The Bowery (1933)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Raoul Walsh

Writers:

Howard Estabrook (writer)
James Gleason (writer)

Release Date:

7 October 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

"CHUCK" CONNORS MONARCH OF ALL HE SURVEYED AND COULD LICK!

Plot:

"In the Gay Nineties New York had grown up into bustles and balloon Sleeves ... but The Bowery had grown younger...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Brooklyn Bridge | Based On Novel

Cast

Wallace Beery	...	Chuck Connors
George Raft	...	Steve Brodie
Jackie Cooper	...	Swipes McGurk
Fay Wray	...	Lucy Calhoun
Pert Kelton	...	Trixie Odbray
Herman Bing	...	Max Herman
Oscar Apfel	...	Ivan Rummel
Ferdinand Munier	...	Honest Mike
George Walsh	...	John L. Sullivan
Lillian Harmer	...	Carrie A. Nation

Runtime:

92 min | USA:87 min (re-release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Company:

20th Century Pictures

Trivia:

George Raft and Wallace Beery were at odds during filming. According to Raft, before the fistfight scene, Beery asked Raft to let him throw the first punch and then proceeded to sucker-punch Raft, knocking him out for several minutes. "When I came to I got up and called him everything I could think of," Raft said. They then fought for real, and the crew had to break it up.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The name of George Raft's character, "Steve Brodie," is misspelled "Brody" in the opening credits.

Quotes:

Chuck Connors: Never tie yourself to a guy that's on the downgrade.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies and the American Dream (1998) (TV)

Soundtrack:

In the Good Old Summertime

Sentimental but skilfully made exercise in period knockabout comedy

George Raft as Steve Brodie, the carefree, dancing gambler who can never refuse a dare, is pitted against the lumbering, sentimental, Chuck Connors (Wallace Beery).A soft touch for every panhandler, Connors impulsively adopts waifs and strays, notably runaway orphan "Swipes" (Jackie Cooper, complete with kittens!) and the homeless Lucy Calhoun, an out-of-town innocent with ambitions to become a writer.

In this male-dominated culture, communication takes place mostly in the form of violence (one sees why THE BOWERY is a Martin Scorsese favorite). Exploding cigars provide a running gag. "Swipes" enjoys throwing rocks through windows in Chinatown, on one occasion setting a laundry alight. (The simultaneous arrival of both Brodie's and Beery's volunteer fire companies leads to a brawl, during which the building burns to the ground.) Beery casually saps a troublesome girl, and thumps anyone who disagrees with him, including Brodie, whom he defeats, in a night-time fist fight on a moored barge, to regain control of his saloon, lost on a bet that Brodie wouldn't have the courage to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. (Brodie does make the leap, but only because a subterfuge with a dummy fails at the last moment.)

As usual, Walsh fills the frame with detail, illustrating with relish the daily life of the tenderloin; singing waiters, bullying barmen, whores from Suicide Hall being hustled into the Black Maria, tailors collaring hapless hicks off the street and forcing them to buy suits they don't want. A minor but admirable little film.