The McGuerins from Brooklyn (1942) User Reviews

one of the Taxi trilogy shorts from the 1940s

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 20 September 2007]

Short but clever story, moves right along, since it's so short. Some suggestive naughty jokes in this one too that weren't in the first one (Brooklyn Orchid). The same two dudes, Marks and Snell,wrote all three parts of the "Taxi" trilogy. "Taxi Mister" would be number three. Also some great cameos, like Pat Flaherty, Alan Hale Jr, (Skipper from Gilligan's Island, would have been just 20 then!). Appearance by Max Baer, the boxer from the 1930s and 1940s, whose son, Max Baer Jr, would play Jethro in the "Beverly Hillbillies". Frank Hagney, the hotel doorman, had been making films since 1919, doing stunts and mostly minor or un-credited later parts. Tyler Brooke, the desk clerk, had also been in the biz since 1915. Brooke had played Cortland van Bibber in a silent comedy series in the late 1920s. Nothing new or groundbreaking in the "McGuerins from Brooklyn", but fun to watch.

Bendix first rate

[JohnSeal · 5/10 · 18 September 2006]

This brisk second feature was the third in a series of Hal Roach comedies based around the character of Tim McGuerin, a Brooklyn taxi magnate played by the reliable William Bendix. It was very early days for Bendix' career, and the Manhattan native proved himself capable of carrying a picture in the series. The extremely straightforward plot involves McGuerin's efforts to convince his wife Sadie (Grace Bradley, still living as I write this) that he isn't engaged in an affair with company secretary Lucy (Virginia Woodworth), merely teaching her how to play pool. The film clocks in at only 46 minutes, rendering it one of the shortest feature films of the talking picture era.

A Blue Collar Romantic Comedy

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 8 December 2008]

I wonder if the Red Circle Cab Company run by William Bendix and Joe Sawyer from Brooklyn ever ran into that Harlem based outfit the Fresh Air Taxi Company run by Amos Jones and Andy Brown. Now that might have made an interesting film.

Bendix's Tim McGuerin is a blue collar knockabout guy who never forgets his roots. He's even got a pool table in his office at the Taxi Company office. But it's a sad day when wife Grace Bradley finds him in a compromising position with pretty Marjorie Woodworth. He was just giving her instructions in shooting pool, but what self respecting wife who's a former stripper herself is going to believe that.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander as Bradley starts taking classes from physical education instructor Max Baer. She even goes up to his spa for a cure. Naturally Bendix doesn't believe that.

The McGuerins From Brooklyn following the original Brooklyn Orchid film is a working class romantic comedy. When you think about it, the antics of Bendix and Bradley can be found in many comedies with sophisticated leading men like Cary Grant or Rock Hudson. It's just that no one would expect Bendix's Brooklynese speech pattern from them.

Don't believe me, check out My Favorite Wife or The Awful Truth and see what I mean.

Shortly after this film, Bendix went to Paramount where he was one of their most acclaimed and busiest character actors for the next decade. He also became a star of radio and later television with that other Brooklyn character he created Chester A. Riley.

The McGuerins From Brooklyn is a no frills romantic comedy in its own blue collar way.

all William Bendix

[jpickerel · 6/10 · 22 December 2008]

This is one of a total of three 'streamliners' made by Bendix and Sawyer, about two Brooklyn mugs who strike it rich by building a successful cab company in New York. Stream liners were short (50 - 60 minutes) and to the point. While funny, this movie belongs strictly to Bendix. He is as he is in most of his later movies; a lovable bumbler, getting himself in and out of improbable but sometimes hilarious situations. This one concerns mix-ups and misunderstandings among McGuerin (Bendix), his wife (Bradley), his partner (Sawyer) and his fiancé, and their secretary, deliciously played by Woodward. Only Bradley seems a little out of sync, stiff and uncomfortable with her role, but beautiful none the less. Even Max Baer, as a fitness trainer, does well with his role (catch the bit with him as he turns around a picture of Joe Louis to face the wall. He was one of Louis's boxing ring victims). Perhaps it's the length of the movie, or the bit of miscasting, but the film seems just a bit out of kilter. But not enough so as to make it less than enjoyable.

Harmless William Bendix comedy

[frankfob · 4/10 · 15 May 2007]

William Bendix and Joe Sawyer are two Brooklyn mugs who make a success out of the small cab company they started and now head the most successful cab company in the city, but they're still two Brooklyn mugs at heart. The plot of this slight comedy revolves around both Bendix's wife (Grace Bradley) and Sawyer's girlfriend (Arline Judge) thinking that each is having a fling with their gorgeous secretary (Marjorie Woodworth). Bendix, although this film came early in his career, is his usual amusing self (he did much better later that year in a hilarious Abbott & Costello comedy, "Who Done It?") and Sawyer, while not really having much to do, does have his moments and acquits himself well. The stunning Woodworth shows a real flair for comedy, but Bradley's performance veers between stiff and hammy, and throws the picture's pace off somewhat. There's some mistaken identity, some slapstick, and everything finally gets resolved at the end of this 46-minute Hal Roach "streamliner". While's it's hardly a memorable comedy, it's not a complete waste of time, either. Worth a look.

Anticipating TV syndication?

[HallmarkMovieBuff · 17 July 2009]

At three-quarters of an hour, this Hal Roach comedy was not only fit fare for a movie-house double feature, but it was also ripe for early commercial TV syndication to fill an hour time slot. Is that what studio executives had in mind when they made it? Regardless, its star, William "Bill" Bendix, in the title role of Timothy McGuerin, did go on to make his mark in the title role of one of my childhood TV favorites, "The Life of Riley," who I'll never forget lived at 1313 Blueview Terrace. (The street number is pronounced "thirteen-thirteen," no doubt to emphasize Riley's unlucky fortunes.)

The comedy in "McGuerins" derives, in classic form, from a combination of situational confusions (which business partner is the secretary really "with"?), Hal Roach signature slapstick, and off-beat language. For example, in an early office pool table scene, Bendix utters a couple of malapropisms, a language form more commonly associated the baseball's Yogi Berra or comedian Norm Crosby. And boxer-actor Max Baer, playing a physical culture "professor," after whisking away temporarily alienated Mrs. McGuerin (Grace Bradley) on a two-seated bicycle, utters, "I always land 'em on my tandem."

Although I was quite familiar with the other principle actors in this film, I was quite taken with the previously-overlooked Bradley. Her comedy smarts reminded me of a Lucille Ball in the making; and apparently I'm not the only fan attracted by her beauty: although this was one of the last of her nearly forty films, research reveals that she had married William "Bill" Boyd a few years earlier (whose Hopalong Cassidy movies used to begin my Saturday morning TV watching at seven a.m.), and left movie acting not much later to support hubby's career and to follow other pursuits.

A Few Laughs

[Michael_Elliott · 27 February 2008]

McGuerins from Brooklyn, The (1942)

** (out of 4)

Hal Roach comedy is the second of a trilogy films surrounding the title brothers. The two brothers (Joe Sawyer, William Bendix) are still running their taxi service but one of the brothers gets involved with his secretary while the other tries to keep his wife from finding out. If you've got nothing to do at 3am and need to waste 45-minutes then this film might come in handy but if you've got better things to do then you can certainly skip this one. I've been impressed with some of the Roach comedies with Sawyer but I was disappointed in this one of the previous film in the series (Brooklyn Orchid). There are a couple laughs here and there but it's easy to see that this film was rushed and not much time went into coming up with a good screenplay.