Million Dollar Kid (1944)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Wallace Fox

Writer:

Frank H. Young (original story & screenplay)

Release Date:

28 February 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

It's Their FIGHT of FIGHTS! They've got the toughest guys in town on the run!

Plot:

The gang is befriended by a millionaire whom they save from a mugging. However, they begin to suspect...

Plot Keywords:

Gang | Mugging | Millionaire | Duplicity | Impersonation

Cast

Leo Gorcey	...	Muggs McGinnis
Huntz Hall	...	Glimpy McClosky
Gabriel Dell	...	Lefty
William 'Billy' Benedict	...	Skinny (as Billy Benedict)
Louise Currie	...	Louise Cortland
Noah Beery	...	Captain Mathews (as Noah Beery Sr.)
Iris Adrian	...	Mazie Dunbar
Herbert Heyes	...	John H. Cortland (as Herbert Hayes)
Robert Greig	...	Spevin - Cortlands' Butler (as Robert Grieg)
Johnny Duncan	...	Roy Cortland (as Johnnie Duncan)
Stanley Brown	...	Lt. Andre Dupree
Patsy Moran	...	Mrs. McClosky
Mary Gordon	...	Mrs. McGinnis
Al Stone	...	Herbie
David Durand	...	Danny (as Dave Durand)

Runtime:

65 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:TV-G (TV rating) | USA:Approved

Company:

Banner Productions

Trivia:

The Press and Pictorial Department of the Office of Censorship disapproved this picture for export because of its bad portrayal of America, citing the mugging scene, a rich boy participating in crime for excitement and poor police work.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): David Durand, Jimmy Strand and Buddy Gorman are billed on-screen as Danny, Pinkie and Stinkie respectively, but when Muggs introduces them to Louise, they're called Dave, Lou and Slug. Durand is called "Dave" also in another scene.

Quotes:

Muggs McGinnis: There's no smokin' around here.
Messenger with Telegram: I'm not smoking.
Muggs McGinnis: You got a cigarette in your mouth, haven't ya?
Messenger with Telegram: Sure. I've got shoes on my feet but I ain't walkin'

Movie Connections:

Follows Pride of the Bowery (1940)

Good East Side Kids Feature

This is easily among the better of the many features starring the East Side Kids. It has an interesting story that includes some thoughtful moments in addition to the broad humor. It also has plenty of the group's spontaneous horsing around, and it includes a funny (and all too brief) scene between Leo Gorcey as Muggs and his father Bernard as a messenger.

The story has Muggs, Glimpy, and the rest of the crew saving a rich man from a mugging, befriending him, and then trying to protect him and his family from a variety of criminals and impostors. It works surprisingly well, even most of the more serious moments. Gorcey's style is effective in this kind of story, because he keeps his character's hardened edge even when he is doing something good, thereby usually making him more believable.

The main emphasis is still, of course, the raucous comedy, and the gang gets some good moments at the expense of all of the other characters at one time or another. It's a good movie, and it's probably one of the entries in the series most worth seeing.