Movie Review "The Hoose-Gow"

Hal Roach Studios ( 1929 ) Two Reels
Cast:Tiny Sandford, james finlayson, leo willis, dick southerland, ellinor vanderveer, retta palmer
Producer: Hal Roach
Director: James Parrott

Stan and Ollie are swept up in a raid and arrested. Sentenced to a work camp prison they try to explain to the head guard ( Tiny Sandford ) that they are innocent. When the head guard orders them to get back in line Stan begins to argue with him. Ollie tries to make him shut up which escalates into them kicking each other's behind. Ollie goes to kick Stan's behind, misses, and kicks the head guard instead. They are both pulled off the line and ordered to stand against the wall and the guard will deal with them once he has gotten the other men processed. Stan starts to cry but Ollie tells him not to worry. Another prisoner has given him some apples. All Ollie has to do is throw it over the wall and the prisoner's friends will throw a rope ladder over the wall to help them escape. The guard spots them holding the apples and orders Ollie to hand it over. He then orders Stan to turn over his apple and Stan pretends not to have one. The guard searches Stan but can not find the apple. While this is happening Stan smiles at Ollie showing that he has stuck the entire whole apple in his mouth. The guard looks up, spots the apple before Stan has a chance to close his mouth, and orders him to spit the apple out. Stan tries to but suddenly realizes that the apple is stuck. Now worried that he could choke to death Ollie and the guard try to remove the apple from Stan's mouth when Stan elbow the Guard in the stomach by mistake. The guard kicks Stan and he swallows the apple whole.

The guard tells Stan and Ollie they are allowed no luxuries in prison and throws the remaining two apples over the wall. A rope ladder is thrown over the wall and ordering Stan and Ollie not to make a sound the guard climbs up to see who is on the other side. It is two men and the second they see a prison guard on the other end of the rope ladder let it go and run away causing the guard to fall to the ground. The guard runs out the front gate only to see the men with the rope ladder running around a corner. Stan and Ollie also walk out the gate to see what is happening and the head guard goes back in and closes the gate. Suddenly realizing that they are on the outside Ollie suggests they make a run for it, but not before Stan knocks on the gate to get back in. They make it halfway across the field when the prison guard opens the gate again and shoots them both in the behind with buckshot. They return to the prison gate with smoking holes in the seat of their pants. Later that day the prisoners are put to work digging a ditch. Ollie's hat falls off and Stan puts his pick through it. When Ollie pulls his hat off Stan's pick it gets caught in his jacket pocket. Ollie pulls it out and rips the pocket. He hands Stan a bigger pick which Stan eventually pokes Ollie in the behind with. Ollie then hands him a shovel saying "Here, you can't do any damage with this". A split second after saying that Stan manages to club Ollie over the head with the shovel handle. The cook rings the bell for lunch and everyone runs over and sits on a bench next to the cook's tent. Ollie and Stan get there late and there is no room. Ollie asks politely if they could move over a bit so that he and Stan could also sit. One of the prisoners points at the guard's table and tells Stan and Ollie that it is their table. Stan and Ollie sit down at the guards table, the head guard being called away moments earlier for a phone call telling him the Governor is dropping by to inspect the camp. Stan wants some pepper in his stew but can not get any out of the shaker. He unscrews the cap and pours the pepper into his hand, taking a pinch with his other hand and sprinkling it into the stew, then taking the rest and dumping it in. Stanly forgot to screw the pepper shaker's top back on and when Ollie goes to use it he pours it's entire content into his stew. Yelling at Stan for ruining his stew Ollie dumps it on the ground, and onto the head guard's foot. He chases them away from his table. They ask the cook how they can get something to eat and he tells them to get him some wood and he will fix them something. The more wood they bring back the more food they will get. Ollie hands Stan an ax and leads him over to the closest tree. When Stan manages to get the axe caught in Ollie's other pocket, and then rips the pocket while Ollie is removing the axe, Ollie decides to take over and chop down the tree himself. But the tree turns out to have the guard tower on top with a sleeping guard. Ollie manages to cut the tree down sending the tree and guard crashing down on the cooks tent. The governor ( James Finlayson ) and his guests show up and the head guard orders everyone to get back to digging. Stan manages to get his pick stuck in Ollie's jacket and when it is removed the whole jacket is ripped in half. Ollie grabs the pick and throws it away, only for it to puncture the radiator on the governor's car. Stan and Ollie try to plug up the hole and one of the prisoners suggests they get some rice from the cooks tent and fill the radiator with it. The trick works and the radiator stops leaking water. But once the governor's chauffeur starts the car wet rice pours out of the top like a fountain. The head guard sees the mess and calls Stan and Ollie over, asking them if they are responsible. When Stan pretends not to know know what is going on the guard kicks him face first into the mound of wet rice on the ground. Stan picks up a handful of rice and throws it into the guard's face. The guard attempts to throw a handful of rice back into Stan's face but hits the Governor instead. The Governor tries to throw wet rice in the guards face but hits Ollie. Rice is thrown back and fourth eventually expanding to the other guests, the other guards, and finally the prisoners themselves until there is an all out wet rice riot. Stan and Ollie decide to try to escape in the confusion. The head guard and the Governor decide they will drive off and get the state militia to put down the riot. They grab a car and put it in reverse but accidentally back into a truck with two barrels of white wash on the back. The barrels tip over and pour into the back seat of the car where Stan and Ollie were hiding, turning them both completely white.

"The Hoose-Gow" was the last of the Laurel and Hardy comedies to end with an all out riot. This type of gag had run it's course during the silent era and seemed to have ended with "Two Tars" but made a return in "Berth Marks" where a train car full of clothes ripping passengers was used as a throwaway gag. In "Men o War" a pillow fight breaks out on a rowboat. "The Hoose-Gow" was the biggest of the Laurel and Hardy caused riots during the sound era and the last the comedy team would ever stage. There would be an actual prison riot in "Pardon Us" but prisoners and guards shooting at each other was not the same as a crowd of people ripping clothing, destroying each others cars, or throwing something wet at each other.