Trouble Makers (1948)

Touches You

As Good As It Gets

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The latest money making scheme of Leo Gorcey involves him and the gang with a telescope charging folks a fee for stargazing. In fact Huntz Hall is checking out one thoroughly heavenly body going down the Bowery. But when Hall points the telescope upward he and Leo Gorcey spot a murder in a window of a swank hotel blocks away. They report the crime to their old pal and gang member beat cop Gabriel Dell.Not finding any trace of any murder where John Ridgely is staying the guys keep on the case. Dell gets himself in a jackpot at his precinct for leaving his beat on a wild goose chase so it seems. But he does get to meet Helen Parrish the daughter of the deceased whose body was found in the Bronx. They might have a future.Two colorful character actors appear here as well. Fritz Feld playing the officious hotel manager who is driven to distraction by Leo Gorcey's grammar and colorful language and the eternal dumbness of Huntz Hall. There's also Lionel Stander recently released from jail who thinks that Hall is an old criminal associate with a recent bit of plastic surgery. As if anyone would want to make themselves look like Horace DeBussy Jones. The regulars and these guest stars make Trouble Makers worthwhile to watch.

Trouble Makers (1948) *** (out of 4) Good entry in the long-running series has Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) witnessing a murder inside a hotel but no one will believe them as no body was found there. Gabe (Gabriel Dell), now working as a cop, tries to investigate but ends up suspended off the force so it's up to the boys to try and figure out who did the killing and why. This was a nice surprise as it turned out to be one of the better entries in the series as we get some very good laughs, nice crime action and a fairly good mystery as well. These Bowery Boys movies often tried mixing various genres but rarely did they all work so well as they do here. What really helps the film is the wonderful supporting cast, which is full of some veteran actors. By having such great support the film didn't have to rely on Gorcey and Hall to get all the laughs. Lionel Stander, who would be blacklisted in upcoming years, is perfect as "Hatchet" Moran, a gangster who loves his friend "Abby" who just happens to be a machine gun. John Ridgely, veteran of many Warner classics, plays Silky Thomas, the main suspect. Both actors are excellent in their roles with Stander getting a great number of laughs and Ridgely being very believable in the crime boss role. Also strong here is Helen Parrish as the murder man's daughter. Both Gorcey and Hall are a lot better here than they were in a couple of the previous films. Gorcey gets some wonderful mangled dialogue that he nails perfectly and even Hall gets some terrific scenes. He plays extremely well with Stander as the two go down memory lanes of when they were knocking off various locations (Stander's character thinks Sach is a former gangster). Dell is also really coming into his own, acting wise, even though he's playing yet a different character. This film really stands out because it actually appears like they took their time with a good screenplay and got some respectable actors to help share the load. The film starts off with some great laughs and they continue all the way through the picture.

As a kid watching the East Siders and the Bowery Boys I could never figure out why guys like Gabriel Dell and Bobby Jordan (not seen in this one) would often trade places as members of the gang, an outsider up to no good, or as in the case of Dell, an authority figure like he was in this flick. His character is Gabe Moran, up from the streets and making good as a local beat cop who still knows some of the toughs he grew up with, like Stinky Feathers (Frankie Darro). Come to think of it, I still wonder about those casting decisions, just not as much.As usual in these later pictures, Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall take the lead, with their generally silent partners, Billy Benedict, David Gorcey and Benny Bartlett confined to the background. Benedict had a line or two in this picture, but if the other guys did, I'd have to go back and listen for them.This time out, Slip (Gorcey) and Sach (Hall) witness a murder from a couple blocks away via a long range telescope ('Five cents a look, only a penny a peek'!), then convince Officer Gabe (Dell) to leave his beat to solve the mystery. You wouldn't have had to see many Bowery Boys flicks to know that Point B is never reached from Point A in a straight line. The trail to the killer is derailed by the murder victim showing up some fifteen miles away in the Bronx, so Slip and Sach have some fancy footwork to make things right. I think the story could have gotten a little more mileage out of the Sach/Chopper McGee connection, but that one went nowhere.That summary line I used came from hoodlum Silky Thomas (John Ridgely) eying up Ann Prescott (Helen Parrish), daughter of the murder victim where the story started. Political correctness and male chauvinism aside, you just don't hear clever lines like that in pictures anymore.

Plus Fritz Feld, Lionel Stander, Helen Parrish and the usual top-notch supporting cast of toughs and characters.Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) are in the sidewalk star-gazing business when they see a murder committed in a room at the El Royale Hotel, blocks away. In spite of the fussy-and-fidget objections of the hotel manager, Andre Schmidtlapp (Fritz Feld), the Bowery Boys (including Frankie Darro and Billy Benedict with lines and David Gorcey and Benny Bartlett looking on...as usual) and their friend Police Officer Gabe Moreno (Gabriel Dell)search the murder room and find nothing beyond learning that the room is occupied by "Silky" Thomas (John Ridgely.) Police Captain Madison (Cliff Clark)reprimands Gabe for leaving his beat on a false alarm, but later tips from Slip and Sach help Gabe lead raids on Silky's gambling operations.The latter sends Gabe's former friend "Feathers" (Frankie Darro)to Gabe with a bribe offer but Gabe refuses. The boys read about the killing of a Professor Prescott and identify him as the man they saw murdered. Slip and Sach tell the professor's daughter, Ann Prescott (Helen Parrish), they will find her father's killers, and they get jobs as bellhops at the hotel. "Hatchet" (Lionel Stander), one of the gangsters, thinks Sach is a former cellmate and this causes a complication or two along the way.