Gentleman Joe Palooka

This second installment of the Joe Palooka series from Monogram Pictures picks up where the first one ended...with Joe becoming the boxing champ. Now that he's champ, he has two goals....to defend the title as often as possible, taking on all comers...and to do some good with his new celebrity status. The first part is easy...and Joe easily defeats everyone he boxes. However, the second,...well, it's no so easy. Joe is above all things quite naive and when some 'nice people' approach him about supporting some legislation, he agrees...and only later realizes he's been used and instead of doing good, he's helped some jerks get rich at the expense of the taxpayers! Despondant, Joe simply quits...heading back to his home town and refusing to make any public appearances or box! Not surprisingly, Knobby goes to work trying to do anything he can to give Joe a reason to return to the ring.

In many ways, this is reminiscent of the classic film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"...and, the leader of the jerks is played by Guy Kibbee...who was also in this earlier film playing a similar role. Fortunately, it's different enough that it isn't a remake nor rip-off of the Frank Capra classic. It's more inspired by "Mr. Smith" than a copy.

While I'd never call "Gentleman Joe Palooka" a great film, it is different...something the first in the series really wasn't. And, it is enjoyable.