A Night with the Boys

Having briefly worked at Universal Studios, one thing we were taught is to ALWAYS mention Alfred Hitchcock to tourists. Never to be forgotten. Hitch dressing up as a beatnik to intro this story is the reason. A showman, and as many of us would suspect, a part-time ham actor who loved being a ham.

Point #2. I would bet this story was taken from real events; the young husband who loses his dough and gets a heck of a surprise. Murphys Law 101. Cowboy tv star John Smith (LARAMIE) is appropriately cast as a handsome gent with a problem. He gambles, also having a wife (Joyce Meadows) to support and a baby on the way.

What to do? To make up an excuse for his little habit, Irving (Smith) invents the wild story about being mugged -- replete with phony baloney scratches. And is that lipstick on his head? He files a report to the police (to make it all look good), and low and behold, the coppers find the mugger? How can that be? Wait and see, and Irving has lots of splainin' to do.

Real life, possibly, with a chuckle. Had Irving actually been beat up and robbed, the cops would have found NO ONE. Welcome to the real world, however this is Hitch's world.

Wonderful direction by John Brahm, lead director for TWILIGHT ZONE, adding a little TZ touch here. Thank you.

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A Night With The Boys is a solid little Hitchcock half-hour. It looks cheaper than most, and with its obviously back lot urban setting plays like a B movie of the period in which it was made. The acting of its principal players is good if unexceptional, with Joe De Santis coming off best as a police lieutenant with empathy.

It's the tale of a naive, married young man who still has a lot of growing up to do. He loses his paycheck in a poker game and walks home, too embarrassed to tell his wife when he's literally accosted by a policeman on patrol (yes, they really walked beats in those days) who informs the young fellow that he's strolling around in a dangerous neighborhood, full of young punks and muggers.

The man gets an idea to fake a mugging, messes himself up, even cuts his face, so that he can return home with an excuse for having no money in his pocket, as he had just been paid earlier. Fate intervenes when, at the urging of his wife, he calls the police, and at the station house a teenage boy who more or less matches his faked description of the mugger is brought in with exactly the same amount of money in his pocket that the young man lost playing cards.

Irony figures heavily in the story's ending; and its protagonist learns a lesson. As Hitch shows go, it's a slight tale and doesn't delve too deep, into human nature or urban life. However, in the hands of maestro director John Brahm, it comes off with a nice Film Noir sheen to it, with its atmosphere dark and menacing, it was made with a light enough touch to actually feel comfortable, or as comfortable as Noir can feel, for which the director deserves much of the credit.

It is a really intriguing, intelligent and not that foreseeable plot where you wonder what the next scene will provide. No murder at all but a good suspense which you won't regret. Maybe not the best episode ever but still a very good surprise. Many twists and that's we all expect in this wonderful anthology crime show.

As a previous reviewer put it, "At least we don't know where it's going." This is the simple story of an elaborate cover-up by a young man who has been taken to the cleaners by his boss on poker night. The young couple is living hand to mouth and this is a devastating situation. Traveling through a tough part of the city, the young guy pretends he is mugged, hoping to convince his wife that this was how he lost his money. He tears up a really nice suit (another expense in the offing) and dirties himself up. Of course, eventually the police get involved as well as a young delinquent who, obviously, has no inkling why he is being brought in, other than his history. The story is about guilt and life lessons. It's also about love and forgiveness and second chances.

Nice young husband (Smith) loses week's paycheck to bullying boss in a poker game. Embarrassed, he fakes a robbery so his pregnant wife (Meadows) won't know his foolish actions. But then the cops (De Santis) bring in a kid they say did it. So what's nice young husband to do now that he's lied to everyone.

It's a slender story with a mildly ironic payoff. The good thing is we can't tell where the story's going. Smith is excellent as the hesitant young guy, and we sympathize, though his sudden misgivings seem a stretch. Buffington's also persuasive as the obnoxious boss. But make-up should have done a better job with the cut that looks like a plastic paste-on. All in all, an average entry, at best.

(In passing— Catch hipster Hitch doing a jive-talking, bearded beatnik, circa 1959. It's a gas, daddy-o.)