Moviecut—Feudin' Fools

Sach inherits property in rural hillbilly country. The gang arrives to find a rundown farm. Sach also inherits a local war with a rival family but he manages to hide his Jones name. Then a trio of criminals shows up looking to use the farmhouse as their hideout. The Bowery Boys are headed into the hills. They are fish out of water. There is plenty of ridiculous rural comedy and a couple of babes. The bank robbers are a little left field but they are a good plot device. This is better than most Bowery Boys flicks. It's silly fun like always.

I am way behind on the Bowery Boys movies but I am catching up. Most of their movies are pretty funny but, of course, they have a couple of duds too. "Feudin' Fools" belongs somewhere in the middle of the pack. It does have a few laughs but not that many. Thanks to its short running time (63 mins) it doesn't wear out its welcome. "Feudin' Fools" is not one of the Bowery Boys movies that will turn someone into a fan. But if your already familiar with their movies, it's watchable.

While shooting the breeze at Louie's "Sweet Shop", Leo Gorcey (as Slip Mahoney) and "The Bowery Boys" learn Huntz Hall (as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones) has inherited a plantation south of the Mason-Dixon line. Adopting a southern accent, Mr. Hall accompanies Mr. Gorcey, David "Condon" Gorcey (as Chuck), and Benny "Bennie" Bartlett (as Butch) to the "Jones" farm. There, they are startled to learn the area's hillbilly "Smith" family spends their time shooting everyone in the "Jones" clan dead - putting Hall's life in danger. Gags include Gorcey gets cow's milk sprayed in his face, and Hall crowing like a rooster after eating chicken feed. Cock-a-doodle-don't. *** Feudin' Fools (9/21/52) William Beaudine ~ Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Bernard Gorcey

The usual recipe for a Bowery Boys film... Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, and his father and brother, of course. in this chapta, Sach inherits a "plantation", but when they arrive, it's a broken down shack. and that shack is plunk in the middle of the feud between the Smiths and the Joneses. and Sach's last name is JONES! word gets around that a Jones is back in town, so the neighbors start shootin'. and gangsters show up... and the guys have to hold off the Smiths who shoot first and ask questions later. has a one-track plot... kind of drags on and on. ok, we get it, the neighbors don't want any Joneses around. not one of the better episodes. the early ones are so much better. Directed by Bill Beaudine, who made 31 of these with the Bowery Gang, and all in the 1940s and 1950s. Talk about milking the golden goose! this one was pretty much in the middle of the series.

One day while idling at Louie's Sweet Shop on the Bowery, Huntz Hall learns he's now the proud owner of a nice bit of farm land somewhere in the South. So he and the rest of the Bowery Boys head down to Dixie where they do find Hall has a piece of land next to a family of rustics named Smith. The only problem is that these folks just don't cotton to anyone named Jones. They think they've driven the Joneses out, but just the name Jones gets them thar trigger fingers to itch. Add to that a group of bank robbers who've just robbed the bank in Hog's Liver Hollow who seek refuge at the Jones farm and you have the ingredients of the plot for Feudin' Fools. The Bowery Boys were getting a little stale with this one. The comparisons to Abbott&Costello's Comin' Round the Mountain are fairly obvious and Bud&Lou's film is far better than this one. Still Bowery Boys fans should like it.