27. May 2008 by Ria.

Humphrey Bogart has a huge role in this film, but I’ll go ahead and throw this in the Dead End Kids file anyway. This is an excellent movie about life in the slums, co-starring the handsome Joel McCrea, who turns out to be the hero, and starring Bogart as Baby Face Martin, the tough gangster who comes back to his crappy neighborhood to scope out ex-girlfriend Francie, and to chew the rag with his estranged mother.

For all of you who like the Dead End Kids, you’ll get a chance to see a young (and cute for a change) Leo Gorcey, as Spit, a bad ass kid that you can’t wait to give a beat down to. Now I know you’re used to seeing Gorcey as the gang leader, but in this film, Tommy Gordon (Billy Halop) is in control of this group of misfits, and they don’t come any tougher than him.

Yeah, Spit tries to come off all hardcore, but he knows he better watch his step around Tommy, or he’ll get his face knocked off. Now Sylvia Sydney gives an excellent performance as Drina (gotta love that name), who is trying to look after her brother Tommy, while fighting on the picket lines for better wages. She’s also got a crush on Dave (Joel McCrea), but unfortunately, he’s got the hots for Kay (Wendy Barrie) who’s nothing but a gold digger who likes hanging out with rich guys that she could care less about.

Kay is supposed to be in love with Dave, but unless he’s able to give her the kind of lifestyle that she wants, then he’ll be watching her sail off with her rich boyfriend in his yacht. “Don’t worry Drina, Kay may have better clothes than you, but they were given to her by some old rich dude that she can’t wait to get away from. Not only that, but she’s wearing way too much makeup, and it makes her looks like a clown.”

The notorious gangster, Baby Face Martin is glad to be back on the scene, for he hasn’t seen his mother in 10 years. Only thing is, mom isn’t so happy to see him, and gives him a good whack across the face. “Too bad Martin, maybe you’ll have better luck with ex-girlfriend Francie (Claire Trevor).” Unfortunately, that doesn’t turn out to be a good encounter either, since we all find out that she’s a hooker.

Uh oh, now Martin is all pissed off, and he’s decided to take a rich kid hostage. I really feel sorry for that kid, especially after the Dead End Kids just beat the snot out of him. Well, I guess we’ll just leave the situation in Dave’s hands, since he’s the only one that knows that can take care of business.

One thing that you will learn from this movie, is that being broke is no joke (as if you didn’t know that already). For example, there is a scene where this old hag steals a cookie right out the hand of a kid. C’mon! What adult is that broke and desperate that they’d be willing to do some scandalous stuff like that?

I also learned that building expensive homes in poor neighborhoods is not a very smart idea. Rich people run the risk of being mugged, and beat up on, so why risk it? I also learned that if you squeal on a friend, you set yourself up for a good slash across the face with a knife. What am I talking about? See the movie, and you’ll find out!

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14. May 2008 by Ria.

This movie is absolutely hilarious! Our guys get sent to a boy’s camp, now you can tell this is a low budget film, why is it that there are no other boys at this camp, except for the East Side Kids?  So our guys are riding in this truck, which makes a pit stop in town. Muggs, Glimpy, and Danny go into an ice cream shop and start hitting on the girl that works behind the counter.

“Listen Ice Cream chick, don’t go out with Muggs, ’cause he’s too short, and he’s the dumbest of the three. Forget about Glimpy, ’cause he’s the ugliest, and the silliest. Danny is your best bet ’cause he’s got some sense, and he’s the best looking one.”

Now in the middle of the night, Muggs, sneaks away from the camp to go on his date with Ice Cream Chick, which is interesting since I don’t ever remember her ever saying she’d go out with him. Hmmm. She must have said yes when the camera guy wasn’t lookin’. Anyway, Muggs set out on his date, and Glimpy and Danny follow behind him, saying they have a date with her too.

What? Ice Cream Chick must really be bored and desperate, what woman in her right mind would go out with three broke fools? Anyway, Muggs sneaking out causes a chain reaction, now all the guys quickly get dressed, and chase after him. Wow, this is really gonna be an interesting date. Well, not really, ’cause the guys get lost and wind up in a cemetery, where the trigger happy caretaker takes a shot at Pee-Wee, wounding him. Now don’t panic, he can’t be hurt too bad, ’cause I don’t see one ounce of blood.

Wait, I almost forgot to tell you that a mad killer is also running around the town, now we don’t know who it is yet, but some people think its Mr. Magician (Bela Lugosi), who takes up refuge inside of an abandoned house. Now remember, no one knows that he’s a magician yet, I guess this is to keep you on the edge of your seats.

Now our guys run into Mr. Magician, and suddenly, the abandoned house turns more into a haunted freak show that will keep you laughing for a good 60 minutes. Now while the guys are running around, acting like chickens with the heads cut off, I’m sitting back in my chair, trippin’ out! I really don’t want to spoil it for you, by telling you scene by scene of all the crazy stuff that happens………Well, I guess I can let you in on one scene in particular.

Scruno (my favorite East Side Kid), get’s split up from the rest of the group inside the house, and ends up in this room. He lights a candle, then a huge white spider drops down in front of him. OMG, I’M ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIED! What? That is scary, well it didn’t bother Scruno, but it sure as hell bothered me! See, I’m an arachnophobe, and I’m scared of any spider/creepy-crawler that’s bigger than my fingernail. Since that accounts for the majority of insects out there, I guess I’m screwed.

Okay, back to this, Scruno shoos the spider away, no big deal for him, then this tobacco can that’s sitting on the table starts moving, by itself! Scruno tells it to stop bothering him, ’cause he doesn’t smoke, but it doesn’t want to be alone and keeps following him. Eventually the top of the can comes, off, a skeleton head pops out, and Scruno heads for the hills!

Well, you really have to see it in order to get a good laugh out of it. Now all the guys act like total idiots as they run throughout this house, trying to get away from Mr. Magician, even though it turns out that he’s not the killer. Who is it you say? You’ll have to watch the film to find out, and I’m sure you won’t have a problem pointing him out since they’re not a lot of characters in the movie to begin with. Oh yeah, Natalie Wood is in this too, but since her nurse role was boring and a waste of a character, I won’t bother talking about her, and end my review right here!

East Side Kids - Spooks Run Wild

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12. May 2008 by Ria.

I am a big Dead End/East Side Kids fan, and I’ve followed them from one movie to the next, eventually stopping with the Bowery Boys, which was my least favorite group of guys and movies. Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, and Bobby Jordan were in most of the movies, with other cast members comin’ and goin’. Now I will be reviewing several of these movies over a period of time, ’cause these guys are funny as hell! All of them probably have a IQ of about 7, but that’s the best part!

We have Danny, Benny and the gang rehearsing for Glimpy’s sister’s (Ava Gardner) wedding, and I’m gonna tell you right now, they can’t sing worth a damn. Muggs is conducting this whole fiasco, then he has the nerve to criticize the gang about their singing. Let’s talk about Mugsy for a minute……….Now he can pull off a good joke every now and then, but he’s so retarded, who in the hell made him the leader?

Muggs is so stupid, he actually thinks that the suburbs are a place where poor people live, with no running water, or trolley cars. Oh, now I know why he’s the leader, ’cause he’s the dumbest, yes that makes sense. For a guy who stands only 5′6, Muggs sure likes to act all hardcore, now who in the hell would be scared of that shrimp boat? I’d take my size 12W shoe, and stomp his head into the ground, and that would be the end of him.

Okay, let me continue with the movie……..Scruno, and a couple of the other guys go and get flowers for the wedding, and lo and behold, they steal a Rest In Peace wreath, “Nice work guys.” After the wedding, Scruno throws rice, cooked rice, out into the crowd, and it hits one of his cronies in the face, now how dumb can a person get!

Now after hubbie and wife go on their low budget honeymoon, Muggs and the gang sneak out to their new home in order to decorate, but they’re so ridiculous, they end up going to the wrong house. Being the juvenile delinquents that they are, they steal furniture from the house next door (hubbie and wife’s home), and brings it to the house that they are trying to decorate.

Nazis (one of them played by Bela Lugosi) occupy the place to print their propaganda, and the last thing they need is for hoodlums to be hangin’ around. Now our east side gang start to decorate, while Muggs just stands around giving orders, saying he’s the supervisor. “Muggs, you’re such a lazy jerk, why don’t you put a broom in your hand, and start sweeping, instead of ordering people around like some dictator?”

So while they’re in this house, crazy stuff starts happening……… First, Scruno and Glimpy wig out over pictures that move, second, the whole gang start hearing noises, as the fearfully comb the house, looking for a sign of life, or death. Eventually the kids find the printing press, the Nazi guys and gals are arrested, and the kids can go back to being as crazy as they were before.

Now this East Side/Dead End Kids movie isn’t as good as the other ones, just keep your eyes open, ’cause I’ll be reviewing many more of them soon!

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