Bowery Bombshell
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Phil Karlson
Leo Gorcey
Huntz Hall
Bobby Jordan
Billy Benedict
David Gorcey
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
New York's Bowery Boys--Slip Mahoney, Sach, Bobby, Whitey and Chuck--decide to sell their dilapidated car for enough money to save Louie's malt shop. They park the car in front of a bank, theorizing that people using the bank's facilities will have money to spend, but the only person who shows any interest is a street cleaner. When the boys' efforts are unsuccessful, Slip resolves to take out a loan. Before they enter the bank, however, they encounter their friend, sidewalk photographer Cathy Smith, and Sach asks her to take his picture. Just as she snaps his photograph, three robbers run out of a bank. Later, when Slip learns there is a reward for the capture of the robbers, he believes that the photograph that Cathy took might include a picture of the men. When he asks Cathy about the photograph, however, she explains that she has already turned her camera in to her employer. With Cathy's help, the boys break into the photo laboratory, just as one of Professor Schrackenberger's inventions causes an explosion inside. To the boys' disappointment, the only person in Cathy's photograph is Sach. Realizing that the police might believe that Sach is one of the thieves, Slip removes the negative, intending to destroy it. Before they can leave the laboratory, Cathy and the boys are confronted by policeman O'Malley and Cathy's boss, Mr. Johnson, who have come to investigate the explosion. Johnson fires Cathy and chases the boys away. In the confusion, Slip loses Sach's photograph, and later, it shows up on the front page of the newspaper. Gangster Ace Deuce, who actually engineered the hold-up with Feather-Fingers, spreads the rumor that Sach was working for a rival gang. While the police and Deuce's men search for Sach, who is hiding in Cathy's apartment, the rest of the boys try to discover the identity of the real bank robbers. By accident, they learn that the robbers are working for Deuce, and Slip devises a plan to force Deuce to implicate himself. Impersonating the head of the rival gang, Slip successfully carries out his plan, and Cathy takes a photograph as evidence, but on their way out of Deuce's nightclub, they are recognized by the street cleaner, who was really Deuce's lookout during the bank robbery. Deuce sends his henchman, Moose McCall, after the boys. At the laboratory, where Cathy and the boys are developing her photograph, Moose drinks one of the professor's concoctions. When the professor declares that Moose is now a human bomb, Slip agrees to take him to a hospital if he will testify against Deuce. After some confusion, the police arrest the gang. The boys give the reward money to Louie, and Cathy's photograph of Deuce earns her a newspaper job.
Director
Phil Karlson
Cast
Leo Gorcey
Huntz Hall
Bobby Jordan
Billy Benedict
David Gorcey
Teala Loring
Sheldon Leonard
Dawn Kennedy
James Burke
Vince Barnett
Wee Willie Davis
William Ruhl
Emmett Vogan
Bernard Gorcey
Milton Parsons
Lester Dorr
William Newell
Eddie Dunn
Charlie Sullivan
Buddy Gorman
Charles Sherlock
Nancy Brinckman
Paul Turner
Crew
William Austin
Glenn Cook
Richard Currier
Jan Grippo
Victor Hammond
Doc Joos
Edward Kay
Tom Lambert
Dave Milton
Lindsley Parsons
Harry Ross
Tim Ryan
Edmond Seward
William Sickner
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film's working title was Hot Money. The opening title cards read: "Leo Gorcey and The Bowery Boys with Huntz Hall in Bowery Bombshell." At one point in the film, the Bowery Boys pretend to be gangsters and imitate movie gangster portrayals by stars such as George Raft, Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney. For more information on "The Bowery Boys" series, consult the Series Index and the entry below for Live Wires.
