David Gorcey Movies
The youngest son of actor Bernard Gorcey, David Gorcey reached Broadway at the tender age of 14 when he was cast in Sidney Kingsley's Dead End. During the early stages of production, David secured a role in the play for his older brother Leo. It was Leo who subsequently rose to stardom, while the quieter, self-effacing David seemed content to remain a background player. After making his film debut in 1938, David was cast in Universal's "Little Tough Guys" series, an offshoot of Warners' Dead End Kids films, which of course spotlighted brother Leo. When Leo moved to Monogram's East Side Kids David went along in the featured role of Pee-wee. After serving in the military, David rejoined Leo at Monogram, appearing as Chuck in the Bowery Boys series beginning in 1946. Evidently to avoid accusations of nepotism, David adopted his mother's maiden name of Condon for billing purposes. The younger Gorcey outlasted Leo as a Bowery Boy, remaining with the series until its final entry, 1958's In the Money. During this period, he occasionally accepted minor roles at other studios, usually playing a newsboy (most amusingly in 1950's Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion). David Gorcey became a minister after retiring from films, devoting his time and energy to anti-drug programs for LA ghetto youths. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1958
This is the very last entry in the long-running Bowery Boys saga. This time the gang gets involved with English diamond smugglers after they are hired to safely escort a valuable poodle on a Transatlantic voyage. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
In this entry in the long-running "Bowery Boys" series Sach sells his soul to the Devil so he can atone for spending a charity fund at the track. The bargain enables the young man to successfully predict winning horses at the track. Soon Sach finds himself pursued by greedy mobsters who want him to work with them. Sach demurs and then ends up riding a horse in the big race. Despite his efforts to force the steed to slow down and lose, it wins. Fortunately, the horse is disqualified because Sach was an illegal rider. This has the added benefit of proving the Devil wrong and nullifying their contract. To pay for his crimes, Sach must work in a diner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
In this entry in the long-running series, The Bowery Boys must help their leader after he becomes hypnotized by an unscrupulous mesmerizer who sends him back in time to the swashbuckling days of Blackbeard the pirate. There he is to find a buried treasure. The lad finds it, but upon awakening, he finds the hypnotist holding a gun on him. The crook then escapes to find the loot. Fortunately the other boys beat him to it. At the location, they learn that the treasure is really the hidden loot from an old theft of a jewelry store. The honest boys hand the crook, and the treasure over to the police. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
When a city cafe owner buys himself a peaceful country manse to relax in, the Bowery Boys are quite excited. Unfortunately, they arrive to discover the house in a terrible stage of decay and so agree to help fix it up. No sooner do they begin repairs than they find a fortune hidden inside the house. The boys use the money to pay off the house. The makes the greedy real estate agent suspicious. Suspecting there is more money hidden around, the agent decides to convince the gang to sell back the house by making it seem as if it were haunted. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
In this episode of the long-running "Bowery Boys" series, Sach reminisces about the time he and the gang spent helping the Allies in North Africa during WW II. The boys were working as spies and were assigned to bring in "The Hawk" a key member of the African underground. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1956
The Bowery Boys find themselves up to their unwashed necks in international intrigue when they agree to help the exiled king (Sig Ruman) and the lovely princess (Lisa Davis) of the mythical country of Truania. It seems that sweet shop owner Louie (Bernard Gorcey) was born in Truania and is still loyal to its monarchy, thus Bowery boys Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) are entrusted with a valuable half-coin that will be conjoined with its other half when it is safe for the king to return to his homeland. The king's "faithful" retinue (Leon Askin and Veola Vonn) turn out to be traitors, hoping to trap the king by doctoring the coin. Plots and counterplots are hatched in and around Louie's sweet shop, but the Bowery Boys vanquish the traitors and save the throne. The best scenes involve Sach, who is periodically put under a hypnotic spell by the wily female traitor. Spy Chasers isn't exactly John Le Carre, but as a Bowery Boys epic it's one the best. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1956
In this entry in the long running Bowery Boys series, the boys begin working as free-lance photographers. Trouble ensues when they take a picture of a crime lord. They are in such a rush to get the picture back to the paper they work for that they accidently destroy the negative. To get another photo, one of the boys begins impersonating a Chicago gangster. He then sneaks his camera into a nightclub. While there he gets fake money from the crimelord, which he gives to the police as evidence. Thanks to his efforts, the boss and his gang are brought to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1956
In this entry in the Bowery Boys series, one of the members suddenly finds that he can predict winning numbers after he suffers an electrical shock. He and the boys take this special talent and use it on a TV game show. They win a trip to Las Vegas. Unfortunately, his winning streak attracts the interest of local gangsters who trick the clairvoyant lad into believing he killed a man. They use this to blackmail him into forking over his winnings. The gang comes to his aid. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1956
The Bowery Boys--Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) et. al.--are suckered into buying a uranium mine near the western town of Panther Pass. Though the boys find none of the precious mineral, a gang of bad guys, led by Ron Haskell (Harry Lauter), are led to believe that mine is valuable. The crooks try to chase our heroes off their property, but before long the tables are turned, and the film wraps up with a zany jeep pursuit. Director Edward Bernds and screenwriter Elwood Ullman reuse several old Three Stooges gags in Dig That Uranium, including the poker game routine from the Stooges' Out West (1947). The film's best bit is an extended parody of High Noon, replete with really slow bullets. Incidentally, the doofus who sells the boys the uranium mine in the opening scene is none other than Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer. Filmed at Iverson's Ranch in the San Fernando Valley, Dig That Uranium was the final "Bowery Boys" outing for Bernard "Louie Dumbrowski" Gorcey, who died in a traffic accident shortly after filming was completed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1956
This is one of the last episodes of the long-running Bowery Boys film series. This time the trouble begins when a spoiled child television star swipes their car. They go to get it back and in so doing teach the kid a lesson or two. TV executives, frustrated from trying to deal with the youth on their own are so impressed that they hire the boys to keep the kid in line. Of course, that's not nearly as easy as it sounds, especially after the little star gets kidnapped. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1955
In this entry in the long-running series, the Bowery Boys must help a reporter who was beaten up during an undercover investigation at a local prison. With the consent of the reporter's editor, the boys pull off a phony jewel caper and two of them are imprisoned. In the pokey, they learn that the editor is the real thief and that they really are in prison. Hijinks ensue until they expose a scam surrounding prison guards on the take from inmates who pay them to give them easier jobs. This allows them to prove their innocence and eventually expose the evil editor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1955
It's the Bowery Boys again, in their 35th feature film. Sach (Huntz Hall) buys a battered oil lamp, which turns out to have belonged to Aladdin some 2000 years earlier. Out pops a genial genie (Eric Blore), who grants every wish of Sach and his pal Slip (Leo Gorcey). Gangsters steal the lamp, but discover that the genie won't grant any wishes unless Slip and Sach tell him to, so the baddies snatch Our Heroes as well. The boys escape by insisting that the genie take them home. He does--to his home, ancient Baghdad. Slip and Sach barely escape the scimitar of the angry Caliph; they return to the Bowery minus the genie but with their heads intact. In typical Bowery Boys fare, this entry is pepped up by the appearance of veteran comic actor Eric Blore in his final screen appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1955
This Bowery Boys opus gets under way when Sach (Huntz Hall) is informed that he is heir to a fortune. Sach and his buddy Slip (Leo Gorcey) head to the mansion of the late Terwilliger Debussy Jones to sign the necessary legal papers. Here they discover that the rightful heir is young Terwilliger III (Ronald Keith), who is being cheated out of his legacy by crooked relative Stuyvesant Jones (Dayton Lummis) and his confederate Clarissa (Amanda Blake). After all sorts of slapstick complications, honesty prevails. Believe it or not, High Society earned an Academy Award nomination for "Best Original Story," all because the Academy confused this Bowery Boys endeavor with the big-budget Frank Sinatra/Bing Crosby/Grace Kelly musical of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1954
Paris Playboys was lensed on the same sets used for the Bowery Boys' previous opus Loose in London, indicating that Allied Artists was nothing if not cosmopolitan. This time, Sach (Huntz Hall) turns out to be the exact double of brilliant French scientist Le Beau (also Huntz Hall). The mistaken-identity gimmick results in Sach, his fellow Bowery Boys Slip (Leo Gorcey), Chuck (David Condon) and Butch (Bennie Bartlett), and sweet-shop owner Louie (Bernard Gorcey) being whisked off to Paris, where Sach is expected to duplicate Le Beau's revolutionary new rocket fuel. It must needs be that the real Le Beau emerges from hiding to thoroughly confuse Slip et. al. Adding to the merriment are a bunch of foreign spies, headed by the always disreputable Steven Geray. Though out of favor with most Bowery Boys aficionados, Paris Playboys comes through with the usual quota of bellylaughs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1954
The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters may not be the best of the "Bowery Boys" series, but it was unquestionably the most profitable. It all begins when Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) try to gain permission to use a local vacant lot for baseball games. The boys make a trip to the mansion of the lot's owners, the sinister Gravesend family. It soon develops that all the Gravesends are looney, and none loonier than mad scientists Derek (John Dehner) and Anton (Lloyd Corrigan). Derek wants to transfer Sach's brain (what there is of it) to the body of a gorilla, while Anton wants to use Sach's graymatter for his robot. Meanwhile, Amelia Gravesend (Ellen Corby) makes plans to feed Slip to her carnivorous plant. Along the way, Sach is periodically transformed into a hideous beast, terrifying one and all, including his would-be rescuers Louie (Bernard Gorcey), Butch (Bennie Bartlett) and Chuck (David Condon). There isn't a single gag or situation in Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters that wasn't used earlier by the Three Stooges or Abbott & Costello, but that doesn't make the film any less hilarious. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1954
The Bowery Boys go to Africa in this entry in the long-running series. They embark upon their adventure after they discover that one of them has the ability to smell diamonds. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1953
Jalopy represents the first Bowery Boys film to be released by Allied Artists, though in essence it's still a Monogram "B"-picture. It all begins when Sach Jones (Huntz Hall) develops a new fuel formula that will enable a racing car to go around the track in 11 seconds! Sach's pal Slip Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) uses the formula to win several jalopy races, thereby allowing sweet-shop owner Louie (Bernard Gorcey) to pay his debts. Gamblers try to muscle in on the Bowery Boys' winning streak, but to no avail. On the day of the obligatory Big Race, Slip is forced to enter his jalopy without the precious fuel. At the last minute, Sach arrives with a new batch--which only works when the car is shifted in reverse! Heavily reliant upon stock footage from the concurrently produced Allied Artists feature Roar of the Crowd, Jalopy is a typically nonsensical Bowery Boys entry, right down to the surreal climactic gag. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1953
When the Bowery Boys go to visit a friend on an Air Force base, they are pulled into an investigation to discover why their friend is being accused of treason. Accidentally enlisting in the service, they continue their investigation and eventually stumble on a Nazi plot. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1953
Though scheduled for production as early as 1950, the Bowery Boys' Loose in London didn't go before the cameras until 1953. In this outing, Sach (Huntz Hall) is told that he's a relative of Sir Percy, the Earl of Walsingham (Walter Kingsford). In short order, Sach, his pals Slip (Leo Gorcey), Chuck (David Condon) and Butch (Bennie Bartlett), and sweet-shop proprietor Louie (Bernard Gorcey) head to the Earl's estate in London. Immediately ingratiating themselves with the ailing nobleman, the boys give the old fellow a new lease on life--which doesn't sit well with the rest of the Earl's relatives, who are greedily awaiting his demise so that they may claim his inheritance. In desperation, the other relatives plan to kill the Earl, but they're foiled by Slip, Sach and company. This leaves Sach the sole heir to the Earl's fortune--at least that's what he thinks! Written by "Three Stooges" alumni, Elwood Ullman and Edward Bernds (who also directed), Loose in London is an enjoyable hour's worth of nonsense. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1953
In this entry in the long-running Bowery Boys series, Sach becomes a mind-reader after he is punched in the nose. To capitalize on his new talent, he and the boys open the Eagle Eye Detective Agency. Their first client, a forgetful fellow, desperately needs them to find the combination to the vault where he placed an envelope containing secret information about a group of gangsters. The young detectives then don disguises and sneak in to the gangsters' lair to stop them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1952
In this entry in the long running "Bowery Boys" series, one of the boys is bequeathed a farm in Kentucky. The boys go there and find themselves in the middle of a hillbilly feud between the Smiths and the Joneses. The warring clans unite when bank robbers break into the Jones' house and force the hapless family to assist them. The boys begin calling the thieves "Joneses" and this causes the Smiths to come a runnin' with their shot guns and capture them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1952
This "Bowery Boys" entry is an on-target satire of TV wrestling (which, if anything, is even sillier in the 1990s than it was in 1952). Through a freak of nature, Sach Jones (Huntz Hall) develops a cranium so hard that it is impervious to pain. Capitalizing on this phenomenon, Sach's pal Slip Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) enters Sach in a wrestling match, during which his great strength re-manifests itself in his fingers. With each subsequent wrestling bout, Sach's superstrength shifts to another part of his body. When slated to take on real-life wrestler Hombre Montana in the ring, Sach nearly meets his Waterloo until the last moment, when he develops extrahuman strength in his backside. Never believable for a single moment, No Holds Barred is one of the best and funniest of the 48 "Bowery Boys" films. In addition to Hombre Montana, other genuine wrestlers making guest appearances include Henry Kulky, Pat Fraley, Brother Frank Jares and Count John Maximillian. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1952
The Bowery Boys go to college in Hold That Line. Things haven't changed much since the Marx Bros. went to college in Horse Feathers: academic achievement still takes second place to football. The story shifts into gear when Sach (Huntz Hall) swallows a chemical-lab mixture which turns him into a super-athlete. Sach's pal Slip (Leo Gorcey) parlays this metamorphosis into an unbroken winning streak for the university's gridiron team. Football star Biff Wallace (John Bromfield), who has bet heavily on the opposing team, arranges for Sach to be kidnapped just before the Big Game, but eventually sees the error of his ways and tells Slip where to locate his pal. The climax is right out of Harold Lloyd's The Freshman, but if one must steal, steal from the best. Most of Hold That Line was filmed on location at Los Angeles City College, not far from the Bowery Boys' headquarters at Monogram Studios. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1952
Believe it or not, those boobish Bowery Boys Slip Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) and Sach Jones (Huntz Hall) are drafted into the Marine Corps (drafted into the Marine Corps?) Because of his father's sterling war record, simple-minded Sach is promoted to sergeant, and has a high old time lording it over his former "chiefie" Slip. Seemingly born under a lucky star, the more Sach screws up during boot camp, the higher he's promoted. Just when this running gag threatens to wear out its welcome, the scriptwriters bring in a gang of crooked gamblers who've been victimizing the Marine trainees, leading to a maelstrom of fisticuffs between the Bowery Boys and the bad boys in the final reel. Extra laughs are supplied in Here Come the Marines by Donald MacBride as Slip and Sach's dough-faced drill sergeant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1951
The Bowery Boys once more frolic about in an "old dark house" setting in Ghost Chasers. The story finds Slip Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) and his gang endeavoring to expose a phoney seance racket. Slip's pal Sach is aided and abetted in this endeavor by a genuine ghost, a jovial 17th-century wraith named Edgar (Lloyd Corrigan). Naturally, no one but Sach can see or hear Edgar, leading to any number of delightfully comic complications. Director William "One-Take" Beaudine effectively mixes humor with horror, sustaining audience interest for a full seven reels. Ghost Chasers should not be confused with such previous and future Bowery Boys endeavors as Spook Busters and Spook Chasers, though many of the gags and comic setpieces are pretty much the same. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
