Buck Privates

Buck Privates. 1941 Universal Pictures.
Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, The Andrews Sisters, Lee Bowman, Alan Curtis, Jane Frazee, Shemp Howard
Director: Arthur Lubin
Part of the discontinued Best of Abbott and Costello, Volume 1 set. Also available on the Complete Universal Pictures Collection, which is in print, and considerably more expensive.

Before writing this review, I checked out some of the DVD reviews for the now discontinued Best of Abbott and Costello set, and a lot of them were complaining about defective discs. To counter those, I only saw one explaining that you will need a specific kind of player to play the double-sided discs without a problem. Since I haven't had a problem so far, I'm guessing that I have the appropriate kind of DVD player, and I won't find myself cursing "damned defective discs" like some of the people who've bought this set have.

I digress.

Slicker Smith and Herbie Brown (Abbott and Costello) are sidewalk peddlers on the run from a police officer. They duck into a movie theater, unaware that it's now an Army Recruitment Center. They both enlist, thinking they're signing up for theater prizes. Two other guys are enlisting: spoiled playboy Randolph Parker (Bowman) and his valet Bob Martin (Curtis). Bob isn't too bothered by enlisting, but Randolph hopes his influential dad will pull enough strings so that he won't have to serve. Tensions between them increase when they're introduced to Judy Gray (Frazee), who Randolph begins pursuing.

Slicker and Herbie are horrified to discover that the cop that had chased them into the recruitment office is now their drill sergeant. Randolph's dad declines to use his influence to keep his son out of the military, thinking a year in the Army would do him well. Life at camp isn't all bad, since the Andrews Sisters regularly show up to sing, and Herbie's incompetence somehow goes largely unnoticed.

Pretty funny movie. During World War II, Japan used this movie as propaganda to demonstrate to its own armies the "incompetence" of the United States military. I'm sure they regretted that move once we showed 'em who was boss! Take that, Hiroshima!! USA! USA! USA!

...sorry. Recommended movie.