Gangster's Boy (1938)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

William Nigh

Writers:

Robert Hardy Andrews (writer)
Karl Brown (writer)

Release Date:

16 November 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Yesterday CHEERED! Today SHUNNED!

Plot:

A popular high school valedictorian and star athlete becomes a pariah when it's discovered that his father is a former bootlegger.

Cast

Jackie Cooper	...	Larry Kelly
Robert Warwick	...	Tim 'Knuckles' Kelly
Lucy Gilman	...	Julie Davis
Louise Lorimer	...	Molly Kelly
Tommy Wonder	...	Bill Davis
Selmer Jackson	...	Judge Roger Davis
Betty Blythe	...	Mrs. Davis
Huntley Gordon	...	Principal Benson
Herbert Evans	...	Stevens (butler)
William Gould	...	Dist. Atty. Edward Jameson
Jack Kennedy	...	Sergeant
Bobby Stone	...	Salvatore

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Hoover High School - 651 Glenwood Road, Glendale, California, USA

Company:

Monogram Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The name of this film appears on the movie marquee in the first nighttime montage shot of Murder, My Sweet (1944).

Soundtrack:

Stop Beatin' Round the Mulberry Bush

"A West Point man never retires in the face of fire..."

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Monogram Pictures took a stab at the old 'like father, like son' theme in this 1938 picture with somewhat mixed results. Jackie Cooper is credible as the high school senior reacquainting with his father who's been gone for five years, yet that's the main plot point that strains credibility in the ensuing story. Not only was 'Knuckles' Kelly (Robert Warwick) away from his family for that long, but when he returns, his reception is no more anticipated than if he was returning from a day's work. On top of that, the elder Kelly was a racketeering bootlegger, a fact unknown by his son, and appearing to be no more than an inconvenience for his wife Molly (Louise Lorimer). When Larry (Cooper) and the town of Millford learn of his father's former occupation, he begins to withdraw from his circle of friends and second guesses his acceptance to West Point, figuring that his father's political connections might have gotten him his appointment.

The film at least gets a few points for having Larry's high school principal and his core group of close friends remain loyal. They realize that his hard work at becoming class valedictorian and the school's top athlete were his own doing. His toughest sell though is with the father of his two closest chums, Bill Davis (Tommy Wonder), and sister Julie (Lucy Gilman), who Larry is going out with. Their father offers the 'like father, like son' argument to forbid his kids to remain friends. However circumstances conspire to vindicate Larry when the three companions get involved in a car accident, and Bill comes clean for being responsible. Again however, credibility is stretched just a bit when Judge Davis (Selmer Jackson) does a complete hundred eighty degree turn in glad handing Knuckles Kelly in the finale. It's one thing to admit a mistake, but quite another to completely forget that the man was a criminal at least the past five years. Simpler times called for simpler movies.

Say, I wonder if Jackie Cooper actually played the drums in the couple of scenes where he's shown doing so; he sounded pretty good if that's the case. I was impressed too with the Kelly purchase of the rather good sized mansion for a mere seventy eighty thousand, five hundred dollars. Today, you'd have to add another zero to the end of that number to make it work.

Considering the movie was made in 1938, it's not a bad little story, with Cooper portraying a character close to his own age at the time, unlike a lot of modern films where teenagers are often played by actors in their twenties. The same went for his girlfriend in the picture, although Tommy Wonder as brother Bill was actually twenty four. Oh well, I guess it happened in the 1930's too!