A Night with the Boys

A guy sneaks off to play poker with the boys and is the big loser. But instead of telling the wife what happened, he concocts a tale about being mugged in order to explain away losing his paycheck. But when the wife insists he report this to the police, all sorts of unexpected things happen. And, fortunately, it also has a nice twist that I am pretty sure you'll appreciate.

In addition to the nice story, I really enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock's introduction...even more than usual. In this case, he's dressed like a beatnik and you just have to see it to appreciate it!

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.

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!

The credit for this delightfully endearing change-of-pace for the usually morbid, mean-spirited shenanigans of Hitchcock's classic 30-minute escapades goes entirely to the stellar performance by John Smith who perfectly embodies the nice-guy decency of a hard-working young husband who foolishly gambles away his weekly salary in a (probably 'fixed') game of poker with his sleazy boss and co-workers. How he manages to retrieve the $92 he desperately needs to pay for the medical bills for his pregnant wife (sweetly played by Joyce Meadows) leads to a deftly presented series of happy accidents, capped by a nifty twist ending the talented young Smith responds to with a perfect mixture of bewilderment and dawning realization that, on rare occasions, nice guys do indeed finish first. The only mystery of "A Night with the Boys" regards John Smith's career. After making an impressive film debut at 23 as the concerned newlywed in John Wayne's blockbuster "The High and the Mighty", Smith seem primed to quickly emerge as one of the top young leading men of the decade. Not only did he have the tall blond All-American good looks (and perfect physique) of a Tab Hunter, but he also was a first-rate trained actor. His obvious sincerity and athletic prowess endeared him to moviegoers of all ages, yet most of his movies were difficult to find on the bottom end of double bills. And on the rare occasion when he landed a part in a mainstream movie of top quality, the filmmakers seemed far less interested in his acting ability than in making sure he doffed his shirt so the camera could explore the topography of his muscular physique (a perfect example was "Friendly Persuasion"; rather than cast him in the lead role of Gary Cooper's Quaker son (a star-making breakthrough for which he was more than capable), he was merely allotted roughly 5 minutes participating in a grueling wrestling scene where the camera once again zoomed in to explore his shirtless physicality). Towards the end of the 1950s, he did achieve lead roles, but such black-and-white quickies as "Island of Lost Women" and "Women of Pitcairn Island" were virtually interchangeable. Ultimately, 2 Western TV series proved to be his career salvation. "Cimarron City", an expensive, critically acclaimed series teaming him with George Montgomery and Audrey Totter, should have been Smith's shining hour and would have been had not the dolts at CBS programmed it opposite the most popular show of its time, NBC's "Bonanza". "City" was therefore cancelled before it had even completed its first season, but at least it led to what John Smith is chiefly remembered for--"Laredo", a ratings smash that ran for 4 seasons and finally made Mr. Smith and his co-star (and best friend) Robert Fuller international stars. A return to theatrical films seemed the next step. But when John Wayne, who had given John Smith his first breakthrough movie a decade earlier (and reportedly signed Smith to a personal contract) cast the still-quite-young Smith as the young male lead opposite Wayne, Rita Hayworth and Claudia Cardinale in the costly blockbuster "Circus World", the film bombed, Smith was relegated to 'guest' stints in mediocre TV shows, retired from acting at 40, and was not heard of until the NYTimes noted his death at age 63. I only bring this up by way of thanking MeTV (and several other cable-TV channels) for airing not only classic but long-forgotten TV series of the past. And by doing so, they remind me of so many actors and actresses I admired during my childhood. My thanks also to IMDB for providing the answers whenever I wonder "Whatever Happened To . . ."? I must have been around 8 or 9 when I had the audacity to write to some of these people I especially liked and requesting that they send me autographed photographs. It didn't take me long to realize that the recipients of my fan mail never even read, much less received, my letters which were instead intercepted and forwarded to the publicity department of whatever studio had the particular movie star under contract. And responded to my letters by sending me a postage-stamped-sized photo and fake thank-you note. Nevertheless, I persisted in explaining to each person exactly what I liked about them and their movies that made me so happy. And to my great surprise, a few of them actually did read my letters and wrote back to me on their personal stationary, using fountain pens (!) and autographing 5x7 photographs. Among them: Kathryn Grayson, Dewey Martin, and John Smith.

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.