Dig That Uranium

Dig That Uranium is a 1956 American comedy film directed by Edward Bernds and starring the comedy team of The Bowery Boys, Raymond Hatton and Mary Beth Hughes. The film was released on January 8, 1956, by Allied Artists and is the fortieth film in the series.

Plot

Sach brings con artist Shifty Robinson to Louie's Sweet Shop. Shifty regales the gang with tales of getting rich quick, and sells them a Geiger counter and a uranium mine. When they arrive in Nevada, local thugs try to chase them off. When the ringleader finds out the boys own a mine, he lets them stay in town, planning to follow them and take over the mine. Eventually the boys defeat the thugs and find the uranium, only to discover that it's on an Indian reservation and doesn't belong to them.

Cast

The Bowery Boys

Leo Gorcey as Terence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney
Huntz Hall as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones
David Gorcey as Charles "Chuck" Anderson
Bennie Bartlett as Butch Williams

Supporting cast

Bernard Gorcey as Louie Dumbrowski
Raymond Hatton as Hank "Mac" MacKenzie
Harry Lauter as Ron Haskell
Mary Beth Hughes as Jeanette
Richard Powers as Frank
Myron Healey as Joe
Carl Switzer as Shifty Robinson

Production

This film marks the last appearance of Bennie Bartlett, who left the series, and Bernard Gorcey, who was killed in a car accident on September 11, 1955. Director Edward Bernds also left the series after the filming.
Much of the picture was shot at Iverson's Ranch, the location for thousands of western features and TV shows over the decades. This gave the film a small veneer of authenticity, as did the casting of veteran cowboy sidekick Hatton as a grizzled old prospector.

Critical reception

A contemporary review of the film in Variety reported that "the laughs come only spasmodically" and that the screenwriters "seemed to have concentrated to a greater extent on Leo Gorcey's malaprops than on a story line upon which to hang some good comedic situations." Writing in DVD Talk, critic Stuart Galbraith IV described the film as "pretty funny," noting that "Bernds was no great auteur, but he knew his way around broad slapstick and he and frequent partner Ulman incorporate some of the same Three Stooges gags and comedy situations into film well," and like other Bowery Boys films, it is "likeable in the same way one becomes attached to a smelly old mutt."

Home media

released the film on made-to-order DVD in the United States as part of "The Bowery Boys, Volume Three" on October 1, 2013.