A Night with the Boys

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.

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.)

Our story centers on three characters: Irving, Frances and Smalley.

Irving's making a pretty big mistake early on. He's having a guys night out and has just gambled and lost his paycheck. Pretty serious worries when you've got a wife at home and she's expecting.

Irving does have some brains and realizes he KNOWS he can't just go back home and say he gambled his paycheck away. He's walking around and he meets up with this cop that basically asks him what he's doing in that neighborhood and the cops warns him it's a bad/violent neighborhood. Well, this gives Irving his idea. He dirties himself up, tears his suit and he's gonna go with 'I got mugged and the mugger stole my money' excuse Irving puts the cherry on the sundae by picking up a rock and cutting his own face. John Smith does an excellent job in this scene where Irving cuts his own face but unfortunately the makeup job is rather lacking so you honestly might find yourself laughing at this cut on Irving's face. It looks laughably bad.

Irving goes home and tells his pack of lies to his wife (Frances). Poor Irving had a massive brainfart because he didn't consider the idea of getting the cops involved. He genuinely thought he could shovel this garbage to his wife and it'd all be forgotten. Nope, Frances is buying the lie but wants to see the wrong doer punished. You can't exactly have somebody take 96 bucks from you and they get away with it.

Irving does have a lot of consideration going on in his heart and mind. He's very upset and feels guilty when the cops call him and say they caught the guy that mugged him. He even tries to safely voice his doubts to Frances without completely outting his misdeed. He brings up the worry that this supposed mugger might have his own money and it might be used towards rent. Frances shuts him down by telling him he's not making any sense.

Irving goes to the station and the guy being accused of being the mugger says he's never seen Irving before. Irving gets back $92 out of his $96 paycheck. Irving declines to press charges because he knows that guy's innocent and didn't do a thing to Irving.

The next morning rolls around and Irving stops off at Smalley's place. Smalley is his boss. Irving's there to pick up some vouchers. Imagine Irving's surprise and amusement when Smalley enters with his face busted up. He really got mugged last night. Smalley's description is of the guy that was supposed to have mugged Irving. Lot of people might snark at the coincidence of all of this but I genuinely don't care. I'll like the story.

But here's the end that honestly cracks me up as much as the lady in "Hooked" threatening to cut off her husband's allowance. I'd forgotten to mention that Smalley is very condescending about Irving's marriage and he's putting him down for being married/being a newlywed. Smalley says to Irving that he knew he took all of Irving's money in the game last night but wanted to hit him up for a bit of money to borrow. Irving pops out with an answer that's probably gonna fuel more jokes from his boss. I think Irving really thinks he's coming up with a smackdown response as he reminds Smalley that he can't give him the money because he's a married man. Way to make yourself sound whipped, Irving!

'Alfred Hitchcock Hitchcock Presents' "Night with the Boys" (1959)

Opening thoughts: "A Night with the Boys" was the first episode of the series directed by John Brahm, who went on to do another nine episodes. While not one of the best 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes or one of the best of Season 4, "A Night with the Boys" is a good start for Brahm and makes one intrigued enough in seeing his succeeding 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes. While his outings for the series did vary and his work wasn't as distinguished as the best work of the series' regular directors, Brahm was hardly a slouch and his best episodes were at least quite good. Quite good sums up "A Night with the Boys".

Bad things: It is not a perfect episode and may be easy to criticise for some, for me so much is done really well and while the not so good things were quite major they were also not that many luckily. Some of the production values are on the cheap side, indicative of lower budget than some other Season 4 episodes, obvious in the sparse settings and some less than fluid editing transitions.

More problematic was the final act, which was on the whole very rushed and far too coincidence heavy, too many of them unbelievable, which contributed to how far fetched the ending felt.

Good things: On the plus side, "A Night with the Boys" is very well acted all round, with an unsettling lead performance from John Smith dominating and carrying the episode beautifully. While Brahm's direction is not the most distinguished, he still keeps things moving along very well and doesn't let the atmosphere slip. Hitchcock's bookending doesn't disappoint, with the epilogue being priceless and one of the series' more memorable ones (namely seeing Hitchcock in a way one has never seen him before).

While not being one of the series' best looking episodes, it is photographed atmospherically. The theme tune continues to haunt, while the script has enough tautness and edge and the story grips and intrigues on the whole with some nice suspense.

Closing thoughts: Concluding, quite good if not great.

7/10.

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.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 30 remastered CBS dvd box set. All seven seasons are now on dvd in a mega box set. Released 2022. Super duper gift.