Wild Boys of the Road

United States

1933

68 Min

Black and White

1.37:1

English

Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
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CAST Frankie Darro, Edwin Phillips, Rochelle Hudson, Dorothy Coonan Wellman, Sterling Holloway

Eddie Smith helps his friend, Tommy Gordon, sneak into a high school dance dressed as a girl because Tommy cannot afford the price of admission. Tommy confides to Eddie that because his mother has been unable to find work, he is planning to leave school to look for work himself. Eddie asks Tommy to wait until he speaks to his father about helping the family, but arrives home to discover that his father also has lost his job. Eddie sells his car to help, but when his father still cannot find work, Eddie and Tommy decide to leave home together. On the train, they meet Sally, another teenager, who is going to live with her aunt in Chicago. As they head toward Chicago, more and more children join them on the trains. Although the Chicago police turn people away because there are no jobs even for those who already live there, they allow Sally and her traveling companions to continue because Sally has a letter from her aunt. Sally’s Aunt Carrie is happy to see them. Her business, a brothel, is doing well, and for a few minutes it appears that the children have found a home. While they eat, however, the brothel is raided, and the children find themselves on the road again. Along the road, the traveling children encounter many hardships. One girl is raped, Tommy’s foot is mangled by the train and has to be amputated, and he and the others are kicked out of a camp in Columbus, Ohio. Finally, the trio ends up living in a dump in New York. Eddie finds a job but needs new clothes in order to keep it. Sally, Tommy and Eddie panhandle for the money. Then two men ask Eddie to deliver a note to a movie theater cashier. The note contains a demand for money, and the cashier screams for the police. The children are arrested and appear before a judge who has children of his own. He offers to get them jobs, dismisses the charges against them and tells them they will soon rejoin their families. –Turner Classic Movies

Director

William A. Wellman

William A.Wellman, the Oscar-winning director-screenwriter producer, was nicknamed “Wild Bill” because his larger-than life personality was as dynamic and freewheeling as one of his movies. TCM’s salute to this film legend includes a revised version of Richard Schickel’s The Men Who Made the Movies: William Wellman,made in 1973 and now updated with new interview material, re-mastered footage and a new narration by director Sydney Pollack. Joining host Robert Osborne to introduce and discuss TCM’s lineup of films is the filmmaker’s son, actor-producer-author William Wellman Jr.

Wellman (1896-1975) was born in Brookline, Mass., and saw action in World War I as part of the famous Lafayette Flying Corps. Between 1920 and 1923 he rose from bit actor to director of Hollywood films and made his name as a major filmmaker by directing the 1927 Wings, which won the first Best Picture Oscar®. He went on to create a wide variety of movies, and our festival is divided into genres in which… read more

Social Issue Films include The Public Enemy (1931), the hard hitting movie that turned James Cagney into a star and helped make gangster films the sensation of the decade. Wellman brought a more thoughtful approach to the Western The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), a classic indictment of mob violence. Wellman’s Pre-Codes, movies made before the Motion Picture Production Code cracked down on uninhibited portrayals of sex and violence, include two earthy Barbara Stanwyck vehicles. Night Nurse (1931) has the actress sashaying in her undies and foiling a plot to murder two children, while The Purchase Price (1932) casts her as a “kept woman” who becomes a mail-order bride.

Among Wellman’s Romances is the wacky comedy Nothing Sacred (1937), which gave Carole Lombard one of hermost delightful vehicles. It’s said that the set on this one was in a constant state of pandemonium because of the practical jokes Wellman and Lombard played on each other. Wellman won the Oscar® for Best Story for the original version of A Star Is Born (also 1937). Aviation Films range from Central Airport (1933), which includes aerial stunts that remain impressive for their day; to The High and the Mighty (1954), the original airliner-in distress epic that brought Wellman a Best Director Oscar nomination. Adventures directed by Wellman include Westward the Women (1951), about a wagon trail of females headed for California; and Track of the Cat (1954), an unusual Western distinguished by Welllman’s striking use of muted color with occasional bright accents. —TCM Spotlight

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rischka

12May13

why does frankie darro remind me so much of mickey rooney? maybe because he's a big ham. aside from that and the happy propaganda ending, this picture is tough, angry, full of energy and fascinating to watch. the socially conscious wellman included blacks and jews in his boys' army. he also married dorothy coonan, who played sally, the following year. altho she was his fourth wife, they had 7 children and stayed together 40 years, until his death

locust furnace likes this

rischka

13May13

and i meant to mention: the 'film within a film' here, when eddie bursts into the theater being chased by the cops, is 'footlight parade,' perhaps a comment on the more 'escapist' fare of the era, like sturges in 'sullivan's travels'