The Cowboy Quarterback (1939)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Noel M. Smith

Writers:

Fred Niblo Jr. (screenplay)
Ring Lardner (play) ...

Release Date:

29 July 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sport

Tagline:

YOU'LL FIND 60 MINUTES OF FAST AND FURIOUS FOOTBALL...LOUD AND LINGERING LAUGHS (original poster - all caps)

Plot:

Football scout for the Chicago Packers Rusty Walker signs Harry Lynn, a legendary broken-field runner...

Plot Keywords:

Scout | Fixed Game | Airplane | Jealousy | Police

Cast

Bert Wheeler	...	Harry Lynn
Marie Wilson	...	Maizie Williams
Gloria Dickson	...	Evelyn Corey
William Demarest	...	Rusty Walker
Eddie Foy Jr.	...	Steve Adams
William Hopper	...	Handsome Sam Saxon (as DeWolf Hopper)
William Gould	...	Colonel Moffett
Charles C. Wilson	...	Coach Hap Farrell (as Charles Wilson)
Frederic Tozere	...	Mr. Slater (as Fredric Tozere)
John Harron	...	Mr. Gray
John Ridgely	...	Mr. Walters
Eddie Acuff	...	Airplane Pilot
Clem Bevans	...	Lem - the Mailman

Runtime:

56 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #5405) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

First National Pictures

Trivia:

Three cast members in studio records/casting call lists did not appear or were not identifiable in the movie. These were (with their character names): Cliff Saum (Field Announcer), Eddie Graham (Photographer) and Jeffrey Sayre (Photographer).

Movie Connections:

Version of Fast Company (1929)

Soundtrack:

Underneath a Western Sky

Wheeler No Woolsey and Kinda Weird

Bert Wheeler flies solo in this football-themed vehicle that runs only about an hour, but has enough convoluted twists for a couple more movies. Starts gamely enough with William Demarest the Chicago Packers scout who flies out to Nevada to find Wheeler, the yokel football superstar, Harry Lynn. Lynn loves his boss, Maizie (not Marie), who runs the local general store (Specializing in "Ice Cream, Pianos, Cement, and Bird Seed"!).

Demarest plays it a little low-key, which is always a plus, but his character ends up being the cause of some manipulations of the two young love birds that lead to the verge of disaster. Suffice it to say, Pete Rose has nothing on Harry Lynn.

In fact, the corruption on display in this movie kinda takes away some of the fun. Wheeler does okay as the football phenom. The rest of the cast is stellar including Eddie Foy as his roommate pal, Eddie Acuff as a pilot, and especially Trevor Bardette in a brief role as a sage Indian. The three tall villains are rather menacing too.

Music: Wheeler sneaks in a little music singing "Mother McCree" while drunk. And William Hopper gets a couple of verses of a cowboy song out.

Good for W&W completest.