Sometimes one viewing is all it takes, I'm moving this title immediately to my list of best films no one's ever heard of. Not so much for the story itself, but for the dialog and terrific nighttime street scenes of downtown Cat-tail with all those great marquees. I'll get to them in a minute. There's also some great era touches that you have to pay attention for, and if you do you'll be rewarded with a hefty dose of reality on how things were during a time gone by.
One of those took place early in the story. Did you catch the gas station guy lamenting the fact of all those vehicles passing him by to get to Cat-tail, stopping only if they needed a bit of fuel to make it the rest of the way? One of the customers bought a PINT of gas for 6 CENTS!!! Even con-girl Skeeter (Betty Brewer) filled up her gas can for a wallet busting twelve cents so her folks could make it the rest of the way. Usually we don't see the good old days portrayed this way.
Staying another minute at that gas station - how about Danny's response to Lola (Ann Sheridan) when she turns down his offer to wash the car - he's willing then to touch up her bumpers! You've got to wonder how the film makers got that one past the Code enforcers.
Well there's a whole bunch of stuff like this going on, so much so it took me almost twice as long to watch the movie compared to it's hour and a half run time, what with all the re-winds and stopping to take notes for this review. There's one scene I actually had to replay four times to see if I got it right. It's toward the end of the picture when Steve Talbot (Ronald Reagan) tucks in the drunken Nick Garcos (George Tobias) for the night. After leaving the room and locking the door, Nick calls Steve's name, and when Steve turns to answer, they're in the same room together again! Check it out.
Oh yeah, about the main drag in Cat-tail. Seeing as how they put this together, someone was pretty creative in naming the joints up and down the strip. You had places going by The Goons, Little Zombie, Jook Alley, Shook Shack, Muckeye's and Horsies Hot Shot. Sheridan's character did her 'juke girl' gig at Muckeye's, where it looked like a fair number of fellas were willing to touch up her bumpers. The fact that future President Reagan got to close out the story in a smooch with the 'oomph' girl shouldn't have come as a surprise considering all that went before.
It surprises me then that the film doesn't score a bit higher on this board. Okay, it is a bit formulaic, and if presented as a Western it would probably classify as run of the mill. But with all the cool stuff going on, I guess it just struck me in a way that a lot of films coming out of the era fail to do. Or maybe it had to do with one of those good luck Jo-Mo's Willie Best was peddling. It sure did the trick for me.
One of those took place early in the story. Did you catch the gas station guy lamenting the fact of all those vehicles passing him by to get to Cat-tail, stopping only if they needed a bit of fuel to make it the rest of the way? One of the customers bought a PINT of gas for 6 CENTS!!! Even con-girl Skeeter (Betty Brewer) filled up her gas can for a wallet busting twelve cents so her folks could make it the rest of the way. Usually we don't see the good old days portrayed this way.
Staying another minute at that gas station - how about Danny's response to Lola (Ann Sheridan) when she turns down his offer to wash the car - he's willing then to touch up her bumpers! You've got to wonder how the film makers got that one past the Code enforcers.
Well there's a whole bunch of stuff like this going on, so much so it took me almost twice as long to watch the movie compared to it's hour and a half run time, what with all the re-winds and stopping to take notes for this review. There's one scene I actually had to replay four times to see if I got it right. It's toward the end of the picture when Steve Talbot (Ronald Reagan) tucks in the drunken Nick Garcos (George Tobias) for the night. After leaving the room and locking the door, Nick calls Steve's name, and when Steve turns to answer, they're in the same room together again! Check it out.
Oh yeah, about the main drag in Cat-tail. Seeing as how they put this together, someone was pretty creative in naming the joints up and down the strip. You had places going by The Goons, Little Zombie, Jook Alley, Shook Shack, Muckeye's and Horsies Hot Shot. Sheridan's character did her 'juke girl' gig at Muckeye's, where it looked like a fair number of fellas were willing to touch up her bumpers. The fact that future President Reagan got to close out the story in a smooch with the 'oomph' girl shouldn't have come as a surprise considering all that went before.
It surprises me then that the film doesn't score a bit higher on this board. Okay, it is a bit formulaic, and if presented as a Western it would probably classify as run of the mill. But with all the cool stuff going on, I guess it just struck me in a way that a lot of films coming out of the era fail to do. Or maybe it had to do with one of those good luck Jo-Mo's Willie Best was peddling. It sure did the trick for me.