Hustle in the Seventies

THE MONKEY HUSTLE-1976-Big Daddy Fox (Yaphet Kotto) is a hustler/con man/thief in Philly. He recruits/corrupts some street kids. All the characters talk jive and only think about money. Fox's girlfriend runs the local restaurant. Caught in the middle is Win (Randy Brooks) the older brother of one of Fox's young “students”. A side plot concerns the local community protesting the bulldozing of the neighborhood. Later Fox teams up with local con man Glitterin' Goldie (the always outrageously dressed Rudy Ray Moore) to stop the construction. 

This too hip for itself “blaxploitation” film was directed by Arthur Marks (not Groucho's son) but it's not nearly as entertaining as his previous outing J. D.'S REVENGE. 

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Merry Christmas

RACKET SQUAD-THE CHRISTMAS CAPER-1952-This is a Christmas episode of the long running TV crime drama that based it's stories about "bunco" artists and con men on true events. Reed Hadley stars as Captain John Braddock who works for the San Francisco police department. In this seasonal story a nice old man Charles Dooley (Lloyd Corrigan) promises some kids a lot of Christmas toys, so to make money he gets a job as a Santa Claus collecting for a charity which is actually a front for some con men (future Uncle Fester Jackie Coogan and familiar TV actor Alan Dexter). Willie Best shows up in one scene as a janitor who actually explains the whole caper to Dooley! After the two bad guys are arrested Dooley takes the stolen money that he was suppose to deliver to his fraudulent bosses and spends it on presents for some needy kids (including a cripple girl) while of course dressed as Santa Claus. Braddock's hot headed detective (John Phillips) wants to arrest Dooley but Braddock relents and they give some of their own money to help the kids. Argentina Brunetti and William Fawcett are also featured.

This episode was directed by Earl C. Kenton who in the forties had made several Abbott & Costello comedies and THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN. It was written by Arthur E. Orloff, who wrote many TV episodes around this time. I just wanted to mention that because his last name is Orloff. Ironically, strangely, coincidentally (?) Santa portrayer Corrigan also played a guy impersonating Santa in a episode of WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE that I recently saw!

Merry Christmas and thanks for reading!

High Society

HIGH SOCIETY-1955-Once again Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) and the Bowery Boys (minimally used David Gorcey and Bennie Bartlett) get into trouble when some con-men try to use Sach to swindle a little boy (Ronald Keith) out of his inheritance. Amanda Blake (who would start a long run co-starring on TV in GUNSMOKE the same year) is a female swindler. One weird scene features a pianist who does a bad Liberace impersonation. William Beaudine returned to direct this one. 

Strangely, the next year MGM released a big budget Cole Porter musical with the same name starring Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly (in her last movie role). A mix-up with the two titles caused the Bowery Boys movie (written by Jerome Gottler and Bert Lawrence) to be inadvertently nominated for best screenplay! (It was changed before the awards took place). 

Thanks for reading!