Private Buckaroo (1942)

Overrated and overhyped

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Blistering performances.

I just love this film, for the most part, and not just because it came out the year I was born. Universal gathered some of their best musical and comedic talent for for this military recruitment-promoting film. True, they overdid trying to make serving in the armed forces seem like a picnic, with everyone beating the door down to get in the army. True, they could have made much better use of the comedy talent, which included Dead End Kids standout comedian Huntz Hall, and a very young Don O'Connor, as well as Joe E. Lewis, stooge Shemp Howard, and Olive-like willowy Mary Wickes. The last two carried 90% of the effective comedy, along with the Andrew Sisters. Huntz was limited to teaching famous trumpeter Harry James how to do army bugle calls, without much success, until near the end: a running gag. Don O'Connor, in his first of many films for Universal, at age 16, only appears briefly in a few scenes, sometimes with his future constant film companion for the next few years:Peggy Ryan. Peggy gets to do a brief sampling of her athletic dancing talent in the jive dancing scene, which included the 'Jivin' Jacks and Jills'. She even gets a couple of kisses to or from Don, which would be very rare in their subsequent films, when Don's character typically regarded her as a fun playmate, but not a serious romantic interest. Shemp and Lewis compete for Mary's attention in the early part. Poor Shemp has to pay off the nightclub receptionist to get admitted, but his dollar only gets them a table in a recess between 2 swinging kitchen doors. You can guess the rest. In stooge style, he gets slapped and punched by the much taller Mary and ,later, by the Andrew Sisters while they are singing "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree".Presumably, they didn't want him to sit with them.Dick Foran plays the title character and sings the title song while wearing a cowboy hat. This is in recognition of his frequent film appearances as a singing cowboy. With his Nelson Eddy-like voice and appearance, he leads in several additional songs, mostly the army-related ones, including "We're in the Army Now". Also, the beginning of the finale, with "We've Got a Job to Do", before the Andrew Sisters finish with "Johnny Get Your Gun", amid marching soldiers and film clips of various war-related activities. He also begins an extensive treatment of the African American spiritual "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen", while playing the piano. Harry James' band shows up with singer Helen Forest, and they mostly take over from Dick, with singing, followed by Harry's featured trumpet playing.Speaking of Harry James, I've seen several films that included his legendary skill on the trumpet, as well as his band, and this film is by far his best and most pervasive showing. The film begins with his trumpet and Helen Forest singing the popular early 20th century standard "You Made Me Love You". Toward the end, Harry does a very difficult trumpet number: "Concerto for Trumpet", immediately followed by the Andrew Sister's rather comical "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree", which begins with them pulling a heavy cardboard apple tree on stage and ends with them collapsing under the tree, having disposed of an unwanted Shemp several times. Again, this act is immediately followed by the 'Jivin' Jacks and Jills' plus D.O. and Peggy, dancing to a lively James number. Quite an entertainment sequence!I've already mentioned several performances by the then very popular Andrew Sisters. Like James and Foran, they kept popping up for yet another number throughout. Besides the numbers I've mentioned, they begin with "Three Little Sisters". The lyrics have one sister hot for a soldier, another for a sailor, and the third for a marine(there being no separate air force then).Their next number has them in the back of a jeep, with 3 soldiers in front, bouncing along on a bumpy road to an army camp, while singing the lively "Six Jerks in a Jeep". Two years later, Fox studios would repeat this scene with their USO-themed "Four Jills in a Jeep", with Phil Silvers driving the girls over another bumpy road to an army camp.After we've finished with the Shemp-Mary-Lewis problems in James's nightclub, and the various leads have overcome their problems getting accepted into the army, the between-the-musicals tends to focus on Dick Foran, who is the formulistic romantic lead. He develops a transient romantic interest in the training company commander's niece, played by unknown Jennifer Holt. This was only her 2nd film role. Although not apparent in this film, apparently the rational for choosing her was that she nearly always played a cowgirl in her future films, and thus seemed like a good match for Foran, with his frequent cowboy roles and persona in this film. Of course, formulistically, she initially hated Foran's character, with his superior attitude upon joining the army. But, he gets a kiss from her while marching in formation onto the troop ship. That's about the extent of it.Having seen a number of these flag-waving revues, made by various studios, this is clearly the most entertaining. Two years later, Universal would produce a rather similar flag waver: "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", also very good entertainment. See both on You Tube.

This is more of a musical revue with a slight edge of a plot, and truly enjoyable only when the Andrews Sisters are singing or some well known clowns are providing some dated but still humorous chuckles. Of course, when the Andrews Sisters get loose with "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" (with anybody else but me....), it almost tops their performance of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" in Abbott and Costello's earlier "Buck Privates", of which this is obviously a low budget follow-up to. Ted Lewis leads the band, and performs "Me and My Shadow" (with a black dancer, of course...), while Shemp Howard and Mary Wickes provide the necessary amount of laughs simply by searching for a table in a nightclub to make this (barely) a passable time filler. Of course, Mary Wickes could flip pancakes and crack jokes in her deadpan manner and she'd steal the show.

I watched this film because my idols, Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan were in it. They had very small parts. But I watched it, anyhow. It was when I watched this did I realize that The Andrews Sisters are very good singers. Great singers, at that! I liked the story pretty well, and it was funny enough for me. It was a very nice way to spend an evening alone, watching it on my computer.Even though Donald and Peggy weren't in it much, they were still very entertaining. Their kiss at the end is hilarious. The Jivin' Jacks and Jills were amazing, too. I love their dancing! They were in quite a few Universal films in those days. Almost all of their films star Donald and Peggy. I think the one to see their most impressive dancing is in 1943, "Mister Big". The dancing form this same group is jaw-dropping! Well, anyways, it's an entertaining, comical, musical movie that is well worth sitting in your little computer chair for 1 hour and seven minutes!

This is like a Abbott & Costello movie without Abbott & Costello. It's a service comedy only a year removed from "Buck Privates", and features the Andrews Sisters who co-starred with A&C in "Buck Privates", "In the Navy" and "Hold That Ghost". The male lead is Dick Foran, who co-starred in "In the navy", "Ride 'Em Cowboy" and "Keep 'Em Flying". Mark Wickes had a memorable role with Costello in "Hold That Ghost". Shemp Howard played supporting comic lead in a number of A&C pictures including "Who Done It?", "Africa Screams", "In the Navy", "Ride 'em Cowboy" and more, while Jennifer Holt can be seen in "pardon My Sarong" and Peggy Ryan in "Here Come the Co-eds". All that aside, this is a entertaining and fun film to watch. You just have the feeling somebody cut out all of Bud and Lou's scenes!