Crashing Las Vegas (1956)

So much average

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Crashing Las Vegas (1956) ** (out of 4) The forty-first and final Bowery Boys film to feature Leo Gorcey as he's walk from the series after this entry due to a dispute with the studio as well as fighting his own personal demons after the death of his father Bernard who played Louis in the series. In the film Sach (Huntz Hall) gets electrocuted and begins to see numbers in his head. After winning a trip to Las Vegas Slip (Gorcey) decides to use his dumb friend to make a killing but a couple small-time hoods find out about his talents and kidnap him. CRASHING LAS VEGAS is far from the disaster that its reputation would have you believe but at the same time there's no question that the series was running out of gas. It seems this movie is best remembered for the antics of Leo Gorcey, which apparently had him constantly drunk throughout the making of the flick and apparently he destroyed several props and sets. I'm not sure how much of this leaked over into people judging his performance here but many reviews state that it's obvious he's drunk and I really wouldn't say that. There's a sequence towards the end where his foot is up on a bed while he's questioning Hall and he's shaking during this period but outside of this he really didn't act any different from previous films (where he was drinking as well). At times his eyes are obviously bloating but again, you can see this in previous films. In his final appearance he certainly doesn't have enough energy to carry the picture but he is a step up from the previous film. Hall is also apparently bored and he doesn't add any life to the picture either. None of the supporting players are all that memorable and this includes Doris Kemper who is obviously filling in for Bernard Gorcey. CRASHING LAS VEGAS really doesn't feel like a Bowery Boys picture for several reason. One, of course, is the fact that Bernard and his sweet shop aren't here. Another is that director Yarbrough is obviously not too interested in anything going on and the constant long shots really make you feel apart from the film. There's a game show sequence early in the film that isn't too badly done but at the same time it feels as if it belongs in a different film. There's a prison sequence that contains a couple laughs but that's pretty much it. CRASHING LAS VEGAS said goodbye to Gorcey and while it's not a good film to go out on you can at least respect that he did make it to forty-one films, which isn't something very many actors could do.

***SPOILERS*** "Bowery Boy" Sach suddenly develops supernatural powers by getting himself electrocuted in being able to predict numbers on, among other places, a roulette wheel. it's then off to the races or Las Vegas for the boys to get enough money to keep their sweet and kindly Irish landlady Miss. Kate Kelly from getting evicted from her own rooming house! Winning a free one week vacation, due to Sach's powers of numerology, at Las Vega's swanky Pelican Hotel Sach becomes such a sensation on the roulette tables to the point where he's almost kicked out of the place! That's because he's driving, with his winning streak on the gambling tables, the hotel into bankruptcy.It's when pretty Carol LaRue makes a play for Sach, not because of his looks but his winnings, that his powers of predicting numbers before they come out suddenly disappear! It's when Sach and his "Bowery Boy" pals Slip Chuck & Myron realize that Carol was distracting Sach from predicting the outcome of numbers on the roulette table by concentrating on her not the bouncing little white ball that he goes back into action. Hot as ever Sach just about breaks the, by winning an unprecedented 12 spins in a row of the wheel, the bank at the hotel/casino without even breaking a sweat.Of course Carol and her gangster friends Oggy Wiley & Tony have no idea that Sach's powers comes from beyond that of human understanding, the world of the supernatural, and think that Sach had developed a system that they want,if necessary, to beat out of him. As it soon turns out the only persons who get beaten is Carol & Co. who overestimated Sach's mental ability and underestimated his phenomenal luck! ****SPOILERS**** That luck ran out on Sach & the "Boys" after breaking the bank at the Pelican hotel/casino. Sach not only lost his powers of predicting numbers, by getting himself re-electrocuted, but lost all his all his winnings, a cool million smackers, as well by turning the fan in his hotel room on! Which ended up blowing the money Sach won away together with the hot & dry desert winds. P.S This was the last appearance in the "Bowery Boys" series of Leo Gorcey who played Slip. Gorcey couldn't get over his father Bernard Gorcey's, who played Bowery Sweet shop owner Louie Dumbrowaky, death from the result of injuries he suffered in a traffic accident three months before the movie "Crashing Las Vegas" started filming. Hitting the bottle Grocey's health quickly deteriorated to the point where he became a hapless alcoholic and eventually died from cirrhosis of the liver on June 2, 1969; just a day before his 52nd birthday!

The Bowery Boys used the mind reading gimmick before (1949's "Master Minds"), as well as the gambling theme (1950's "Lucky Losers"). This story sort of blends the two as Sach (Huntz Hall) 'electrifies' his brain and suddenly has the ability to see lucky numbers swimming around inside his head. Ever the entrepreneur to cash in on one of Sach's gimmicks, Slip (Leo Gorcey) finagles a one week stay in Las Vegas for himself and the boys to win some big money, and as an aside, help their boarding house lady keep her home. Funny, but I don't recall ever having seen it mentioned where the Bowery Boys lived, so this one might be a trivia treasure - it was Kate Kelly's Furnished Rooms.There's a bit of a sit up and take notice comment made by the Grin Tooth Paste 'Live Like a King' game show host (that's a mouthful), after he describes the three flavors available - vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Using Grin Tooth Paste will make your teeth come out 'whiter than you'! It came across more as an inadvertent commercial slogan than a racial statement, but a scan of the audience showed an all white audience. Hmmm.There's almost always a slippery female in these stories teaming up with the bad guys, and Mary Castle does the honors here as Carol LaRue. Castle had a recurring role in one of TV's earliest series, 1954's 'Stories of the Century'. She portrayed a government agent who helped railroad detective Matt Clark (Jim Davis) track down infamous outlaws of the Old West. In this picture, she attempts to romance Sach to learn his 'system' for winning at the roulette table, but it backfires, as whenever she's around, Sach's ability goes away.Fans of the Bowery Boys will know that this was Leo Gorcey's last appearance in the franchise, just one film following the accidental death of his father Bernard who portrayed Sweet Shop owner Louie Dumbrowsky. For Leo, it doesn't feel like the same old Slip, as the one liner malapropisms are practically non-existent. Huntz Hall would carry on as Sach for a few more Bowery escapades, and wound up with a fairly long run appearing in TV guest spots and the occasional movie well into the early 1990's.

Crashing Las Vegas marked the end of the line for Leo Gorcey and really the end of the line for the Bowery Boys. When Stanley Clements came on to replace Gorcey he was not really a good foil for Huntz Hall to play off. With the death of Bernard Gorcey the year before who played lovable little Louis Dumbrowsky, a whole lot was taken out of the series as well as out of Gorcey who can't quite get animated enough in this film. The rehashed plot line didn't help either, Allied Artists was plain running out of ideas for the Bowery Boys.An electric shock gives Huntz Hall psychic powers he can pick numbers out of anywhere. Where else to put this power to good use but in Las Vegas. So it's off to Vegas where Frank Sinatra and the rest of the developing Rat Pack were getting started. The film could have used the Rat Pack. Not much to say about Leaving Las Vegas. Slinky Mary Castle becomes the latest in a long line of women to vamp a secret out of Satch. The old badger game is tried on him as well. Only Huntz Hall could be fooled into thinking the first floor is the 21st floor, that was a gag more silly than funny.Sad to say The Bowery Boys were running out of gas.