Shoot the Works

"Shoot the Works" (1934), with Jack Oakie, Ben Bernie, Dorothy Dell, Roscoe Karns, Alison Skipworth, William Frawley, Arline Judge, Lew Cody, Paul Cavanaugh, and others, is one of those pieces of fluff that you just keep on watching because... Because, why? Just because... It's a musical...well, sort-of... Oakie can shoot off the lines like a machine gun and still be understood. He's really good. This is so-o rote for him. Show opens with Roscoe Karns (Sailor Burke) sitting on a flagpole and becoming woild-champeen flagpole sitter, with lots of comedic things happening simultaneously. It's not uproariously funny, but it leaves a smile. His girl, Arline Judge, is getting it on with leader of the con promoters, Oakie. He's nothing but a con promoter. Con. Con. Con. Alison Skipworth is like his mother-figure - or IS his mother...it's never quite made clear. The leading lady is Dorothy Dell. She falls for Oakie and he for her, but complication upon complication arise. Ben Bernie, a member of the Oakie con group, and - - - a band leader with a band - - - pretty much succeeds and leads the group on. His humor is droll and Hollywoodish claptrap, but it works. He's a good band leader. Meanwhile, Oakie's failed. Now come the inside jokes and lots of geographical snides: Iowa is definitely in the middle of no-o-owhere, where Oakie finally lands a job - - - if he'll go there. He doesn't need to... But...he IS working in Brooklyn now, not NYC... It's like being sent to hell, according to the way the script is making the actors look at the situation. Etc., etc., etc....

Lew Cody died just after production finished, and he never got to see the finished product. Tragically, Dorothy Dell was killed in an automobile accident eight days after Cody died.

The film is a fun ride for 64 minutes. Definitely a good way to enjoy seeing what the 1930s enjoyed as sitcom style pre-TV entertainment.

This Ben Hecht story is a bit uneven but showcases Jack Oakie and Dorothy Dell, so how bad can it be? Oakie plays a showbiz conman, hawking a stuffed whale exhibit on 42nd and doing anything to get noticed. He has stooge Roscoe Karns doing a flagpole sitting bit, while Arline Judge snags the unwary old men. It's all a con. Alison Skipworth sells the tickets.

Oakie runs into Dell in a talent agent's office. He's trying to sell a song. Dell hears the song "With My Eyes Wide Open" and suggests they do an act. That brings Dell into the gang. But Dell is discovered one night singing with Ben Bernie's orchestra. She becomes a star, Oakie becomes a bum. Familiar story.

Oakie is quite good here since Karns gets the goon role. Dell, in her final film, is excellent. It's hard to believe this 19-year-old would be dead within a few months (car crash). Lew Cody, who plays the agent, would also be dead within a month of the film's wrap.

Skipworth, Judge, Cody, Karns, and William Frawley as a Walter Winchell type as all excellent. Cody gets the best catchphrase with his "Goodbye, please!" comment. Worth a look.

As a great fan of thirties musicals i watched this film in anticipation of an enjoyable 80 minutes.The writers on this are well known and i always rather like Jack Oakie.He always plays the same sort of character.Lots of ambition but never really achieves anything.This is the time of his career when he was the star rather than being the comedy support of actors such as John Payne.Well unfortunately i was sadly disappointed.The story was very derivative ,the comedy almost non existent and the delights of hearing Ben Bernie sing rather wore thin after a short time.the best thing about this film was Alison Skipworth.The music was OK.It has one evergreen "With My Eyes Wide Open" which is sung a number of times.

Getting the love or getting the loot; that's what most early movies were about, and some were about getting both. That's why my favorite movies from that era aren't about either: "Lady for a Day" (1933), "M" (1931), "Comradeship" (1931), "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" (1932), and "Broken Lullaby" (1932). They all were bold enough and inventive enough to make a movie with an aim other than getting the love or getting the loot.

"Shoot the Works" is about getting both.

The main character, Nicky Nelson (Jack Oakie), is the loveable loser. He has millions of money-making entertainment ideas and not one of them is any good. He had a small band of devotees who helped bring his ideas to life, but it was all nickel-and-dime stuff.

When Nicky met Lily Raquel, played by Dorothy Dell (a talented actress who died at the tender age of nineteen), he thought his fortunes would change. Lily was truly talented. They began working together, created a catchy song, and fell in love. Then, as losers do, in a matter of a few scenes he lost her and the song. The truth is he gambled away the song which prompted Lily to bail on him and make a go at it alone. Even though they were apart and trying their best to forget about each other, they couldn't. Nicky would have to do something to get his love and the loot for this to be a happily-ever-after.

I watched this movie for Alison Skipworth whom I saw precious little of. She had a small role as one of Nicky Nelson's gang. I'm not a big Jack Oakie fan. Truthfully, with the exception of Charlie Chaplin, and George Burns and Gracie Allen, I didn't like many of the comedians back then--Jimmy Durante, Jack Oakie, Charles Ruggles, The Marx Brothers, W. C. Fields--they were all fine in small doses, but I didn't like them to carry an entire movie.

"Shoot the Works" was a lukewarm comedy that didn't move the needle. It was nothing special and quite short on laughs, and it wasn't aided by the musical numbers. File this movie under standard stuff that was largely forgettable.

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