The Bowery **** (1933, Wallace Beery, George Raft, Jackie Cooper, Fay Wray, Pert Kelton, Herman Bing, George Walsh, Oscar Apfel, Harold Huber) – Classic Movie Review 13,854

Raoul Walsh’s 1933 American Gay Nineties comedy-drama film The Bowery stars Wallace Beery and George Raft in a tale set on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Director Raoul Walsh’s 1933 American historical comedy-drama film The Bowery stars Wallace Beery and George Raft, along with Jackie Cooper, Fay Wray, Pert Kelton, Herman Bing, George Walsh, Oscar Apfel, and Harold Huber. It is set in the Gay Nineties on New York’s Bowery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Wallace Beery stars as saloon owner Chuck Connors, with George Raft as Steve Brodie, the first man to survive jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge, Jackie Cooper as a pugnacious child called Swipes McGurk, Fay Wray as the leading lady named Lucy Calhoun, and Pert Kelton as bawdy dance hall singer Trixie Odbray.

Beery and Raft are rousing as New York arch-competitor buddies in this energetic turn-of-the-20th-century saloon drama based on a novel and Walsh’s own childhood memories. Beery, a tough saloon boss taking care of scamp-orphan Cooper loses his all when he bets his rival Raft that he won’t jump off the Brooklyn Bridge.

The debut film of producer Darryl F Zanuck’s 20th Century Pictures studio (two years later merged with Fox Film Corporation to form Twentieth Century-Fox) boasts impressive sets and period atmosphere, and Walsh handles the drama boisterously, though it is the charismatic acting that turns it into such a hit.

The screenplay by Howard Estabrook and James Gleason is based on the novel Chuck Connors by Michael L Simmons and Bessie Roth Solomon.

Release date: October 13, 1933.

Raoul Walsh recalled directing Beery and Raft ‘was like trying to keep the peace between a lion and a tiger. Both men were big hearted, generous to a fault. Professional jealousy waned after each had registered his beef. Later, they became good friends.’

The cast are Wallace Beery as Chuck Connors, George Raft as Steve Brodie, Jackie Cooper as Swipes McGurk, Fay Wray as Lucy Calhoun, Pert Kelton as Trixie Odbray, Herman Bing as Max Herman, Oscar Apfel as Ivan Rummel, Ferdinand Munier as Honest Mike, George Walsh as John L. Sullivan, Lillian Harmer as Carrie Nation, John Bleifer as Mumbo the Mute, Heinie Conklin as Pug, Charles Middleton as Detective, Harry Tenbrook as Fireman, Wong Chung as Irate Chinese Man.

Fay Wray starred in an incredible 11 films in 1933, most notably including King Kong.

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 13,854

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