In the Money

Huntz hall and david gorcey are in the very last chapter of the bowery boys. Sadly, as dad gorcey had died a couple years before in a freak car accident, leo gorcey (usually played slip) was not part of this, and had left the franchise a couple years back. In this one, sach ends up sailing on a cruise ship, as a courier to smuggle in some diamonds for the bad guys. Co-stars the delicious pat donahue, who was pretty new to hollywood. The storyline is the best part of this, but without slip, most of the jokes just fall flat. I can see why it was the last bowery boys film they ever made. Directed by bill beaudine, who had directed tons of the bowery boys films. Keep an eye out for mike the shop keeper... he was the mayor in andy griffith. It's just barely okay. A real shortie...at just 61 minutes.

After a successful run of 58 movies from 1946 to 1958, the Bowery Boys series came to an end with this movie. It probably died from a combination of the inroads television was making, the fact that the boys were getting too old to play adolescents, and the loss of Leo Gorcey for the last 7 movies. (He said he couldn't continue after his father, Bernard Gorcey, died in 1955.) His malapropisms, leadership and confidence was sorely missed by me. Stanley Clements takes his place in this movie, and I counted just one malapropism. Huntz Hall is up to his usual childish tricks (which made him so endearing to his fans, including me), dog-sitting a poodle on an ocean voyage to London for some diamond smugglers. But the other members of the gang, who were stowaways on board, seemed like excess baggage, and Hall just couldn't carry the comedy by himself. The movie didn't have the energy of the early entries, which Leo Gorcey and even Bernard Gorcey provided. A sad ending to a series I enjoyed as a kid.

Lunching on the sandwich he delivered to a travel agency, messenger Huntz Hall (as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones) impressed some crooks with is dimwittedness. They hire Mr. Hall as bodyguard for a poodle named "Gloria" and book them passage to London, England. Hall hoped "Gloria" was blonde Patricia Donahue (as Babs), but she's no dog. Hall doesn't know it, but Ms. Donahue is part of a smuggling scheme. "Gloria" has been shaved and strapped with fake fur containing stolen diamonds. In order to protect Hall from danger, fellow "Bowery Boys" Stanley Clements (as Stanislaus "Duke" Coveleskie), David Gorcey (as Chuck) and Eddie LeRoy (as Blinky) decide to stowaway on the ship.

"In the Money" was, thankfully, the last film in "The Bowery Boys" series. These films ran from 1946-1958, with highlights including "Bowery Buckaroos" (1947) and "Hold That Baby!" (1949). There were some good films released during the 1950s, but the decline was most noticeable in "Jungle Gents" (1954) and "Crashing Las Vegas" (1956). "The Bowery Boys" was a legally necessary spin-off from "The East Side Kids" (1940-1945), which is nicely represented by "Bowery Blitzkrieg" (1941). Before that, they were most well known as "The Dead End Kids", which boasted many spin-offs and sequels. Comparing "Dead End" (1937) to "In the Money" shows just how exhausted the ideas had become.

**** In the Money (2/16/58) William Beaudine ~ Huntz Hall, Stanley Clements, Patricia Donahue, David Gorcey

Sach unknowingly dog-sits a diamond studded poodle for a gang of smugglers during a trans-Atlantic voyage.

It's amazing the series lasted as long as it did, surviving well into the TV era with material now common to the little black box. Hall really deserves more credit than he's gotten for his raw comic abilities, on display here in highly energetic form since he knows he has to carry the film. Sure, his style was childish and over the top, but compare that style with Jerry Lewis's nitwit kid from the same era. Yet, Lewis is celebrated in many quarters as some kind of genius, while Hall is largely forgotten. Still, I don't see that much difference in absurd styles, except Lewis was backed by big studio Paramount, while the Bowery Boys depended on poverty row outfits like Allied Artists.

I agree with others-- the series was never the same without Leo Gorcey, a fine comedic talent in his own right and sturdy counterpoint to Hall's goofy shenanigans. As a result, Hall was left to carry on as best he could with budgets not much bigger than a take-out at MacDonalds, which is very much the case here, where everything occurs indoors, even the voyage. Worse, the action appears limited to the same room and hallway that merely get rearranged from one set-up to the next. No wonder it's the gang's swan song. Too bad they couldn't have gone out on a higher note. Nonetheless, their career from Dead End (1937) to this final entry (1958) spans 20 of the most turbulent years in the nation's history and a whole series of changing popular tastes. A pretty good record of longevity, I think, for a gang of likable losers.

The Bowery Boys limp across the finish line with "In the Money", their final movie. It's a completely laughless affair. The jokes are cornier than usual. Huntz Hall is not as annoying as he often can be but that doesn't mean he's funny in this movie. Hall cannot carry a Bowery Boys movie on his own. He needs the company of Leo Gorcey and Bernard Gorcey. On his own, Hall is in trouble. The production quality of "In the Money" is also lacking. It has the look of a low budget movie of its era. The supporting cast is functional but there aren't any standouts. Patricia Donahue is the best of the bunch, especially the brief moment when she gets wet. "In the Money" is one of the Bowery Boys weakest efforts.