Big Town Scandal

In the late 1940s, Phillip Reed made three films in which he played 'Steve Wilson'...a reporter who is the editor for a big city newspaper. Of the three, "Big Town Scandal" is the weakest...and is much like merging one of his films with a Dead End Kids/Bowery Boys movie.

When the story begins, Steve is on some crusade against juvenile delinquency. However, when he goes to hearing to push for the court to throw the book at a group of boys, the court, instead, ends up putting the teens on probation...and making Steve responsible for them! To help give them a sense of purpose, Steve gets the boys involved in a youth basketball league.

Up until this point, the film worked reasonably well. But what happens next is a bit nutty! Some local thugs are apparently placing bets on youth basketball(!!!?????) and they bribe the star player, Tommy (Stanley Clements), to throw games. The thugs also are involved in some robberies and they try to involve Tommy in them as well!

The idea of gangsters betting on youth basketball is pretty silly. Add to that the character of 'Dum Dum' (Tommy Bond), who is apparently 'deaf and dumb' according to the story...which is pretty gross and insensitive. As a father of a deaf daughter, this sort of character is indeed annoying!!

About the only reason to watch this silly film is to see the young actors. Bond is famous for playing Butch in the Little Rascals films...same with Alfalfa Switzer who is also in this film. Daryl Hickman (Dwayne' brother) is a very prolific child actor and Stanley Clements actually later replaced Leo Gorcey in the Bowery Boys pictures. An interesting lineup...but a silly film whose writing is pretty disappointing.