''Fighting Fools'' is a 1949

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

starring

The Bowery Boys The Bowery Boys are fictional New York City characters, portrayed by a company of New York actors, who were the subject of 48 feature films released by Monogram Pictures and its successor Allied Artists Pictures Corporation from 1946 through 1 ...

. The film was released on April 17, 1949 by Monogram Pictures and is the thirteenth film in the series.

Plot

The Bowery Boys, led by the notorious Slip Mahoney, are helping out at a boxing arena, selling programs, drinks and snacks to the audience. The most popular upcoming fight is between their own Jimmy Higgins ”The Battler from the Bowery” and the reigning champion Joey Prince. The fight will be Jimmy's chance to bring home the title, but his chances are slim at best. When the match starts, Jimmy takes a serious beating in the ring. He is knocked down already in the second round, which renders him unconscious. Eventually Jimmy dies from his injuries. When two of the boys go to break the awful news to Jimmy's mother, Mrs. Higgins, she is devastated. The boys decide to help her out, by finding another one of her boys, Johnny, who disappeared some time ago. Johnny, who is Jimmy's older brother, vanished to get away from a gang of swindlers who played him for a fool and set him up. The boys soon find Johnny in a bar together with a hussy by the name of Bunny Talbot. Johnny is completely oblivious about his younger brother's death. He quickly sobers up after getting the news, and the boys start working him into fighting condition. Together with the journalist Gabe Moreno, the boys start promoting a series of fights in benefit for the Higgins family. When Jimmy's manager, Blinky Harris, wants in on the action, the boys tell him to take a hike, since they consider it his fault that Jimmy died. What the boys don't know, is that Harris had fixed the fight against Prince, but Jimmy didn't go along with the plan. Johnny's first fight is announced, and the training starts in a loft locality the boys get to borrow from their friend Louie who owns a candy store. The thumping and crashing from the loft make Louie's business go bad. Johnny wins his first series of fights, and is considered a challenger to the title. A fight against Prince is set up, and the winner will then fight the title-holder Dynamite Carson. Johnny's fight against Prince starts, but when Prince goes down in the first round, he claims that he did so because the match was fixed. The result is that both boxers are suspended from further fighting. Harris is the one who has fixed the fight, and he promises the Bowery Boys that Prince will confess and clear Johnny's name. The condition is that Johnny loses the first match between him and Carson, and then gets to win the second. The boys agree to the condition, but have no intention of following the plan. Unfortunately they didn't count on Harris taking Boomer Higgins, the youngest of the Higgins brothers, as collateral. Harris assures the boys that Boomer will be let out as soon as Johnny has lost the fight. The boys go on a hunt throughout the city to find Boomer. Sach finds Boomer and helps him escape. Boomer arrives to the ring in time for Johnny to know he is safe, and then Johnny doesn't have to lose. Harris cheats by giving Carson a metal stick to hold in his hand, and Johnny is badly beaten. Between rounds Sach manages to remove the metal stick and Johnny can get the upper hand in the fight once more. He wins the fight by knocking out Carson, and Harris is exposed as a cheater to the boxing commissioner.

Cast

The Bowery Boys

Leo Gorcey Leo Bernard Gorcey (June 3, 1917– June 2, 1969) was an American stage and film actor, famous for portraying the leader of a group of hooligans known variously as the Dead End Kids, the East Side Kids and, as adults, The Bowery Boys. Gorcey was ...

as Terrance Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney *

Huntz Hall Henry Richard "Huntz" Hall (August 15, 1920 – January 30, 1999) was an American radio, stage, and movie performer who appeared in the popular " Dead End Kids" movies, including ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1938), and in the later " Bowery ...

as Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones *

William Benedict William Benedict (April 16, 1917 – November 25, 1999), was an American actor, perhaps best known for playing "Whitey" in Monogram Pictures' The Bowery Boys series. Early years Benedict was born in Haskell, Oklahoma, After his father's dea ...

as Whitey * David Gorcey as Chuck *

Bennie Bartlett Floyd B. Bartlett, known professionally as Benny Bartlett or Bennie Bartlett (August 16, 1924 – December 26, 1999), was an American child actor, musician, and later a member of the long-running feature-film series ''The Bowery Boys''. Biog ...

as Butch

Remaining cast

Gabriel Dell Gabriel Dell (born Gabriel Marcel Dell Vecchio; October 8, 1919 – July 3, 1988) was an American actor and one of the members of what came to be known as the Dead End Kids, then later the East Side Kids and finally The Bowery Boys. Acting car ...

as Gabe Moreno *

Bernard Gorcey Bernard Gorcey (9 January 1886 – 11 September 1955) was a Russian-born American actor. He began in Vaudeville, performed on Broadway, and appeared in multiple shorts and films. He portrayed ice cream shop proprietor Louie Dumbrowski i ...

as Louie Dumbrowski *

Frankie Darro Frankie Darro (born Frank Johnson, Jr.; December 22, 1917 – December 25, 1976) was an American actor and later in his career a stuntman. He began his career as a child actor in silent films, progressed to lead roles and co-starring roles ...

as Johnny Higgins *

Lyle Talbot Lyle Florenz Talbot (born Lisle Henderson, also credited Lysle Talbot; February 8, 1902 – March 2, 1996) was an American stage, screen and television actor. His career in films spanned three decades, from 1931 to 1960, and he performed on ...

as Blinky Harris *

Teddy Infuhr Teddy Infuhr (November 9, 1936 – May 12, 2007), born Theodore Edward Infuhr, was an American child actor. Biography Missouri-born child actor Teddy Infuhr, youngest of four, moved with his family to Los Angeles when he was three and was initial ...

as Boomer Higgins *Bill Cartledge as Joey Prince * Dorothy Vaughan as Mrs. Higgins * Evelynn Eaton as Bunny Talbot *Robert Walcott as Jimmy Higgins *Bert Conway as Dynamite Carson

Home media

Warner Archives released the film on made to order

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in the United States as part of ''"The Bowery Boys, Volume One"'' on November 23, 2012.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fighting Fools 1949 films American boxing films Bowery Boys films 1949 comedy films Monogram Pictures films American black-and-white films Films directed by Reginald Le Borg 1940s English-language films 1940s American films