Rookie

 

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POLICE ROOKIE-1940-Criminal "The Dutch Man" gets off again. Veteran cop Mike Hannigan (Richard Homans) goes undercover to find "the big boss" who's running things. He finds some evidence in a warehouse and is shot but chases off the gunmen. Back home, with his wife (Mary Gordon; Mrs. Hudson in the Universal Sherlock Holmes series), and their son Stevie (Gordon Jones), they have a fight over Stevie not wanting to go to the police academy. Stevie's friend Joe Kelly (Craig Reynolds) stops by and Mike is killed when a bomb blows up his car. Stevie and Joe decide to join the police department and catch Mike's killer. Mike passes the exam but Joe fails. 

Mike gets into hot water with his boss later on while investigating on his own. Following a lead to a nightclub, he meets a talkative floozy (Veda Ann Borg) while Joe kind of romances Mike's girl (Joyce Compton). Mike eventually discovers his dad's killer but almost makes a big mistake. It ends kind of tragically. 

This low budget crime drama was directed with speed by the super-fast Sam Newfield. One of 14 movies he directed in 1940! PRC (Newfield's brother Sigmund Neufeld produced most of their films) originally released POLICE ROOKIE as I TAKE THIS OATH. The title was changed upon a re-release. Of course, star Gordon Jones later played “Mike the cop” on the Abbott & Costello TV show. A few well-known character actors appear: Keene Duncan, Arthur O'Connell and Harry Harvey.

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