Prison, football, a jewel robbery and a surprise comical birthday party mix together for this amusing "B" programmer. Young Eddie Quillan looks like the all-American boy, but acts like one of the Dead End Kids. Released from prison, he gets a college football scholarship, but hates the humiliating rituals for Freshmen pledges and plots to get out. Along the way, he meets charming Betty Furness and slowly, his plans change. Shady Grant Mitchell wants him to throw the big game and plot the robbery of wealthy Margaret Dumont's jewels. Will a sudden bout with honor prevent him from going through with this?
Enjoyable for its many different themes, this succeeds massively in its comic moments, particularly a birthday party for Furness's campus cop papa (Edgar Kennedy) who minimizes his famous slow-burn for more of an amusingly annoyed persona. He's a man who can take a joke, not revealing to his party guests that the watch which Quillan gave him as a birthday gift was actually his in the first place. He also does a brief Sherlock Holmes impression years before Basil Rathbone spouted, "Watson, The Needle!"
Dumont is amusing in her one scene as the less-than-befuddled matron charmed by Quillan and totally oblivious to the fact that he's only interested in her massive jewelry collection. Hawk-beaked Clarence Wilson gets Kennedy's usual slow burn as the small town sheriff who holds Quillan while the campus searches for him. If these character performances aren't enough, there's also Grady Sutton as the portly freshman who literally holds onto the football at all times after the coach tells him never to put it down, even taking it to the shower with him!
Enjoyable for its many different themes, this succeeds massively in its comic moments, particularly a birthday party for Furness's campus cop papa (Edgar Kennedy) who minimizes his famous slow-burn for more of an amusingly annoyed persona. He's a man who can take a joke, not revealing to his party guests that the watch which Quillan gave him as a birthday gift was actually his in the first place. He also does a brief Sherlock Holmes impression years before Basil Rathbone spouted, "Watson, The Needle!"
Dumont is amusing in her one scene as the less-than-befuddled matron charmed by Quillan and totally oblivious to the fact that he's only interested in her massive jewelry collection. Hawk-beaked Clarence Wilson gets Kennedy's usual slow burn as the small town sheriff who holds Quillan while the campus searches for him. If these character performances aren't enough, there's also Grady Sutton as the portly freshman who literally holds onto the football at all times after the coach tells him never to put it down, even taking it to the shower with him!