Pride of the Bowery

The East Side Boys lived in the poor section of Manhattan in the Lower East Side known as the Bowery. Leo Gorcey leads the cast and the gang as Mugs Malone. When somebody tricks him and the gang to sign up for the Civilian Conservation Corps in the country, he is at first arrogant that he is too good for them. But slowly, he manages to come around. He and the gang work all day with food and shelter provided for them. In exchange, they get to send some money home like $22.00 a month to their families which is a lot of money during the end of the Great Depression. Anyway, Mugs Malone is a good friend and will help out a friend in need. When a friend gets into trouble, Mugs comes to the rescue and boxes to help him out without explanation. This film is part of the East Side Boys film series.

When they were still the east side kids. Pretty rough copy on tubi free streaming... and badly in need of restoration. Rough edits, washed out pictures. Sound quality to match. But it is free! Muggs (leo gorcey) shows up at a training camp, and tries to take over as lead dog. But the boys push back and put him in his place. The usual antics and arguements, that will be settled in the ring. Gotta learn some lessons. Right and wrong. Seems to be aimed at a younger crowd, but it's watchable. Bobbie jordan, sam morrison. Gorcey's brother david is in this one, but not his dad. Directed by joe lewis, who made three of these films with leo gorcey. From monogram pics. After this series, gorcey, hall and some of the crew started making the bowery boys films.

This is the third East Side Kids picture former Our Ganger Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison appeared in as Scruno. Here, he doesn't seem part of the gang but already part of the Civilian Conservation Corps group but his demeaning scene of carrying the bags of the gang is one of the few he's in. He has a better scene with lead Leo Gorcey when he's selling flowers in the street on the weekend. Gorcey wants to box but in a better place than the slums so his buddy Bobby Jordan tricks him into joining the organization I just mentioned. I'll just now say this wasn't a bad drama with some good humor sprinkled in. So on that note, I say give Pride of the Bowery a look.

This film is pretty much what you'd expect from an East Side Kids film--nothing more nothing less. As usual, Leo Gorcey plays a VERY pugnacious fellow and Bobby Jordan is the more thoughtful and philosophical member of the gang. And, since this film is before the group morphed into the Bowery Boys (with the ever so subtle Huntz Hall taking up the slack after Bobby Jordan left), you know that the quality of the production is pretty good--perhaps not as good as when they were the Dead End Kids with Warner Brothers, but that's another story...

The film begins with Gorcey being convinced to go to a 'training camp' to get ready for a career in boxing. What he doesn't know is that it's actually a Civilian Service Corps camp and they are there to work hard for government wages. This was one of many such public works programs created by Roosevelt's New Deal administration--and this is one of the very few films I've seen that even mentions it.

Unfortately, Gorcey acts EXACTLY like the sort of hard-headed mug he usually played and as a result makes a nuisance of himself at first. Later, however, he shows a depth of character that really impresses the camp's commandant as well as his daughter. Will Gorcey live up to their new expectations or show himself to be just a punch-happy palooka? Tune in and see for yourself.

This is solid and entertaining though without such a strong message as the Dead End Kids dramas. It's a pretty good B-movie--one that features decent acting and a likable, though predictable, script.

This East Side Kids Drama celebrates the Civilian Conservation Corps one of the best programs of FDR's New Deal of the Thirties. In fact when I wrote the review for Wild Boys Of The Road, I mentioned that the CCC was the New Deal answer to the homeless young men of America wandering the country looking for work.

In Pride Of The Bowery Leo Gorcey is a budding prizefighter of one of lighter weight classes and Bobby Jordan is his manager. Because Gorcey needs to train and doesn't, too many distractions in the big city, Jordan tricks him and friends into signing up for the CCC where he'll get plenty of exercise in dealing with the preservation of America's wilderness.

With the usual Leo Gorcey attitude he doesn't make too many friends in the camp other than the ones he brought with him from the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Later on true to the street code Gorcey gets himself jammed up when he's accused of stealing and he won't rat out the guy who did.

Pride Of The Bowery is one of the better East Side Kids features awash with sentimentality, but still entertaining after over 70 years.