Jungle Gents

The Bowery Boys kept tabs on Abbott and Costello through the years, meeting up with mad doctors and monsters, so why not try out some gags with natives and witch doctors?

The gang also lucked out big time. BOMBA, THE JUNGLE BOY (starring Johnny Sheffield) was still being filmed on the lot, a sort of teenage Tarzan adventure series that had a following. Accordingly, they got all the jungle scenery for free!

The biggest plus in the series had Sach gaining super powers --every now and then. This time he goes to the doctor for a sinus infection, gulps down some pills and SUDDENLY has the ability to smell diamonds??? Simply amazing.

Of course, what better place to get all those hidden diamonds than in Africa! So away everybody goes... along with the usual band of crooks, who discovered the gang has come into possession of an old sea captain's map that will lead them to a fortune in diamonds. Obviously, Louie had financed the whole operation, right?

This is outrageous, and narrated by Slip, or make that Leo Gorcey's famous malaprops. Naturally, who else but Sach is entrusted with a secret map(!) --which gets burned up when he attempts to start a camp fire? Heaven forbid he tell Slip the bad news, so Sach makes up his own treasure map (from an ad for womens girdles?) and follows his nose!

The gang goes in circles, then Sach gets a cold and can't smell anything! The guys meet up with a crazy witch doctor who starts dancing around Sach. Best line department: "Even if you don't cure me, I dig the floor show!"

Not to miss the appearance of beautiful native girl Annatia, played by Laurette Luez. She takes an immediate liking to Sach.... "kiss, kiss, kiss!" and the rest is history! Luez at the time was a popular model, born in Honolulu, who also had many small roles in movies, such as the classic noir film, D. O. A., possibly her best role.

A lot of crazy stuff follows, and more classic narration from Slip. The guys end up in a cave --there's ghosts and the diamond treasure. Creative writing 101 on the part of Ed Bernds.

Goofy notes: this was the screen debut of future movie star Clint Walker, who plays Tarzan? Super trivia question.

And Emil Sitka from the Three Stooges has a bit as a painter on the boat.

Released via Warner Brothers in 6 to 8 movies per dvd box. A collectors item for devout fans.

If as Carol Channing and Marilyn Monroe sang that Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend than it would have been in Lorelei's interest to befriend Huntz Hall because in Jungle Gents a sinus operation has left Sach with a nose that can smell where diamonds are located. What to do with that but go to Africa and do a little prospecting.

The whole Bowery Boys gang including Bernard Gorcey who once again leaves Louie's Sweet Shop to accompany Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall and the rest to the Dark Continent. Of course diamonds already mined and out of the ground are easier to find which leads the boys into contact with some smugglers played by Patrick O'Moore and Rudolph Anders.

Really at this point the series was sliding downhill. How many more plots can they have where Huntz Hall develops some strange power that gets them all in a jackpot?

After a diamond heist, Huntz Hall (as Sach Jones) sniffs out some booty, which leads police to believe he's an accomplice. Actually, pill-popping Mr. Hall has acquired the power to smell the presence of diamonds; then, he is released. To wit, leader Leo Gorcey (as Slip Mahoney) decides to take Hall and "Bowery Boys" David "Condon" Gorcey (as Chuck) and Benny "Bennie" Bartlett (as Butch) to the "dark condiment" of Africa. There, they search for a fortune in lost diamonds, and mingle with natives…

"The Bowery Boys" and "Africa" do not mix. A good rest would have been preferable to this moronic, cheap, and clammy movie. The "lion scenes" are startlingly ineffective - look at them for an example of what NOT to try on a small budget. Gorcey appears alternately tired and angry. Hall is stuck with absolutely humorless material. Curvy Laurette Luez plays a luscious jungle girl in modest one-piece, Woody Strode collects a paycheck, and Clint ("Cheyenne") Walker has a memorable film cameo debut as "Tarzan", just before the curtain closes on "Jungle Gents".

** Jungle Gents (9/5/54) Edward Bernds ~ Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Bernard Gorcey

In many of the later Bowery Boys films, the plots involve Sach developing some sort of strange superhuman power--one that seems to disappear before the next film. Some examples of Sach's powers in films are super strength, the ability to predict numbers at gambling and mind reading...but the strangest has got to be here in "Jungle Gents". It seems that due to a sinus infection and his medication, Sach has the weird ability to sniff out diamonds with his nose!! Soon the boys and Louie find themselves in Africa...looking for lost diamonds. Talk about a strange, contrived plot!!!

A major strike against the film is the lack of originality. Sure, being able to smell diamonds IS original...but Sach developing super powers eventually became a cliché because this plot device was used so often. Of course, you don't expect Shakespeare or a Truffaut picture when it comes to the Bowery Boys!! There is also a strike against the extensive use of what is obviously stock footage...which you'd expect in a low-budget B-movie. You also get a giant stuffed lion which attacks Sach. In other words, it's not particularly distinguished and is like most of their later films...a bit lame. For better films, try to find the earlier Bowery Boys as well as the East Side Kids pictures.

By the way, the director and co-writer, Edward Bernds, also directed quite a few of the Three Stooges films...including the really lame later ones. He also did several of the Blondie and Dagwood pictures. So, he would appear to be in his element working here with the Bowery Boys.

Since I've reviewed a couple of Grade B Jungle Movies I'll try my hand at this one. I liked it a lot. The Gorceys and Huntz Hall always cracked me up. I regard this as one of their better late outings. Leo Gorcey's malaprops are there in all their glory. My favorite, "Africa, the dark condiment". Louie Dombrowski (Leo's dad Bernard in real life) from the sweet shop bringing his luggage on safari, jungle girl Laurette Luez' ridiculous fight with the stuffed lion to save Satch, most of all the wonderful chemistry between Slip Mahoney (Leo) and Satch(Hall). The thing moves. It doesn't let you think. They paid attention to little things, particularly casting. Laurette Luez is a vision as the Jungle Girl Onata and Clint Walker's cameo as a Tarzan type is priceless. Too bad they didn't make a real Tarzan movie with those two in the lead. Also look for the great Woody Strode as one of the native bearers. Apparently not all of the reviewers were crazy about the flick. It's a matter of taste, but it certainly works for me for me.