Live Wires (Bowery Boys): 1100th Review

Seventeen years and 1100 reviews!!

100 Monty Python and the Holy Grail  /  200 Duck Soup  /  300 Super Troopers  /   

400 Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein  /   500 The Odd Couple  /  600 Stir Crazy / 700 Tommy Boy / 800 Jack and the Beanstalk / 900 Caddyshack / 1000 A Night at the Opera

"That's the trouble with you, always jumpin' to seclusions."

Slip Mahoney (Gorcey) can't keep a job. His sister Mary (Blake) helps by putting in a good word with her boss Mr. Sayers (Eldredge), who offers Slip a job. But he loses it when he gets into a fight on the first day.

With no where else to turn, he joins buddy Sach (Hall) working for the DA. His first big job takes him to a swanky club, but things get out of control fast, leaving him in hot water with his date Mabel (Brill) and Mary. Can Slip, with the help of his pals, Sach, Bobby (Jordan), Whitey (Benedict), and Homer (Frambes) serve their summons to the biggest crooks in town?

This is the first film in the Bowery Boys series. The Bowery Boys made a series of 48 films, beginning in 1945. Prior to that, they starred together in 6 films as The Dead End Kids, 12 as The Little Tough Guys, and 21 as The East Side Kids.

The Good:

This film set up the basic premise for the rest of the series: Leo Gorcey's Slip is a fast talking wise guy who misuses words and Huntz Hall's Sach is a lovable goof, with the rest of the gang adding to the mayhem. These characters are new versions of the roles they played in previous series. Gorcey, Hall, and the rest have an easy chemistry from working together for so long.

The best scene is when Slip meets Mazurki's Patsy and the slapstick (and size difference) that follows. Every moment works, including the entrance of Sach, followed by another crook, and then the fight with the rest of the gang.

The Bad:

Despite the short run time (a little over an hour) the film feels too long. The setup to get Slip to the DAs office drags on. And there isn't enough time with the rest of the gang to make them feel useful.

Other Comments:

-Bernard Gorcey, Leo's father, plays Jack Kane here. In future films in the series he plays Louie Dumbrowski.

-Not the best, but not bad.

Live Wires (1946) 64 minutes

Director: Phil Karlson

Starring: Leo Gorcey as Terrance 'Slip' Mahoney

Huntz Hall as Sach

Mike Mazurki as Patsy Clark

Bobby Jordan as Bobby

William Benedict as Whitey

William Frambes as Homer

Pamela Blake as Mary Mahoney

Claudia Drake as Jeannette

Patti Brill as Mabel

John Eldredge as Herbert L. Sayers