Buck Privates is the 1941 comedy/World War II film that turned Bud Abbott and Lou Costello into bonafide movie stars. It was the first service comedy based on the peacetime draft of 1940. The comedy team made two more service comedies before the United States entered the war (In the Navy and Keep 'Em Flying). A sequel to this movie, Buck Privates Come Home, was released in 1947. Buck Privates is one of three A&C films featuring The Andrews Sisters, who were also under contract to Universal Pictures at the time.
Abbott and Costello performed a radio version of the film on the Lux Radio Theater on October 13, 1941.[2]
Plot
Slicker Smith and Herbie Brown (Abbott and Costello) are sidewalk peddlers who hawk neckties out of a suitcase. They are chased by a cop and duck into a movie theater, not realizing that it is now being used as an Army Recruitment Center. Believing that they are signing up for theater prizes, they end up enlisting instead.
Meanwhile, spoiled playboy Randolph Parker (Lee Bowman) and his long-suffering valet, Bob Martin (Alan Curtis), are also enlisting at the old theater. Randolph expects his influential father to pull some strings so he can avoid military service. Bob, on the other hand, takes his military obligations in stride. Tensions between the two men escalate with the introduction of Judy Gray (Jane Frazee), a camp hostess and friend of Bob's upon whom Randolph sets his sights.
At boot camp, Slicker and Herbie are mortified to discover that the policeman who chased them is now their drill sergeant(!). Randolph, meanwhile, learns that his father will not use his influence on his behalf, believing that a year in the Army will do Randolph some good. Life at camp is not so bad, since the Andrews Sisters appear at regular intervals to sing patriotic or sentimental tunes, and Herbie continues to screw up with little consequence.
Randolph decides to skip an army shooting match (that his company eventually loses) to meet with Judy, which causes the rest of his company to resent him. But during a war game exercise, Randolph redeems himself by saving Bob and coming up with a ruse to win the exercise for his company. He is finally accepted by his unit, and wins Bob's and Judy's admiration in the process. Randolph and Bob are offered places at officer training school.
Production
Buck Privates was filmed from December 13, 1940 through January 11, 1941. [2]
The famous 'drill routine', where Smitty tries to get Herbie and other soldiers to march in formation, was actually a series of shorter takes that were strung together to expand the bit to more than 3 minutes of screen time. [2]
Award nominations
The film received two Academy Award nominations in 1941. Hughie Prince and Don Raye were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and Charles Previn was nominated for an Academy Award for Original Music Score (Scoring of a Musical Picture).
World War II
Japan used this film as propaganda to demonstrate to its own troops the "incompetence" of the United States Army.[2]
Rerelease
It was re-released in 1948, and again on a double bill with Keep 'Em Flying in 1953. [3]
Andrews Sisters
The Andrews Sisters perform four songs during the course of the film: You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Bounce Me Brother with a Solid Four, and [I'll Be With You When It's] Apple Blossom Time. Their performance of "Bounce Me Brother with a Solid Four" also features one of the more famous Lindy Hop dance sequences of the swing era. Many dancers from Los Angeles, including Dean Collins, Jewel McGowan, Ray Hirsch, and Patty Lacey, are featured.
The composers of the songs sung by the Andrews Sisters are Don Raye and Hughie Prince, who appear in the film as a new recruits alongside Abbott and Costello. Prince was a good friend of the Andrews Sisters as well as Abbott and Costello.[citation needed]
DVD releases
This film has been released three times on DVD. Originally released as single DVD on April 1, 1998, it was released twice as part of two different Abbott and Costello collections. The first time, on The Best of Abbott and Costello Volume One, on February 10, 2004, and again on October 28, 2008 as part of Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection.
References
- ^ a b Internet Movie Database. Box office/Business for Buck Privates (1941). Retrieved on April 18, 2009.
- ^ a b c d Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 0-399-51605-0
- ^ Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 0-399-51605-0
External links
