Fighting Fools

Frankie Darro, a child actor who reached screen prominence a few years before the Dead End Kids playing their kind of roles, joins with the Bowery Boys in this more serious entry in the Bowery Boys series.

The guys go into the fight managing business, especially after the middle brother of three Higgins brothers gets killed in the ring. Eldest brother Darro who was a former top ranked contender decides to make a comeback in the ring with Leo Gorcey as his manager.

The champion is managed by a crook played by Lyle Talbot who is not too squeamish about what tactics he uses to win a bout. But he can't seem to hire good help which is why the Bowery Boys outwit him in the end.

Huntz Hall gets a chance to shine in this one. The gullible and guileless Satch actually gets a chance to outwit two of Talbot's henchmen. Now can you imagine Satch outwitting anybody? What does that say about the help Talbot was hiring? You have to see the film to find out how Satch does it.

This is definitely one of the best Bowery Boys films, fans of the eternal slum kids should love it.

"The Bowery Boys" are hanging around the ring again, with chief Leo Gorcey (as Slip Mahoney) passing out boxing programs. Hot dog vendor Huntz Hall (as Sach), ice cream dispenser William "Billy" Benedict (as Whitey), ice cold drink holder David Gorcey (as Chuck), and popcorn salesman Benny "Bennie" Bartlett (as Butch) are also on hand. The plot involves Gorcey and the gang helping semi-regular Frankie Darro (as Johnny Higgins) crawl out of the gutter and back into the boxing ring, after his star brother suffers a terminal knockout.

With its recycling plot and characters, "Fighting Fools" is comfortable if not special. Mr. Darro does nicely with an uncommon (by this time) amount of story focus and screen time. Director Reginald Le Borg did very well with his short stint guiding the Bowery series; his just released "Trouble Makers" was good, and the forthcoming "Hold That Baby!" would be even better.

***** Fighting Fools (3/17/49) Reginald Le Borg ~ Frankie Darro, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Teddy Infuhr

Fighting Fools (1949) has a much more serious tone than the usual slapstick hijinks seen in the other BB movies. It opens with the Boys working as vendors at a boxing match. Their friend, Jimmy Higgins, takes a bad beating beating and dies in the ring. Sach and Slip find Jimmy's brother, Johnny, to tell him the bad news. Johnny was a promising fighter until he was double crossed by crooked hoodlum/gambler manager Blinky Harris and lost his will to box. Now he's living on skid row and is down and out. Slip convinces him to get back in shape and make a comeback. With Slip, Sach, and the other boys holding workouts in Louie's Sweet Shop Johnny becomaes a real contender. Sports reporter Gabe Moreno gives the Boys good coverage in the newspaper. But will blinks Harris interfere with Johnny's march to the title?

There's not much comedy in this one. It's mostly a regular B-movie boxing drama. It's definitely not the typical Bowery boys flick.

Frankie Darrow plays Johnny and he fits right in with the Bowery Boys. Gabriel Dell is Gabe and he was always a positive addition to these movies. Lyle Talbot is properly nasty as Blinky Harris.

Check the credits for John Indrisano as the boxing coordinator. John fought as a welterweight from 1923-1934. He had a record of 64-9-4. The Ring Boxing magazine once called him "The Uncrowned Champion of the World." He worked as a driver and bodyguard for Mae West. John was also friends with Frank Sinatra and appeared in five of his movies. He trained most of the big male stars for roles in which they played a boxer. John died at the age of 62, apparently a suicide by hanging.

Fighting Fools (1949) is enjoyable as long as the viewer doesn't expect to see the usual comedy routines of the boys.

I have watched a few Bowry Boys films here or there, but I am hardly someone you would call a fan. For every decent one of their films I've seen, I've probably seen two others that were rather poor. But I do have to give them credit where credit's due, as "Fighting Fools" is actually pretty good. Sure, it has a bunch of boxing clichés but the overall effort is very watchable.

Slip and the gang are horrified when one of their friends is beaten to death in a boxing match. They promise to try to help the guy's mother and little brother and so they stage a boxing match, on the level, to raise money for them. At the same time, Slip announces that the dead guy's brother, Johnny (Frankie Darro), will come out of retirement and he'll eventually be battling for the title. Considering he never asked Johnny, this IS a rather bold announcement. Eventually, however, he convinces Johnny and Johnny's mother and Slip and the gang manage the fighter. However, a evil jerk and his 'associates' are determined to control the fight industry and are not above cheating to hang on to the ill-gotten title.

Slip and the gang are exactly what you'd expect in the film...though (fortunately) a bit restrained. The acting aside from them is good and the story, while familiar, is well handled. Entertaining and a nice time-passer.

Leo gorcey and huntz hall were now called the bowery boys, since the mid 1940s. And like so many others in the 1940s and 1950s, they had to make a film about corruption in the fights. Althought their's will undoubtedly have more humor than (any of) the others. Hollywood star lyle talbot is blinky, the crooked manager, handling the fixed fights. Gorcey's dad bernard is in this one, along with leo's brother david. When slip's friend dies in the ring, they talk johnny into going back into the ring to fight an honest fight, with the winnings going to the dead guy's family. The usual word play and tongue twisting, for humor. It's all in good fun. But of course, the thug managers have more tricks up their sleeves than to just let johnny take the fight without trickery and deceit. Can slip and johnny figure out what happened, and explain it to the commissioner? There's a serious story here, with a minimal amount of silliness and pratfalls in this one. It's good. Totally predictable, but good. Free on tubi streaming. Directed by reginald le borg. He made a bunch of the joe palooka films, and a real mish-mash of other films.