Disappointing Dead End Kids

I know, you can hardly imagine such a thing, eh? If you pick up a DVD from the bargain cart at the Wal-Mart, and it features some incarnation of the Dead End Kids / East End Kids / Bowery Boys — in other words, at the least, Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall — and if said DVD is in fact a boxin’ pitcher, and the boxin’ pitcher’s box promises “Additional Dialogue by Morey Amsterdam,” you’ve gotta figure you’re in for a treat. Even if Leo Gorcey doesn’t sing (sorry, that one was obscure). But, in fact, I can report that “Kid Dynamite” is less than the finest in DEK/EEK/BB entertainment, and midway through the pitcher it devolves into a recruiting poster. Oh, the Morey Amsterdam dialogue is there, all right — give Huntz a squeeze and he’ll throw out a line. There are one or two gems, but this lacked the cleverness of “Dead End” or “They Made Me A Criminal,” two of the finest in the pantheon.

Mr. Johnson actually doubts they show Dead End Kids movies in the Pantheon. Or the Parthenon.