Crazy Over Horses (1951)

You can't give a heartless job to big hearted mugs like the Bowery Boys. When Louie (Bernard Gorcey) sends them to collect a debt from a struggling horse trainer, what do you think happens? Do the boys come home with the cash or do they come home with a horse? The correct answer obviously is number two, and after listening to the sob story of broke Tim Ryan, the boys surprise Louie with quite a horse of a different color than he was expecting. Of course this turns out to be a racehorse, and if another money-making scheme for those oh so desperate to achieve Bowery Boys. as what happens in most Bowery Boys movies where they end up in a situation like this, they end up involved with suspicious characters, in this case that veteran of Warner Brothers suspicious character, character actor Allen Jenkins. But Jenkins himself as an aging Bowery boy of a different era and he doesn't realize who he smashed up against.In my initial viewing of this several years ago, I gave this only a 2 rating out of 10 but after seeing it again to write this review, I re-evaluated it to give it a higher rating. Their films grow on you, and as dumb as they can be, there's always something amusing to find in them. Somewhere there has to be a list of all of the English words that they destroyed in their 20-year career on screen, from the film version of "Dead End" in 1937 to the last of the low-budget comedy at Monogram in 1957. when Turner Classic Movies Randy's in chronological order a few years ago on Saturday mornings, I was glued to my TV and look forward to each one. Fortunately they have come out in box set on DVD, and the chance to watch him over is easier than ever. This one may not be one of the most consistently funny, but it certainly has many moments of great amusement.

In this Bowery Boys comedy we have little Louie Dumbrowsky (Bernard Gorcey) looking to collect an outstanding debt from a down-on-his-luck stable owner, so Slip and Sach (Leo Gorcey/Huntz Hall) arrange a meeting to make the pickup for him. When the boys meet the man, he makes them an offer to take "My Girl" as settlement instead of cash. At first the boys think My Girl is the man's attractive daughter, but quickly realize it's a horse. Louie is none too pleased when they return, but it turns out that this animal is a class A race horse, and it isn't long before a group of crooked gamblers try to get their greedy hands on her. The plot is typical silly comedy fodder, and a lot of running time milks the same gag of mistaking one horse for another, but it's zany enough to make this a moderate pleaser for Bowery Boys fans. **1/2 out of ****

Crazy Over Horses (1951)** (out of 4)Rather bland entry in the series has the Louie being owed money by an old friend so he sends the boys out to collect but instead of cash they come back with a horse. It turns out this is a very special horse as gangsters plan on replacing it with a lookalike so that they can have the odds go up on a bad horse and then they'll race the quick one. Number twenty-four (if you're still counting) isn't all that memorable as we get a rather familiar story of the boys getting involved with a crooked scam and nothing here is one bit original or and we've seen it countless times before. The entire movie just had a very lazy feel to it as if everyone involved knew they weren't doing anything overly special and they just mailed everything in. The only sequence that comes off mildly entertaining is one where the boys charge into Louie's restaurant thinking that he has turned the horse into hamburger and what happens to the customer inside the store is pretty funny. Outside of that this is pretty weak all around. The most surprising thing is that the cast pretty much just sleepwalks through things. Leo Gorcey is once again back as Slip but he appears to be bored and many of his mixed up words simply aren't funny or too cleaver here. Huntz Hall continues to grow dumber and dumber but the screenplay really doesn't do him any favors. There's one interesting scene where Gorcey pretty much sends him packing but nothing ever really comes of it. The horse racing scenes are all boring as the supporting cast doesn't help much either and that includes Allen Jenkins in his supporting role. Heck, even Bernard Gorcey comes off rather tame this time out.

To cancel a debt owed sweet shop owner Bernard Gorcey (as Louis "Louie" Xavier Dumbrowsky), "The Bowery Boys" leader Leo Gorcey (as Slip Mahoney) and sidekick Huntz Hall (as Sach Jones) agree to take "My Girl" off the hands of series writer Tim Ryan (as Flynn). At first, they think "My Girl" is Mr. Ryan's fetching daughter, but she's really a horse. "My Girl" rides into residence with Bowery pals William "Billy" Benedict (as Whitey), David "Condon" Gorcey (as Chuck), and Benny "Bennie" Bartlett (as Butch).Then, gangster Allen Jenkins (as Weepin' Willie) and others get interested in horse racing with "My Girl". Mr. Hall appears in "black-face" make-up and Mr. Gorcey appears to have been over-indulging in alcohol. But, "Crazy Over Horses" is most notable for being the last appearance of Mr. Benedict as a "Bowery Boy" trying to get a line in edgewise. It proved to be a good time to exit, as the series was on a downward spiral. It's also the first time little brother David Gorcey is billed as "David Condon" in the credits.*** Crazy Over Horses (11/18/51) William Beaudine ~ Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey, Tim Ryan