Buck Privates Come Home
Buck Privates Come Home Theatrical Poster
Directed by	Charles Barton
Produced by	Robert Arthur
Written by	John Grant Frederic I. Rinaldo Robert Lees
Starring	Bud Abbott Lou Costello Tom Brown Nat Pendleton Beverly Simmons
Music by	Walter Schumann
Editing by	Edward Curtiss
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	April 4, 1947
Running time	77 min.
Language	English
Budget	$1,167,500
Preceded by	Buck Privates (1941) The Time of Their Lives (1946)
Followed by	The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947)
IMDb profile

Buck Privates Come Home is a 1947 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It is a sequel to their 1941 hit, Buck Privates.

This film features the final film role for Nat Pendleton.

Plot

After serving in Europe during World War II, Herbie Brown (Lou Costello) and Slicker Smith (Bud Abbott) return to the United States aboard a troop ship. Also onboard is their old sergeant, Collins (Nat Pendleton). As the ship nears New York, Collins and his superiors search the men's belongings for contraband. A six-year old French orphan, Evey (Beverly Simmons), whom Herbie and Slicker befriended, is found in Herbie's duffle bag. She is handed over to Lieutenant Sylvia Hunter (Joan Fulton) who delivers her to immigration officials in New York. However, during a shift change at the office, Evey is mistaken for a neighborhood kid and set free. Meanwhile, Herbie and Slicker are back to their pre-war occupation of peddling ties in Times Square. Collins is back at his old job as well, as a police officer assigned to the same district. He is about to arrest the boys when Evey shows up and helps them escape.

Herbie and Slicker attempt to adopt Evey, but are told that one of them must be married and have a steady income. Evey suggests that Herbie marry Sylvia. They show up at her apartment, but learn that Sylvia already has a boyfriend, Bill Gregory (Tom Brown).

Bill is a midget car racer. He is sure he will win the $20,000 prize at the Gold Cup Stakes, but his car is being held at a local garage until past due bills are paid. Herbie and Slicker use their separation pay and loans from their old service pals to get the car out of hock. Collins, however, has other plans. He stakes out the garage in hopes of catching them and returning Evey to the immigration authorities to get himself back in good favor with his boss. He eventually chases them to the track, where Herbie gets in Bill's race car and leads everyone on a wild chase through the streets of New York.

Herbie is eventually caught, but not before the head of an automobile company is impressed enough to order twenty cars and 200 engines. With his financial future secure, Bill can now marry Sylvia and adopt Evey. Slicker and Herbie will be allowed to visit Evey if they get jobs. Collins' captain suggests that they join the police force, which they do...with Collins as their instructor!

Production

It was filmed from November 18, 1946 through January 23, 1947.

Arthur T. Horman, the writer for the original movie, Buck Privates wrote the first treatment for this sequel, titled The Return of the Buck Privates, but it was not used.^[1]

There is a joke used in the film that is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin.^[2] Herbie says, "I'd rather marry a homely girl than a pretty girl anyway," to which Slicker replies, "Why?" Herbie responds, "Well, if you marry a pretty girl, she is liable to run away." Evey chimes in with, "But Uncle Herbie, isn't a homely girl liable to run away too?" Herbie's response is simple, "Yeah, but who cares?"

When Costello drives the midget car through the rear of a movie theater, there is a poster that shows a fictional film, Abbott and Costello in 'Romeo Junior' on the wall. Scenes of Abbott and Costello in 'Romeo and Juliet' outfits, with Betty Alexander as Juliet, were filmed and were intended to be playing on the screen of the theater, but the scene was deleted.^[3]

Routines

• The Sawhorse Table takes place on the ship. Costello creates a table by putting a board on a sawhorse. Everytime one of them puts something down on one end of the table, the other one puts something on the other end to balance it. Neither one of them are aware of what is happening, that is until the table finally loses its balance and a cake flies off the table into Pendelton's face.

DVD Releases

April 8, 1998

May 4, 2004

References

External links

• Buck Privates Come Home at the Internet Movie Database

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