The Mighty McGurk

Although The Mighty McGurk isn't a remake of The Champ, it was a really lazy casting choice to put Wallace Beery in the lead role. He plays a former prize fighter, the champion of the world! Years later, he divides his time between the saloon and the pawn shop, where he's in constant battle with the proprietress, Aline MacMahon, with selling his prize fighting belt. He goes to the dock to pick up Edward Arnold's daughter, back from a long voyage, but instead finds a young Dean Stockwell with a sign around his neck. Sound familiar? After The Green Years, it was a no-brainer to put Dean in this orphan role. He's just adorable, and I was so frustrated with Wallace that it took him so long to warm up to the sweet, little baby. If I had a little boy with Dean's curls, I would spoil him rotten! He would never have to go to bed on time, eat his spinach, or do his chores. So it's a good thing I don't.

I'm really not a Wallace Beery fan, so this isn't a movie I'll probably watch again. But I did enjoy seeing Dean and his cute little puppy. It's not a very original story, and you can draw a lot of parallels between it and Little Miss Marker of 1934. But if you liked Shirley Temple's version, you can try this one.

Watching a film like The MIghty McGurk and seeing those scenes between former pug Wallace Beery and young English orphan Dean Stockwell you can hardly believe you are seeing one of the great misanthropes of the last century. I can't find anyone who enjoyed working with Wallace Beery..

Still seeing The Mighty McGurk might convince you Beery was the greatest actor who ever lived knowing what we know about him. This film has Beery working for saloonkeeper Edward Arnold as a bragging bouncer on retainer. Beery gets an assignment to pick up Arnold's daughter Dorothy Patrick over from the boat from Great Britain. But he muffs it and winds up with young English orphan Dean Stockwell who has come over to be with his uncle who has taken a powder with company funds.

So the two are kind of stuck with each other. If you've seen Treasure Island or The Champ with Beery and young Jackie Cooper you know what you'll get with this film.

As for Arnold he wants the corner location of the Salvation Army has on The Bowery where former fighter and Beery protege Cameron Mitchell is running the place. He wants Beery's help to get him out one way or another. Gives Beery some critical choices to make. Aline McMahon gets the roles that usually went to Marie Dressler or Marjorie Main as the pawnbroker who Beery parks his championship belt with when he needs a few bucks.

The Mighty McGurk is a pleasant piece of turn of the last century nostalgia.

Has any research been done to connect the movie with real life people? Do we know what real-life identities the characters were supposed to represent or were loosely based upon? For instance is there any reason to connect the movie to McGurk's Suicide Hall, 295 Bowery; or to John H. McGurk or to Jack McManus. Do we know if there was a real life identity for the pawn shop woman? What about the English orphan? The Salvation Army man? Maybe it was already done-if so, where? What did they find? Your comments would be appreciated. Does the background information give details? If not John McGurk, do we know which person it was based upon? What research has already been done on the movie's influences, characters, and settings? Thanks

According to one of his young co-stars (Jackie Cooper), despite making a career out of playing avuncular but rough characters who love kids, he was, quite the opposite. But the public loved his film image and despite apparently disliking kids, he co-starred with a bunch of them*. In this very formulaic film, he's paired with a young Dean Stockwell.

The film finds Slag McGurk (Beery) a bit of a blow-hard. While he lives on his public image as an ex-boxing champ and all around swell guy, he's a bit of a phoney--though few know the truth. But his boss (Edward Arnold) does and keeps it to himself. One day the boss sends McGurk on an errand and the guy ends up getting stuck with a cute British kid whose accent seems to come and go like the wind (Stockwell). The kid, 'Nipper', takes an almost instant like to the guy and believes all his tales of boxing and manliness. However, McGurk only hangs on to the kid because he mistakenly thinks the boy's uncle wants him and will handsomely reward McGurk for caring for him. But when the uncle turns out to be a crook, what is to become of Nipper and McGurk?

As I mentioned above, this is a standard Beery formula. This is not only because of the kid (as many Beery films did NOT have kids) but because Beery plays pretty much the same sort of rogue who eventually proves he has a heart of gold. Enjoyable but also not particularly new or unique if you've seen a few of his films.

Roy "Slag" McGurk (Wallace Beery) is the former heavyweight boxing champion. He barely makes a living in the rowdy Bowery district of New York City. At Ellis Island, he gets paired up with young English orphan Nipper (Dean Stockwell).

This is not the youngest Dean Stockwell I've seen, but he does show off his acting skills by playing British. He tries. He may be able to do more without worrying about his accent. Beery is doing Beery as always and that's what he's good at. The chemistry is what it is. The story is rather random. This is for Beery fans and a chance to see a very young Stockwell.