote its upcoming film, "The Big Sleep", which would be released later. This is done cleverly and humorously.

The entire cast is fun to watch. Carson and Morgan might not be the studio's answer to Crosby and Hope, but they have a chemistry that works well. They will later appear in "Two Guys from Texas".

Plot-- A European prince travels to the US to learn about life in a democracy. There he meets a Brooklyn cab driver and gets a whirlwind intro to big city America, especially when he and the cabbie compete for the same girl.

Is democracy a better governing institution than monarchy. Boy, there's a tough one for the movie to answer. Forget the plot that has the prince (Morgan) discovering the joys of blue- collar Brooklyn. Instead, it's the cast and a number of comedic touches that lift this romantic comedy. Morgan and Carson may never have reached Hope and Crosby's level of team success, but they're just as likable.

Actually, many of the laughs come from the supporting cast plus good side-action touches. For instance, there's that sly old teddy bear, SZ (Cuddles) Sakall. His fractured English is always good for a chuckle and a hug. Then there's Franklyn Pangborn doing his flustered bit as the theatre manager. It's always fun to watch his officious manner get punctured. The girls, Leslie and Paige, are both fetching and energetic, lending real bounce.

I confess looking forward to these 40's features in order to marvel over the ladies hats. Back then, a woman wasn't really dressed without a dress hat, and invariably the head-gear resembled alien life forms, as the exaggerated plumes do here.

Anyway, Butler directs with verve and style, helping get us over Connie's (Leslie) rather tiresomely repetitive dilemma—will it be blue-collar Bud (Carson) or refined royalty (Morgan) that she ends up with. Too bad the rivalry drags out longer than it should. A trim job here would have given the comedy more punch.

Nonetheless, the likable cast generally keeps the chuckles coming, while Morgan-Carson make an entertaining team. I just hope Bud learns to park his cab before I get there.