Eddie Bracken Movies
Comic character actor Eddie Bracken has worked steadily in full-length feature films and on-stage for decades, but was most popular during the '40s when he played leads and co-leads in several sprightly Paramount comedies and light musicals. He typically played shy, twitchy fellows with a constantly cracking voice and a tendency toward cluelessness and helplessness. Bracken began singing and acting on-stage and in vaudeville as a young child. He made his film debut in a quartet of Our Gang shorts and in six episodes of the New York Kiddie Troopers series. Later he began appearing on Broadway and performing in traveling shows. In 1938, Bracken played a bit part in Brother Rat, but did not win his first major role until the 1940 musical comedy Too Many Girls. Bracken is best remembered for his work in a pair of frothy, irreverent Preston Sturges comedies: The Miracle of Morgan's Creek and Hail the Conquering Hero (both 1944). These roles led to his being typecast as a chronically befuddled bumbler. Bracken's popularity continued through the decade, but by the early-'50s, musicals were on the wane and the style of comedy in which Bracken had been hopelessly typecast was out of style. By 1953, he had exchanged his film career for one on stage and television. In 1962, Bracken suddenly showed up in the Italian comedy Always on Sunday. In addition to live-action performances, he also voiced a few cartoon characters, notably in the animated feature Shinbone Alley (1970). In the early '70s, Bracken tried to establish a chain of stock theaters and ended up losing two million dollars. Bracken returned to making occasional film appearances in the early '80s, beginning with a cameo as a theme park owner in National Lampoon's Vacation (1983). He continued to work in films and on-stage through the '90s. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1938
In this lively comedy, three young hell-raisers enroll in the Virginia Military Institute and have a hard time staying out of trouble. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Priscilla Lane, Wayne Morris, (more)
- 1940
Now immortalized as the film on which Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz met, Too Many Girls is a faithful adaptation of the Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart-George Abbott Broadway musical hit. The light-as-a-feather plotline finds four football players hired to escort dizzy heiress Connie Casey (Lucille Ball) when she goes off to attend a southwestern college. The girls far outnumber the boys on campus, which is sheer ambrosia for the four "protectors": Clint Kelly (Richard Carlson), Jojo Jordan (Eddie Bracken), Cuban exchange student Manuelito (Desi Arnaz) and Al Terwilliger (Hal LeRoy). The order of billing should indicate who ends up romancing the icy Connie, but the other boys don't go home empty-handed either, not with such cuties as Pepe (Ann Miller) and Eileen (Frances Langford) around. As was customary in collegiate musicals of the era, the whole thing ends with the Big Football Game, with the four heroes emerging triumphant. It doesn't take a microscope to spot a young Van Johnson among the chorus boys, especially since he shows up on-screen even before the opening credits! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Ann Miller, (more)
- 1941
Bob Hope plays a famous movie star who does his best to avoid the pre-war draft, but ends up in uniform all the same. Hope marries Dorothy Lamour, the daughter of Army colonel Clarence Kolb, in hopes that this union will help him sidestep military service. Stuck in boot camp, Hope is a class-A screw-up until redeeming himself during a sham battle--though his "heroic" commandeering of a tank began as yet another boo-boo. Still not entirely certain that Hope could carry a film by himself, Paramount teamed him with Eddie Bracken and Lynne Overman--a sort of Abbott and Costello plus One. Despite the efforts to make Bob Hope part of an ensemble, it is clear from the first frame to the last who is truly the star of Caught in the Draft. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, (more)
- 1941
The box-office success of Paramount's What a Life (1939), coupled with the popularity of the spinoff Henry Aldrich radio series, inspired the studio to launch an "Aldrich" series of its own. The inagural entry was Life with Henry, with Jackie Cooper repeating his role as befuddled teenager Henry Aldrich. This time around, Henry and his pal Dizzy (Eddie Bracken) conspire to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Alaska. The boys' bumbling efforts have unfortunate long-range repercussions, culminating in the decision by a group of investors not to build a factory in town, as originally planned. How will Henry get himself out of this one? For the record, in all subsequent "Henry Aldrich" endeavors, Henry would be played by Jimmy Lydon, while Dizzy would be enacted by Charles Smith. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Cooper, Leila Ernst, (more)
- 1941
Wessel Smitter's semicomic novel FOB Detroit was the source material for Reaching for the Sun. Joel McCrea plays a North Woods clam digger who orders an outboard motor for his business. Figuring he'll save shipping money by picking the motor up himself, he heads for Detroit. Here he decides to take a job at an auto plant, the better to support wife Ellen Drew and the couple's baby. Paramount remembered that Joel McCrea's fans expected a few action scenes, and obligingly included a sequence in which a jealous coworker tries to kill McCrea with a grappling iron. Reaching for the Sun is easy to take, though not quite on the level of Joel McCrea's later work with director Preston Sturges. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joel McCrea, Ellen Drew, (more)
- 1942
In this lighthearted musical comedy, Marjory Stuart (Mary Martin) is a girl who works in the hatcheck room at a Manhattan nightclub and dreams of being a rich socialite herself. Toward that end, Marjory wants to land a rich husband, so she saves up her money and takes a cruise to the Caribbean, where she poses as wealthy debutante. Marjory quickly makes friends with Bubbles Hennessy (Betty Hutton), a brassy but good-natured singer who's on board to rendezvous with her boyfriend Wally Case (Eddie Bracken). Tagging along with Wally is his pal Pete Hamilton (Dick Powell), a beach bum with charm and personality but no bankroll. Bubbles, Wally, and Pete soon realize that Marjory is hardly a member of the upper crust, but they like her enough to help her snag the man she has her eye on, stiff-as-a-board millionaire Alfred Monroe (Rudy Vallee). However, just as Marjory begins making progress with Alfred, she and Pete begin to realize that they've fallen in love. Both Betty Hutton and Mary Martin sing several songs along the way (Hutton's standout number, "Murder, He Says," later found it's way into Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors), and legendary calypso performer Sir Lancelot performs "Ugly Woman" (later a hit for Jimmy Soul under the title "If You Want To Be Happy"). Hutton and Bracken were reunited a year later in the Preston Sturges classic The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Martin, Dick Powell, (more)
- 1942
Star-Spangled Rhythm is a typical wartime all-star musical-comedy melange, this time from Paramount Pictures. The slender plot involves the efforts by humble studio doorman Pop Webster (Victor Moore) to pass himself off as a big-shot Paramount executive for the benefit of his sailor son Jimmy (Eddie Bracken). The overall level of humor can be summed up by the scene in which Webster is advised that the best way to pretend to be a studio big-shot is to say "It stinks!" to everything -- whereupon Cecil B. DeMille shows up to ask Webster's opinion about his current production. Betty Hutton, cast as studio switchboard operator and co-conspirator Polly Judson, is at her most rambunctiously appealing here. The huge lineup of guest performers includes Bing Crosby (and his 8-year-old son Gary!), Bob Hope, Veronica Lake, Dorothy Lamour, Dick Powell, Mary Martin, Alan Ladd, Fred MacMurray, William Bendix, Paulette Goddard, and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, most (but not all) of them going through their characteristic paces. Highlights include a surrealistic rendition of That Old Black Magic with Johnnie Johnston and Vera Zorina; a frantic staging of the old George S. Kaufman sketch "If Men Played Cards as Women Do" with MacMurray, Ray Milland, Franchot Tone, and Lynn Overman; and The Sweater, the Sarong and the Peekaboo Bang, first performed by Goddard, Lamour and Lake, then lampooned in drag by Arthur Treacher, Sterling Holloway and Walter Catlett! PS: The actor playing Rochester's chauffeur in the Smart as a Tack number is John Ford "regular" Woody Strode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Moore, Betty Hutton, (more)
- 1942
Sweater Girl is an okay remake of 1935's College Scandal, and like its predecessor is that rare bird, a "musical mystery". Someone is stalking a midwestern college campus, murdering students left and right. Among the victims is campus radio personality Miles Tucker (Kenneth Howell) and aspiring composer Johnny Arnold (Johnnie Johnston). If this keeps up, there won't be anyone left to stage the annual college musical-and that would be disastrous! Without giving the game away, it can be noted that solution of the mystery is not unlike that of the first Friday the 13th film of the 1980s (minus the blood and gore, of course). Amidst all this merry mayhem, two choice Frank Loesser song hits are spotlighted: the amusingly provocative "I Said No" and the enduring standard "I Don't Want to Walk Without You." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Bracken, June Preisser, (more)
- 1942
In this, the third screen adaptation of the musical revue Sailor Beware, William Holden plays Casey Kirby, a shy sailor who through a series of misunderstandings develops a reputation as a world-class lady-killer. In order to save face, Casey has to persuade "The Countess of Swingland" (Dorothy Lamour), a popular Big Band vocalist, to give him a big kiss in public. But the Countess is no pushover and has little sympathy for sob stories, so Casey soon learns his work is cut out for him. The Countess' best friend, Bessie Dale (Betty Hutton), is a bit less shy around the menfolk and sets her sights on Casey's buddy Barney Waters (Eddie Bracken). Betty Hutton made her screen debut in this movie, and she sings the novelty number "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry." Hutton is backed by Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra, who also perform several other numbers, including their hit "Tangerine." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Lamour, William Holden, (more)
- 1942
Out of the Frying Pan, Francis Swann's perennial community-theatre favorite, came to the screen under the title Young and Willing. It's the unrealistic but funny account of young, aspiring actors combining their resources in hopes of keeping the wolf from the door. The girls and three boys move into the same apartment-a definite no-no in 1943-hoping to keep the landlady (Mabel Paige) in the dark until they can break into the Big Time. When famed Broadway producer Arthur Kenny (Robert Benchley) moves into the apartment below theirs, our heroes and heroines work overtime to curry Kenny's favor. The male leads are played by William Holden, Eddie Bracken and James Brown, with Bracken coming off as the most entertaining of the three: the girls are portrayed by Susan Hayward, Martha O'Driscoll and Barbara Britton, all on the verge of bigger and better things. Young and Willing was one of a group of Paramount films sold outright to United Artists in 1942-43. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Holden, Eddie Bracken, (more)
- 1944
It took nerve for writer/director Preston Sturges to lampoon the whole concept of hero worship in the middle of World War II, but once more Sturges' oddball sense of taste and propriety paid off at the box office in Hail the Conquering Hero. Eddie Bracken plays the son of a World War I Marine hero who is the first in his small town to sign up for military service. When Bracken is discharged from the Marines for hay fever, he hasn't the nerve to go home and tell his mother and the rest of the townsfolk. Fortunately, he is befriended by a bunch of good-hearted Marines, led by sergeant William Demarest. Bracken's new buddies decide to help him save face by accompanying him to his home and telling one and all that Bracken has served valiantly in the Pacific. Lauded as a hero thanks to this subterfuge, the hapless Bracken finds himself being coerced into running for mayor! When he finally does confess the truth, the townspeople decide that only a real hero would own up to his lies in public. As always, Preston Sturges' richly varied supporting cast makes the most of every scene they're in, especially Raymond Walburn as a blustering politico and Franklin Pangborn as a persnickety councilman. Special mention must be made of Ella Raines as a refreshingly non-cliched heroine, and ex-boxer Freddie Steele as a morose Marine with a Mother complex. While Eddie Bracken's nerdish mannerisms can wear on the viewer, he is kept marvelously in check throughout Hail the Conquering Hero. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Bracken, Ella Raines, (more)
- 1944
Rainbow Island is a lavish Technicolor confection designed to show off the physical attributes of star Dorothy Lamour. This time Lamour is a white girl raised as native on a tropical isle. Barry Sullivan, Eddie Bracken and Gil Lamb play merchant-marine sailors hiding from Japanese troops on Lamour's island. The storyline may have had dramatic inclinations, but these are forgotten amidst several seductive musical numbers and numerous shots of Dorothy swaying in her patented sarong. Perhaps aware that no one could have taken this film seriously, Ms. Lamour plays her role for laughs, and gets them. Rainbow Island was based on a story by silent screen star Seena Owen, the "Dorothy Lamour" of her time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Lamour, Eddie Bracken, (more)
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon 'em." Firmly in the latter category is Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken), a feckless wartime 4-F who must stand by helplessly as his sweetheart Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton) entertains every visiting GI in town. One morning after a particularly wild night, Trudy labors under the apprehension that last eve, she'd married a soldier named Ratzkywatzky or something. Evidently something had happened that night, for soon Trudy discovers that she's pregnant. Hiding this information from her bombastic policeman father (William Demarest), Trudy begs Norval to tell the world that he's the father. He agrees, but only after secretly wedding Trudy under an assumed name. Complications and disasters pile up thick and fast, and before long Norval is facing arrest on a variety of charges. Providentially, Trudy gives birth to sextuplets-and suddenly Norval is a national hero! This vintage Preston Sturges farce plays so fast and loose with the censorial restrictions of mid-1940s Hollywood that critic James Agee was moved to comment that, "the Hays office must have been raped in its sleep." As usual, Sturges populates his cast with steadfast members of his stock company-- including, in guest roles, Brian Donlevy and Akim Tamiroff, the stars of his previous film, The Great McGinty. Originally filmed in 1942, Miracle was held from release from two years, not because of censor problems but because its parent studio, Paramount, was overloaded with product. Miracle of Morgan's Creek was remade (and considerably laundered) as the 1958 Jerry Lewis vehicle Rock-a-bye Baby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Bracken, Betty Hutton, (more)
- 1945
In this high-spirited musical comedy, J. Newport Bates (Eddie Bracken) is a millionaire who finds women are only interested in him for his money. When he becomes infatuated with Teddy Collins (Veronica Lake), a cigarette girl, he tries to hide his true identity from her, hoping she'll be interested in him for himself rather than his bank account. However, once Teddy figures out who he is, Bates drops her, and he is about to give up on women entirely when he meets Sue Thomas (Marjorie Reynolds), a nice girl who isn't interested in his money (or at least not yet). Musical satirists Spike Jones and his City Slickers also appear, though most prints are missing a bit from one of their musical numbers: a verse from a song that made fun of Eleanor Roosevelt was clipped after the film's initial engagements. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Veronica Lake, Sonny Tufts, (more)
- 1945
Several of Paramount Pictures brightest stars make cameo appearances in this comedy set in "Duffy's Tavern," a favorite watering hole from old time radio shows. The trouble begins when the neighborhood bar is in danger of closing. The trouble begins when the proprietor, Archie, discovers that one of his regulars, Michael O'Malley, owner of a record company is going broke. This means that many veterans will soon be unemployed and therefore, unable to pay their tab at the tavern. Archie immediately begins recruiting famous stars to donate their services and help. They do, the record company is saved and so is the tavern. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Betty Hutton, (more)
- 1945
This curious mixture of comedy, romance and melodrama teams up comic actor Eddie Bracken and glamour girl Veronica Lake, two of Paramount's most popular stars of the mid-1940s. He plays Ogden Spencer Trulow III, a wealthy kleptomaniac; she plays Sally Martin, who may or may not provide the "cure" for the lovesick Trulow. As it turns out, Sally is a professional thief, part of a gang planning to rip off the Romanoff necklace. Trulow tries to prevent this, and in so doing divest himself of his own kleptomania. Sally's cohorts aren't at all interested in Trulow's problems, and accordingly spend half the film trying to bump him off. Buried somewhere in the glossy silliness of Hold That Blonde is a pre-WW1 play by Paul Armstrong; some of the sight gags in the film are even older than the Armstrong original. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Bracken, Veronica Lake, (more)
- 1945
In this musical, a messenger boy does a remarkable imitation of Bing Crosby and finds himself surrounded by luscious little bobby-soxers. One woman is so impressed by his Crosbiesque crooning that she takes him New York and convinces investors to bank on him. Unfortunately, she accidentally sells the shares for 125 percent of the profits. Fortunately, by the end, the situation is rectified. Songs include: "June Comes Around Every Year," "Out Of This World" (Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen), "I'd Rather Be Me" (Eddie Cherkose, Felix Bernard, Sam Coslow), "All I Do Is Beat That Golden Drum" (Coslow, sung by Cass Daley), "It Takes A Little Bit More" (Coslow), "A Sailor With An Eight-Hour Pass" (Ben Raleigh, Bernie Wayne, sung by Daley) and "The Ghost Of Mr. Chopin" (Coslow). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Bracken, Veronica Lake, (more)
- 1947
Long before he became the foremost purveyor of ultra-realistic melodramas, writer/producer/director Andrew Stone turned out a handful of screwball comedies like Fun on a Weekend. Eddie Bracken stars as P. P. Porterhouse III, who despite his triple-barrelled monicker is flat broke. Long on ideas but short on self-confidence, Porterhouse teams up with Nancy Crane (Priscilla Lane), who has the push and fortitude to turn our heroe's grandiose dreams into reality. Posing as a fabulously wealthy married couple, Porterhouse and Nancy mingle with the rich and famous at a fancy summer resort, ever on the prowl of financial backers. Porterhouse, however, nearly drops the facade when he becomes jealous of the attentions paid to Nancy by suave playboy Van (Tom Conway). Fun on a Weekend cheerfully throws logic to the winds in favor of slapstick and whimsy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Bracken, Priscilla Lane, (more)
- 1947
No relation to the 1961 Jerry Lewis comedy of the same name, the 1947 musical Ladies' Man stars Eddie Bracken as the title character. It all begins when rural rube Henry Haskell (Bracken) inherits an oil fortune in Oklahoma. Enjoying his newfound wealth, Henry goes on a sightseeing tour of New York City, where he is quickly bamboozled into playing "Prince Charming" on a radio giveaway show (this plot device is a takeoff of the "Miss Hush" contest on radio's Truth or Consequences). The architect of this chicanery is ad agency exec Gladys Hayden (Virginia Field), who convinces Henry that she'll lose her job if he doesn't go along with the gag. Somewhere along the line, the plot is put on the back burner in favor of a steady stream of specialty numbers, performed by the likes of Cass Daley and Spike Jones & His City Slickers, the latter aggregation performing their classic Cocktails for Two." Eddie Bracken himself does a nice singing job with a pair of Jule Styne-Sammy Cahn numbers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Bracken, Cass Daley, (more)
- 1949
Ronald Reagan plays a George Petty-type magazine illustrator who creates a "perfect girl" from a composite of the features of several models. While relaxing at the beach, Reagan meets a lovely young schoolteacher (Virginia Mayo) who is the living image of his imaginary girl. Sensing a terrific promotional angle, Reagan ingratiates himself with the girl and attempts to secure her services for a series of cheesecake poses. The film leads to a courtroom conclusion wherein Mayo must strut around in a bathing suit to win her case. Girl from Jones Beach is worth the admission price alone just to hear Ronald Reagan pose as a Czechoslovakian immigrant--complete with accent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Reagan, Virginia Mayo, (more)
Summer Stock represented Judy Garland's swan song at MGM. Garland plays the owner of a New England farm which entrepreneur Gene Kelly hopes to convert into a summer theatre. Gloria DeHaven, a member of Kelly's troupe, also happens to be Garland's sister. Aware that the farm is having financial difficulties, DeHaven talks the recalcitrant Garland into allowing the troupe to set up shop in the barn. All sorts of romances wind their way through the summer air as Kelly mounts his production. In the long-anticipated finale, Garland herself steps into the leading-lady slot vacated by her petulant sister DeHaven, and of course the show is a smasheroo. To watch Garland joyfully perform such numbers as "Friendly Star," "If You Feel Like Singing, Sing," and her legendary "drag" specialty "Get Happy," you'd never suspect that she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown (the film opened while Garland was recovering from a suicide attempt). Adding to the overall exuberance of Summer Stock are such dependable supporting players as Eddie Bracken, Phil Silvers, Marjorie Main and Hans Conried (cast as the troupe's resident romantic baritone!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, (more)
- 1951
Personally supervised by Howard R. Hughes, the RKO Technicolor musical Two Tickets to Broadway stars Janet Leigh as a small-town girl who hopes to make it big in the Big Apple. Moving into a Manhattan boarding house populated by such showbiz hopefuls as Ann Miller, Tony Martin, Gloria De Haven and Barbara Lawrence, Leigh aspires to appear on the popular TV variety program hosted by bandleader Bob Crosby. Two-bit agent Eddie Bracken promises to make her dreams come true, even though he doesn't know Crosby from Adam. Along the way, Leigh falls for Martin, though the course of true love seldom runs smooth--in fact, at one point it threatens to run all the way back to Leigh's home town. Injecting their time-honored routines into the proceedings are veteran vaudevillians Joe Smith and Charlie Dale, playing a couple of stagestruck deli owners (their roles were originally slated for Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, but Laurel's illness precluded any film work). Despite the creative input of choreographer Busby Berkeley, the film's best number is the simplest: Let's Make Comparisons, wherein Bob Crosby explains why he's not his brother Bing. Seemingly a surefire box-office hit, Two Tickets to Broadway inexplicably posted a loss of $1,150,000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Martin, Janet Leigh, (more)
- 1952
About Face is a musicalized remake of the old stage and film comedy Brother Rat. The basic story remains the same, as military-school cadet Boff Roberts (Eddie Bracken) tries to keep his forbidden marriage to Alice Wheatley (Phyllis Kirk) a secret. Meanwhile, Boff's roommates Tony Williams (Gordon MacRae) and Dave Crouse (Dick Wesson) do their best to woo and win lovely Betty Long (Virginia Gibson) and Lorna Carter (Ailene Stanley Jr.). Cliff Ferre co-stars as the much-hated Lt. Jones, who turns out to be an accomplished tap-dancer in the film's closing sequence (but that's only after he's been "humanized" when his hair is dyed blue!) Future Cabaret star Joel Grey has a few funny moments as a put-upon "plebe." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gordon MacRae, Eddie Bracken, (more)
Having supped full of success with the multi-storied O. Henry's Full House, 20th Century-Fox assembled another all-star "omnibus" film, We're Not Married. The unifying factor of this enjoyable seriocomedy is provided by justice-of-the-peace Melvin Bush (Victor Moore), who learns to his horror that his license is invalid. Bush and his wife (Jane Darwell) feverishly track down the five couples whom he has married "illegally" to inform them of the fact and invite them to renew their vows. Couple #1 is Fred Allen and Ginger Rogers, a husband-and-wife radio team whose huggy-kissy behavior on the air conceals the fact that they'd dearly love to cut each other's throats. Couple #2 consists of David Wayne and his contest-happy spouse Marilyn Monroe, who's just won the "Mrs. Mississippi" pageant. Couple #3, Paul Douglas and Eve Arden, ran out of things to say to each other long ago. Couple #4 is millionaire Louis Calhern and his avaricious young bride Eva Gabor, who intends to jilt the old coot and make off with his millions. And Couple #5 is young GI Eddie Bracken and his pregnant wife Mitzi Gaynor. When Bush delivers the news that these unions aren't legal in the eyes of the state, the results range from poignant to hilarious: particularly satisfying is Calhern's puckish revenge on his gold-digging wife. And yes, that is Lee Marvin as Eddie Bracken's army buddy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ginger Rogers, Fred Allen, (more)
- 1953
"Slight" is right: this harmless comedy programmer is as inconsequential as it is enjoyable. It's the tale of two Army buddies: go-getter Geechy Cheevers (Mickey Rooney) and sedate family man Freddie Clopp (Eddie Bracken). Inveigling his way into Freddie's household, Geechy drives everyone bonkers with his get-rich-quick schemes. After convincing Freddie to quit his job and mortgage his home in order to set up a gas station, Geechy cooks up an underhanded scheme to tap the gas pipe of a rival station. Standing on the sidelines is Geechy's long-suffering girlfriend Beverly (Elaine Stewart) and Freddy's far-from-understanding wife Emily (Marilyn Erskine). An obligatory slapstick chase finale caps this exercise in lunacy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Eddie Bracken, (more)
