So You Want to Be a Muscle Man (1949) User Reviews

The first of five appearances by Willard Waterman

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 15 October 2017]

Willard Waterman is most likely a name you won't recognize. However, Mr. Waterman appeared in many movies and TV shows over the years and his slick, oily persona is easy to recognize. Here he plays Mr. Apollo, a Charles Atlas type who sells mail order muscle courses. In this case, Joe McDoakes wants the course because he's jealous of his super-muscley neighbor (played by a man who was Mr. America). The problem is that by the end, Joe is out a lot of money and is on the warpath. Can his anger enable him to finally get the best of his muscle-bound neighbor?

This is an enjoyable McDoakes installment. As became the norm, the wife is played by Phyllis Coates...the wife of the writer-director of the McDoakes films, Richard L. Bare. Worth seeing and clever.

McDoakes meets Mr. America

[redryan64 · 7/10 · 6 December 2011]

IT IS THE DESIRE OF all red-blooded males (American or otherwise) of the world to build up their bodies with hard exercise, good dietary habits and clean living. The method has usually involved following the instructions of an outstanding physique exponent; such as the best known, CHARLES ATLAS & his "Dynamic Tension" method.*

SO IT CAME to pass that our hero, Joe McDoakes, got the urge to build up his musculature via the progressive resistance method (Commonly called Weightlifting, or more properly, Weight Training). He sends for the lessons from Mail Order Exercise Guru, portrayed by Willard Waterman.

JOE'S DESIRE TO build himself up is piqued by Alice's (Mrs. McDoakes) obvious attention and reaction to their neighbor, Ellery. It is this man's mere presence in Bermuda shorts, bare chested and doing yard work that unleash an obviously sexual reaction to the neighbor in Joe's woman. This indication of a sort of natural selection oriented male rivalry leads Mr. McDoakes to invest his cash in a mail order correspondence muscle building program.

BEING THE YEAR of 1949, there is no video instruction; but rather written text following along with verbal directions, recorded on phonograph records. The inspiration and step by step keys to a successful training regimen are meted out via the verbal method.

THE ONE REELER takes every angle in making jokes by contrasting the relatively puny Joe to the bodybuilder, Ellery. The jokes, which were probably a little clichéd and "long in the tooth", even then they quite possibly went over a little better than they would today. The reason for this is that the Sport and Activity of Bodybuilding, using weights, spring cables, machines and related free hand exercises, is much better known now than it had been in those by gone days. Consequently, being much more familiar, the humor is less outlandish.

IN SUPPORT OF George O'Hanlon (as Joe), we have some talented and oft seen character actors in supporting roles. Veteran of many a movie of the '30's and so often a foil for the 3 Stooges in their long lived Columbia Shorts series, Fred Kelsey, appears as a delivery man. Television's first Lois Lane on THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, the beautiful,sexy and talented Phyllis Coates (woo, woo, woo, woo!), makes one of many appearances as Joe's spouse, Alice McDoakes.

AS FOR THE role of "Ellery", the short states that it is introducing the AAU MR.America Title Holder of 1945 and the MR. USA (Professional) winner of 1949, Clarence "Clancy" Ross. This initial film appearance proved to be his Swan Song; for Mr. Ross' induction into filmdom was also his last appearance. He later returned to managing the circulation of the Oakland, California Newspaper and running his own Bodybuilding Gymnasium.

Our rating = 2 1/2 Eightballs.

NOTE: * The sale of Physical Culture mail order courses date back to before the turn of the 19th to the 20th Century, to such instructors as Eugen Sandow (known as the "Father of Bodybuilding"), Wrestling Champion, Martin "Farmer" Burns and Sicilian immigrant, Angelo Siciliano-who was far better known by his professional name of "Charles Atlas". Although Atlas died in 1972, his course is still sold via the mails and over the internet!

Clarence Ross Shines In This Short

[Jim-499 · 10/10 · 27 November 2010]

Clancy Ross costars in this short. He was the first truly massive body builder and beat Steve Reeves (who went on the play Hercules in several Italian movies) in the 1948 Mr. USA contest.

I first met Clancy Ross in the summer of 1978 in-between semesters at California State University, Chico.

I had gone to Chico State to box (as well as get a bachelor's degree) and realized after one year there that I did not want to continue boxing but needed something to take up the slack in the physical fitness department. I then ran into an old high school friend who was a body building instructor at Clancy Ross' Mr. America Club in Walnut Creek, CA. Arnold Schwarzenegger had come by for the grand opening a few months before. I've lifted weights to stay in shape ever since, achieving some impressive results at times, though not to the level of Clancy Ross.

I remember Clancy saying that he had acted, mentioning "So You Want To Be A Muscle Man" and a commercial where he was shoveling coal into a furnace. He said he also had an offer to play Tarzan but turned it down and for good reasons that out of respect for Clancy I do not think are appropriate to repeat suffice it to say as an on-line biography of him states "He did not like the prospects of the Hollywood lifestyle and returned to his roots in Oakland."

Last Sunday, 32 years after I first met him I finally got to see Clancy in "So You Want To Be A Muscleman" after recently purchasing The (Complete) Joe McDoakes Collection on DVD. I watched it with one of his former employees, my old high school buddy mentioned above. We were both surprised at not only how good the Joe McDoakes short was but also what a laid back sense of humor Clancy had in this short and his surprisingly good acting. He was the highlight of the short.

Clancy could have gone a lot further in Hollywood had he wanted to but as it was he opened several successful gyms bearing his name leading many to a lifetime of physical fitness, this author included.

McDoakes Shows His Muscles

[Michael_Elliott · 31 March 2010]

So You Want to Be a Muscle Man (1949)

*** (out of 4)

Joe McDoakes (George O'Hanlon) gets tired of hearing his wife talk about how great their bodybuilding neighbor is so he decides to take a ten-week exercise program that will make him grow some muscles. As one would expect, this short takes a rather simple set-up and does some very funny things with it. I'm sure going into this film people are going to know what to expect and what type of laughs are going to follow but even though you know where the jokes is going you can't help but go ahead and laugh with it. This film has a lot of great jokes but one of the highlights is when Joe finally loses his cool and decides to pick a fight with the much larger neighbor. The pay-off to this sequence is extremely funny as is another scene where Joe tries to move a piano by himself. Clarence Ross was Mr. USA 1949 and he does a pretty good job in the role. For most of the running time he's just flexing his muscles but he gets a few shots at comedy and actually delivers some laughs. O'Hanlon, as usual, is great and Phyllis Coates is in good form as Mrs. McDoakes.