Fighting Trouble (1956)

"Sach" has become a camera fiend so, in the pursuit of some ready cash, "Duke" takes him and his photographs to the editor of the New York Morning Blade, Mr. Ray Vance. He hires them to get... See full summary »

Director:

George Blair

Writer:

Elwood Ullman (original screenplay)

Stars:

Huntz Hall, Stanley Clements, Adele Jergens

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Huntz Hall	...	Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones
Stanley Clements	...	Stanislaus 'Duke' Covelske
Adele Jergens	...	Mae Randle
Queenie Smith	...	Miss Kate Kelly
Thomas Browne Henry	...	Frankie Arbo (as Thomas B. Henry)
Tim Ryan	...	Ray Vance
Joe Downing	...	Handsome Hal Lomax (as Joseph Downing)
Laurie Mitchell	...	Dolly Tate
David Gorcey	...	Chuck (as David Condon)

Storyline

"Sach" has become a camera fiend so, in the pursuit of some ready cash, "Duke" takes him and his photographs to the editor of the New York Morning Blade, Mr. Ray Vance. He hires them to get some photos of gangland boss Frankie Arbo but Mr. Arbo does not care to have his picture in the papers and dislikes cameramen for the same reason. "Sach" and "Duke" pose as interior decorators in the penthouse of Mae Randall in order to get photos of Arbo. Later, at Arbo's night club, the boys learn that the gangster is importing a tough hoodlum from Chicago. "Sach" and "Duke" lure the visiting gunman, Handsome Hal Lomax to Mrs. Kelly's boardinghouse and trick him into staying there through false police calls. "Sach" masquerades as Handsome Hal and gets away with it, and he and "Duke" manage to get into Arbo's inner office with the Boss and his henchmen, and the boys are cut into the gang's racket, which is counterfeit money. Then Handsome Hal shows up and things are getting dicey for the boys ...

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Plot Keywords:

gangster | camera | newspaper | disguise | nightclub | 

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Taglines:

IT'S A RIOT OF FUN...with those crazy kids you love!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 September 1956 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Allied Artists Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

61 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first Bowery Boys movie made without Leo Gorcey.

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Connections

Follows No Holds Barred (1952)

User Reviews

Bowery Boys #42

Fighting Trouble (1956)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

This forty-second film in the Bowery Boys series finally had Huntz Hall getting top-billing as Leo Gorcey retired from the series after the previous film. Stanley Clements, who appeared in several East Side Kids films, replaces Gorcey and this first offering of the new comic team doesn't work at all. After one of their friends is falsely accused of stealing two-hundred dollars, Sach (Hall), Duke (Clements) and the rest of the gang decide to start working for a newspaper editor who needs a photograph of a notorious gangster. Sach, the camera man, must try and snap a picture but before long the boys are in over their heads. The Gorcey-Hall team were never going to be confused with Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello but they were decent in their "B" movies. After watching this film you can see how much chemistry they actually had together because Hall and Clements certainly don't mix and match very well. It really seems like two comedians trying to work together but not knowing each others style or timing because there are some really embarrassing moments throughout the film. One happens when the boys bust in on the editor and it appears the two just don't know how to do the bit or how to time everything off the other. Another silly sequence has the boys sneaking into the gangster's girlfriends apartment where they pretend to be fashion designers. No laughs follow simply because of the bad timing between the two. Hall's Sach getting the lead was a long time coming but the character really comes across quite annoying when Gorcey isn't here to level him out. Just take a look at the scene where there's an easy picture to take but the way Hall blows it is just annoying and never funny. As you'd expect, there's silliness running throughout the picture and when the boys come under attack by the gangsters nothing funny happens. This first film in the "new" series is certainly a major bust and at just 60-minutes it still feels way too long.