Palooka

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)

Hilarious pre censorship code boxing farce with Jummy Durante and Stuart Erwin, this homespun Vs city comedy about fixed boxing matches pre dates the Robert Wise classic by 15 years. It's an altogether different tone but with a similar theme: set-up boxing bouts. This one is played for laughs and sappy romance.....the attraction here definitely being the very rude and outright vulgarity of the comedy. Durante is flapping about snozzling his ridiculous comedy style with double meaning retorts and, glamorpuss bra-less nightclub floozie Lupe Velez whilst clearly not wearing underwear beneath her silk gowns has a neckline plunge so low it's a wonder viewers didn't see the map of Tasmania, so to speak. One outright hilarious scene with a French waiter saying "Oui Oui" repeatedly gets yelled at by an exasperated Durante who says "Alfonse! Will you stop wee weeing all over the place". Durante's theme song "Inka Dinka Doo" was obviously a gramophone hit in this era and gets a show spot all to itself. The laughter of Depression viewers in giant old theaters would have lifted the roof on many occasions in this one hour sparring match of one-liners. Everyone gets walloped, even Mother belts Hubby's showgirl pick-up square on the jaw in reel one. Stuart Erwin plays his usual "aww gee" hick character, and James Cagney's lookalike brother (astonishingly so) William, plays Mc Swatt the bad dude boxer also chasing Lupe's hemline. It's a very funny film. The DVD disc available in shops in Oz is OK, more like a DVD rom with some grainy pixilation. Made by Reliance Pictures, who sound like Majestic or Liberty or Chesterfield Pictures, all poverty row outfits of the time, I have a suspicion it is again, a faux Tiffany Production: they folded in 1932 but clearly kept the lot running as various other "name" brands used the facilities. The production values of PALOOKA a very good with the style of decor and design of a Tiffany Production.

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.

This feature length film based on Ham Fisher's comic strip Joe Palooka has Stu Erwin cast as quite a different Palooka than Fisher created. In the strip Joe Palooka is a clean living Jack Armstrong/Frank Merriwell type, defender of the weak and downtrodden when he's not in the ring. Erwin is clean living all right but no one would ever cast him as a Jack Armstrong.

Stu is the son of an Armstrong though, Robert Armstrong plays Pete Palooka his dad, former champion who could not lay off the booze and the women. That caused a split with his wife show girl Marjorie Rambeau and she quit the stage and raised Erwin out in the country on a farm with lots of clean living and a wholesome girl played by Mary Carlisle wants to marry him.

But a chance encounter with fight manager Knobby Walsh played by the one and only Jimmy Durante has Erwin convinced to follow his dad into the boxing game. And another fluke has him beating champion William Cagney and not only inheriting his title but also his girlfriend Lupe Velez.

Now that's one cast of colorful players that should alone make you want to see this film. Even if it's not what creator Ham Fisher had in mind Palooka is still a nice film with a few sly innuendos that those who love those before the Code films will appreciate.

Written into the film is Jimmy Durante in a drunken stupor singing one of his famous songs Inka-Dinka-Doo. And there's nothing like the come hither glance that only Lupe Velez can give to any man. That woman could seduce Truman Capote.

Not a great one as far as boxing films are concerned but still some fine entertainment.

You'll know the ancient Greek myth of the Sirens: beautiful woman-like creatures who were so utterly alluring they would lure sailors onto the rocks to die. The spirit of those temptresses lived on in the equally alluring shape of Lupe Vélez. SO HEED MY WARNING: just because you have heard that Lupe Vélez wears the lowest cut, gravity-defying, sexiest dress ever created (clearly by some powerful dark magic), be like Odysseus and ignore the temptation. If you don't you'll be sorry because the last thing you want to do is suffer an hour and a half of this!

You often hear the word Palooka in pictures from the 30s and 40s which I'd always though was just one of those many slang insults which were thrown around - seemingly not! It comes from this film - or rather from a massively popular American newspaper comic strip called 'Joe Palooka' on which this film was based. A PALOOKA is a not very bright, sometimes violent but not malevolent thug. 'Moose' played by Mike Mazurki in FAREWELL MY SWEET is probably the perfect example. As much as the etymology is quite interesting, the film is not. It's probably because the characters are taken from a comic strip that they're one dimensional. Maybe back when people were reading "The Funnies" they'd enjoy seeing these drawings come to life but for us now this feels flat and lifeless.

It starts off promising enough with a great cast: you'll recognise Otis Harlan (Happy from SNOW WHITE), Robert Armstrong, Thelma Todd and the wonderful Marjorie Rambeau..... but that's all in flashback. After ten minutes the story starts properly and we end up with the B team taking over. From then on the whole thing rapidly goes downhill. After an hour you'll be hating yourself for deciding to watch this.

Even though his character is based on a comic strip drawing Stuart Erwin is terrible, absolutely terrible, absolutely horrendously terrible in this. His character, like the one he played in MAKE ME A STAR is, as they might have said back in the 30s 'feeble minded.' His character's flaws and issues were intrinsic to the story of MAKE ME A STAR, they made you sympathise with him, he came across as a real person and you were desperate to be able to do something to help him. In this you feel you'd want to lock him up in the attic. He's lazily written, appallingly acted and doesn't seem to be directed at all. He is an idiot so ridiculous that he lacks any credibility or authenticity and since you can't believe he's real, you can't like him, you don't care about him and you certainly don't find him funny.

Even worse is Jimmy Durante. It seems he was around forever but I have never seen him ever before. I'm no spring chicken but I've never heard of this person until now - how lucky I am!. Just watch some of this and you'll understand why nobody today knows who Jimmy Durante is. Heavens to Murgatroyd, as Snagglepuss used to exclaim, he's unbelievably awful!

That the only thing worth watching in this tiresome picture, beside seeing why James Cagney's brother's acting career never went anywhere, is an attractive young Mexican lady who couldn't act very well in a sexy outfit clearly shows what rubbish this is. She is quite pretty but nothing is worth the payment of an hour and a half of Jimmy Durante. As a more palatable alternative, she did look rather breath-taking in THE HALF NAKED TRUTH but you would have to put up with an hour and a half of Lee Tracy - nothing like as bad as Mr Durante.