I've seen about a dozen Bowery Boys/East Side Kids films and would have to say that this one is the most difficult of them to watch for me--mostly because the usually pugnacious Muggs is so downright hateful in this one. Normally, he's a blustering jerk---but here he repeatedly goes over the top and made me want the other members of the club to work him over with a tire iron! The writing really was bad in this one and the made Muggs about as likable as Tojo!
When the film begins, Muggs is refusing to pay a guy on a bet made fair and square. Later, some gamblers kidnap Muggs so he can't fight in the city boxing championship---and Danny (Bobby Jordan) is forced to fight instead. Danny unexpectedly wins and after Muggs is released by the gamblers, Muggs treats Danny like dirt--blaming him for the kidnapping even though it's soon proved Danny had nothing to do with it. Then, repeatedly throughout the film, Danny is treated like dirt by Muggs and none of the gang does anything but follow Muggs' lead. When Danny wins a dance contest, Muggs steals the money. When Danny joins the army because of the war, Muggs throws him out of the gang and badmouths him. Eventually, Danny has enough and beats the stuffing out of Muggs....but it sure took a long, long time until this happened...too long.
As I said, usually Muggs is pugnacious and a bit of a jerk--I expected that. But here he simply is a boorish little crook that needs his skull beaten in...and that's a sign of bad writing. Rule number one in writing a screenplay should be to make your characters likable or at least not Satan (unless, of course, your film is about Satan!).
