No Holds Barred (1952) Poster

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5/10
The elusive power source
sol121817 October 2010
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** Sach finding out after being hit over the head with a .45 revolver, twice not once, during an attempted robbery of Louie Dumbrowsky's Sweet Shop that his head despite being empty inside is made of iron! That has his friend Slip smelling big bucks enter him into a wrestling contest to win $1,000.00. That's if Sach can stay in the ring with wrestling heavyweight champ the 320 pound Hombre Montana.

With his skull ten times harder then that skull butting sensation wrestler BoBo Brazil Sach after taking it on the chin and everywhere else from the champ has no trouble putting Montana away with a bone cracking skull butt! Professionally calling himself Hammer-Head Jones Sach works his way up the ladder in the wrestling circuit where he's about to meet the champ, Montana for the heavyweight, despite weighing just 132 pounds, wrestling championship of the world. The only problem facing Sach and his now manager Slip is that his power source, his skull, has shifted to other parts of his body! This makes it very difficult for Sach to go on winning until he finds where his "power" really is!

The usual "Bowery Boys" film with Sach taking center stage as the wrestler with hard body but not knowing what part of his body,from his head to his toes, to use every time he steps into the ring! As usual the mob in the person of wrestling promoter Pete Taylor gets into the act in him trying to make money off Sach's amazing wrestling abilities. That's in Taylor trying to get him off Slip's, his manager, hands. But in the end it's Sach who saves the day by screwing the mob and the man they control Hombre Montana by using his power where he didn't know he had it, where the sun don't shine, to win the big match. It was in fact Slip who by almost breaking his hand found out where, or in what part of his body, Sach's power finally settled in! But had to keep it secret, from the audience, in fear that by disclosing where it was it would put an end his Sach and the "Bowery Boys" movie careers!

P.S There's a scene, at the very end of the film, in the wrestling audience someone sitting right behind Pete Taylor and his girlfriend Rhonda Nelson who's the spitting image of former New York City mayor Ed Koch! For all I know he may well have been, who was 28 at the time, the future mayor himself in an uncredited cameo role!
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6/10
"It's in my finger, I got travelin' muscles".
classicsoncall16 October 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Leo Gorcey stepped into the squared circle as a boxer a number of times as an East Sider (1940 - "Pride of the Bowery", 1943 - "Kid Dynamite"), so it was only fitting that the gang would wind up in a wrestling caper at some point along the way. Instead of Gorcey though, it's Huntz Hall who has the spotlight here as the grappling hero, his ring name changing each time he exhibits a super power in a different body part. Sach seemed to gain a unique ability in a lot of these later Monogram flicks. He obtained psychic abilities in 1949's "Master Minds" and a beautiful singing voice in 1950's "Blues Busters". After a temporary corrugation to his brain cells (Slip's description, not mine), Sach finds himself on the road to world champion status as a pro wrestler in another goofy outing here.

As usual, there's generally some hood and his moll around to take advantage of the Bowery Boys. In this case, wrestling manager Pete Taylor (Leonard Penn) wants to buy Sach's contract. When Slip doesn't budge, Rhonda Nelson (Marjorie Reynolds) tries to work him over using her feminine wiles. But let's face it, that never works where the Boys are concerned. Even Sach couldn't make an impression with his gag line - "I guess you don't recognize me with my clothes on". Not as racy as it sounds, he just wasn't in his wrestling tights.

I didn't recognize any of the real life wrestlers on display in the story; I became a fan about a decade later. But it was cool to see Henry Kulky as Sach's trainer, old Otto Schmidlap from 'The Life of Riley' TV show. Also Sandra Gould as the obnoxious gal Mildred at the party with the big come-on for Sach. However most of the fun takes place in the middle of the ring, with Sach defeating every opponent by virtue of either his hammer-head, steel finger or terrible toe. And to think, he became heavyweight champ at a hundred thirty two pounds!
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5/10
Where Oh Where Has My Power Gone?
bkoganbing16 October 2010
No Holds Barred finds the Bowery Boys involved in the wrestling game when a magic spell gives Huntz Hall a kind of reverse Achilles situation. Instead of only one spot on his body being vulnerable, Hall has one spot of invulnerability. The only problem is that it periodically relocates without any warning.

With Leo Gorcey managing Hall and the ever exasperated Bernard Gorcey allowing them to use Louie's Sweet Shop as a training gym, one Horace DeBussy Jones becomes heavyweight champion of the world. But the forces of evil want to bring him down.

Visiting from the Life Of Riley are Marjorie Reynolds who tries to vamp the secret of his success out of Huntz Hall and Henry Kulky who trains him in some basic wrestling maneuvers.

Where does the power end up, literally in the end.
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The Bowery Boys vs wrestling...just a silly as the "real thing"
CarrJL30 August 1999
Sach gains phenomenal power in different parts of his body (head,toe,elbow)which leads Slip to turn him into a world champion wrestler. Of course, the bad guys want to put the fix in and the fun begins. Typical of the series and a good example of the silliness of pro wrestling, then and now.
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6/10
Satch's Thick Skull Saves the Day
Mike-7641 January 2007
The gang finds out that Satch's skull is thicker than an ordinary person's. Slip decides to put use of this by entering Satch in a wrestling match where he can win $1000 for staying in the ring for 10 minutes. Satch uses his head to knock his opponent out and now is pitted in a series of matches for the title. However the power in his head is temporary and the next match the power is in the flick of his finger. The power then moves to his elbows, then toes. After defeating the champ, Taylor and his gambling syndicate try to kidnap Satch to find out where his power is now before a scheduled rematch with the former champ Hombre Montana, even using Taylor's girlfriend Rhonda. Can Satch discover his power before his next fight? A little bit above average compared to the latter films of the series, since it has the crime element found in the earlier Monogram series. The best sight gags are the ones where Satch is discovering his powers. Great last line in the film by Hall referencing the newest location of his power. Rating, 6.
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6/10
"We? Ain't you usin' the objectionable voib?"
utgard1417 September 2016
Slip discovers Sach has a hard head that feels no pain so he decides to make him a professional wrestler. The twenty-eighth Bowery Boys film is an enjoyable one. The plot's nothing special but the boys are having a good time and it shows. Leo Gorcey's throwing malapropisms around and Huntz Hall is rubberfacing and doing physical bits of business. The wrestling scenes are fun to watch. Bernard Gorcey as Louie is great as usual. David Gorcey and Bennie Bartlett round out the rest of the gang. Neither gets much to do but prop up the scenery. Marjorie Reynolds is one of the prettier 'pretty girls' the series had; there always seemed to be one in each movie. Nice pace and some funny lines and gags. It doesn't reinvent comedy but it is entertaining.
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3/10
Huntz Hall Gets it in The End
wes-connors28 March 2009
Bernard Gorcey (as Louie Dumbrowsky)'s "Ice Cream Parlor" gets held-up, as leader Leo Gorcey (as Slip Mahoney) and "The Bowery Boys" come in for banana splits. Amusingly, Huntz Hall (as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones) defends the older Gorcey, and gets hit on his head with the robber's pistol. Strangely, the gun doesn't hurt Mr. Hall. After a trip to the doctor, the "scientific seduction" is that Hall's "square head" has developed super-human thickness, due to calcium deposits. This diagnosis doesn't make much sense, considering later events, but, anyway…

Mr. Gorcey's "Slip" sees a $1,000 wrestling contest as easy money, due to Hall's impervious hard-head. So, Hall is recruited into the ring. But, Hall's power has an unpredictable limitation - it travels to other body parts, without notice. Having little to say or do, David "Condon" Gorcey (as Chuck) and Benny "Bennie" Bartlett (as Butch) appear only to make "The Bowery Boys" still seem like a group. At a party, Hall tells Sandra Gould, "You better take that harmonica out of your mouth." By then, you may have forgotten what "No Holds Barred" is about.

*** No Holds Barred (11/23/52) William Beaudine ~ Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Bernard Gorcey
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4/10
The boys aren't all that bad, once you get used to them!
mark.waltz22 November 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Sach gets the power of no pain in certain parts of his body, so Slip enlists him as a professional wrestler. His competitors end up being defeated due to a hard head, a finger flick, a shoulder shrug, and a leg spasm. As champion of the world, Sach becomes vulnerable to a Delilah like predator (Marjorie Reynolds) and must fight off a squeaky voiced admirer ("Bewitched's" Sandra Gould, emulating Betty Boop). Some professional wrestlers of the day appear as Sach's rivals. It's all predictable but filled with such good natured stupid humor that it's hard to dismiss it all. After seeing dozens of the boy's movies, they start to take on a Novocaine quality, so all of the dopey dialog and ridiculous situations end up being pretty painless.
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3/10
Wrestling Recycled!
JohnHowardReid19 March 2016
Warning: Spoilers
I found this entry to be a well below average Bowery Boys effort, redeemed only by the presence of Marjorie Reynolds. As the title implies, this one has a wrestling background. The problem is that this setting has been used so often before in this series that all of us (except, of course, for newcomers) are heartily sick and tired of it. And what's worse is that no changes at all have been introduced here. It's just the same old stuff – and poorly recycled at that! Admittedly, the script does give Huntz Hall a chance to do one of his famous impersonations – during the course of which he actually uses his natural voice – but it does not come across as effectively here as it did in many of his previous efforts. Maybe the fault lies with director, William Beaudine, whose work is so unmercifully routine as to send even his most ardent well-wishers screaming from the theater. Other production credits are equally undistinguished.

As I said, earlier, thank heavens for Miss Reynolds. She and the rest of the girls are attractively costumed for once. No doubt they were instructed to wear their own clothes. At least that was a good idea!
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Bowery Boys #28
Michael_Elliott7 November 2010
No Holds Barred (1952)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Fun Bowery Boys entry has Sach (Huntz Hall) gaining power at the top of his head so Slip (Leo Gorcey) throws him into a wrestling ring. Soon Sach is the hottest thing in the sport but the only problem is that this special "power" goes from one part of his body to the next without any explanation. The plot to this entry sounds incredibly stupid and it is for the most part but it's also fun enough to get plenty of nice laughs through its short running time. I think the first thirty-minutes are extremely entertaining but sadly the final potion of the film falls back into the tire, worn out routine of the boys getting involved with gangsters who want to use Sach to make money. It seems these films have at least one gangster or gambler and it's growing rather tiresome because we keep seeing the same thing over and over. I understand this is a "B" movie series but this is number twenty-eight and probably all but three feature this same type of plot. With that said, the first thirty-minutes contain some great laughs and even though Hall got second billing there's no question that this is his film. Hall has no problem carrying the movie and this is apparent because he's the only one inside the ring so it's pretty much up to him to get the laughs. Gorcey continues to just be a supporting player and the "other two" boys pretty much are doing nothing but that's been the case with the past several films. Hall does a very good job inside the ring as his funny facial gestures are always on display and his physical timing during the wrestling is actually very impressive. One fight it might be his head that contains the power and the next fight it might be his arm, his toe or his leg. Each one has Hall handling the physical nature and this is where the film finds the majority of its laughs.
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