Louie is in desperate need of $300 and if he doesn't come up with it he will lose his ice cream shop. The boys try to raise the money by selling their old jalopy and when that doesn't work out, Slip decides to try and get a bank loan. Outside the bank, the boys meet their friend Cathy Smith who is a street photographer. Sach begs Cathy to take his photo and just as she snaps the picture, bank robber rush out. Cathy's photo shows Sach holding the bag of loot. First the boys try to get the photo back but that fails and Sach's photo appears on the front page of the newspaper and now the cops are hot on Sach's trail. They find out that the gangster Ace Deuce Baker is behind the theft and that he has planted thousand dollar bills on Sach to ensure that he'll take the fall for the robbery. To infiltrate Ace's night club lair, Slip decides to impersonate a notorious gangster with the boys, sans Sach, pretending to be his henchmen. For me, the lengthy scene at the nightclub fell flat. While mildly amusing, it just wasn't very funny. And the whole bit with Professor Scrackenberger and his experiment with "drinkable" explosives was too dumb even for a Bowery Boys movie. There are a few funny moments (such as Slip's comment that Sach is so dumb he's probably going around bragging about having his picture in the paper) and the supporting cast, especially Sheldon Leonard, Teala Loring (an actress I never recall seeing in any other movie) and James Burke do a good job. The same year Leonard did this role of Ace he also appeared in 'It's a Wonderful Life.' Uh, my guess is he's better remembered for the later role.
Review of Bowery Bombshell
