My Boys Are Good Boys

As one of the previous reviewers confessed this film had all the earmarks of a tax write-off which it was for producer and star Ralph Meeker. Meeker got old Hollywood names Ida Lupino, Lloyd Nolan and Bosley from Charlie's Angels David Doyle to join him in this project.

Meeker is an armored car guard and he has a son Sean Roche in a reform school. Roche and his buddies from a reform school execute a well thought out plan along with Roche's sister Kerry Lynn to rob Meeker's armored car on its rounds collecting coins. Unlike bills completely untraceable, that part was well thought out. So was the actual robbery. But the idea is to do it and get back before this juvenile penal institution does its head count as these places are wont to do.

Lloyd Nolan as the security investigator for the armored car company is the only one who doesn't just go through the motions. The rest act like they are waiting for paychecks to clear from Ralph Meeker. The rest of the cast it's like we're seeing an amateur theater group.

This was Ida Lupino's farewell acting job. Too bad she couldn't go out on something better.

This movie stinks harder than all the dumplings left over by a thousand dogs, a thousand cats, a thousand bulls and maybe one or two elephants. I see nothing fantastic about this movie other than a bunch of ugly kids trying to pull off an Ocean's Eleven with a bunch of even uglier older men and women. Sean, or whatever the heck his name is, is by far the worst interpretation of a rebellious kid - you'll find better acting from the kid from 'Austin Powers' one, two, and three. This was obviously a film that was supposed to be the next greatest thing since Muhammed Ali took to the ring and kicked everyone's butt, but I'm gonna be perfectly frank, Frank... it's not. It doesn't even rank as high as me walking on top of a Dance Dance Revolution machine trying to impress all of the employees at Hooters, man. It's that bad. If you've got your copy, I suggest you take it and dump it in the ground and bury it for all it's worth. It'll eat your eyes and burn your tongue straight off, finding all of your next of kin and ripping them apart without your knowledge.

The music sounds more like a bunch of farts going off at once; 'musical farts', as I like to call it. Perhaps that is the only redeeming quality I have to give about this movie - and it shows that you too can be an amazing cult following by doing just that. Everyone should remember that the next time they get their couple of dollars and a video camera, and decide to make this movie. Will there be a sequel to this? Let's hope so, boy howdy! Maybe there, the musical farts return, with the opening theme song redux and maybe a Pachelbel's Canon solo. I bet that grossly obese kid will have a field day with it.

What's up with that fat tub of lard though, anyway? Did he even get a second's worth of screen time for his effort? I don't know what's scary, the weird-looking neegroe humping the doctor and the Charlie's Angels guy during the beginning or the two fat chest boobs wobbling each time the fat guy hustled from scene to scene. I bet he's dead now. He probably deserved it.

Like I said, this movie sucks. You'll have a field day with 'Bawop, Bawop, Bawoowowowowowooooop' tune when one of the hillbillies is drinking his brandy in the car while snooping on a potential sex victim, but that's as far as it goes. Other than that, this movie sucks. You're stupid if you rated it any higher.

I had never heard of it before watching this seventies crime movie. A crime flick that looks like a fifties or late forties film, speaking of juvenile delinquency. Not the seventies genre, for sure. The story is very surprising, where a bunch of very young hoodlums pull a daring and clever armored truck heist, behaving like professionals. Very surprising. I did not expect so much. And seeing old movie actors like Oda Lupino and Lloyd Nolan is pretty weird and funny too. Yes, a very good little film which grabs you, despite the fact that you have only a few spectacular and exciting elements. But don't misunderstand me, that's not a masterpiece, just a smart little grade B picture. Music score all along the film is pretty entertaining too.

This film is available on Mill Creek Entertainment's Action Classics 100 Movie Pack. After watching Trained to Kill: USA (the real reason I bought the box set) I switched to the next movie My Boys Are Good Boys, at first I assumed it was about rebellious youths and the whole movie would take place in the reformatory where they are held, but the story seemed to have more surprising twists and turns then an episode of 24. A somewhat easy escape leads to the youths robbing an armored truck. This is one of the best stories I have seen in a long time. What was also surprising was the performances. More notably David Doyle who played Harry Klinger the reformatory guard giving his my boys are good boys speech, Kerry Lynn as Priscilla, and the always hungry Chunky played by Robert Cokjlat. This film is a classic and a joy to discover.

Hi, Everyone, Your boys might be good boys, but your movie's a bad movie. How did they fail with this one? The cast is made up of great veteran actors who can easily turn in a great performance. The title song is sung by Dorsey Burnette. Even Dorsey cannot make this title song sound good.

The story line is adequate. A few kids want to rob an armored car. What kid doesn't want to rob an armored car? No real violence to speak of here. Stupidity galore but little violence.

This movie unfolds more unevenly than a 29 cent taco. Ida Lupino is the loving wife who is not in love. A part she has played to perfection many times before. David Doyle (Am I the only one who confuses him with Tom Bosley?) overacts. Lloyd Nolan is excellent in his role but it does not save the movie. Ralph Meeker looks like he is being handed his pages of script just before each scene begins.

This cast could have spent the same amount of hours with a good director and a good script and they could have made a real winner. The last line in the movie is so ridiculous it almost made my smoke detector go off.

It is fun to watch this to check gas prices way back when.

Ida Lupino was better in High Sierra. Lloyd Nolan was better in Peyton Place. Ralph Meeker was better in The Dirty Dozen.

If you like Dorsey Burnette's voice, listen to Hey Little One or Tall Oak Tree.

Other than that it was OK.

Tom Willett