PAUL DOUGLAS, JEAN PETERS, KEENAN WYNN, CEASER ROMERO, JOAN DAVIS, ARTHUR TREACHER. I don't know about anyone else, but when I see a marquee like this, I just can't resist watching the movie. I never tire of so-called second string movies starring second string stars, so-called. "Love That Brute" is a perfect example. At less than 90 minutes, it doesn't wear out its welcome. Light comedy, yes, but so very well worth watching. To me, the best performance here is by kid actor PETER PRICE as a tough talking, pint size sized mug with an adults eye for a cute tomato. He appeared in only four more movies, which is a shame. Perhaps his role here as junior gangster type cast him. I don't know, but he's just great. The rest of the cast is good too. I'm a fan of each and very one of them. Packing them all into one flick is heaven for someone like me who's a fan of both under appreciated movies and their stars. Also tossed in for good measure are CHARLES LANE, JOE GRAY, JACK ELAM, SID TOMACK and noir regular JAY C. FLIPPEN. They're all faces you know even if ya don't know the names. And if you really love movies, then you're always on the lookout for entertaining films that fall below the Oscar radar but are still fun to see. "Love That Brute" certainly fits the bill. The only thing I really didn't like was the title. Anyway, if you feel like you've seen every movie ever made EXCEPT "Love That Brute" and find it on the Fox Movie Channel one afternoon as I did, tune in. Having felt as though I'VE seen every movie ever made, "Love That Brute" was a great discovery. If it's ever on again and I know about it, I think I'll tune in for another go-around.
6 Reviews
Paul Douglas has tailor-made role in fluffy comedy...
Doylenf24 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
LOVE THAT BRUTE is a comedy tailor-made for the unique talents of PAUL DOUGLAS as a soft-hearted gangster with designs on a pretty governess (JEAN PETERS) who's willing to take on the job of supervising his rebellious son (PETER PRICE), actually a relative Douglas gets to pose as his son so that he'll have an excuse to hire Peters. Price gets the most laughs with his tough guy lines, sounding an awful lot like "Lampwick" to Pinnochio.
For added amusement, JOAN DAVIS, ARTHUR TREACHER and CESAR ROMERO have some snappy bits of business--although the script never gives any of them the chance to really do their stuff.
There's some nice chemistry between Douglas and Peters, but they don't make a believable romantic pair and this has its drawbacks since the whole story concerns Douglas and his obsession for the pretty governess with show biz ambitions. He uses his influence to get her a job as a singer in a nightclub he owns--and the resultant musical number, while not exactly perfect, shows that Peters had more sides to her personality than the role really suggests. Good choreography makes the sequence amusing and pleasant enough to watch.
Biggest scene stealer is Price, with some sharp grown-up observations to go along with his tough guy facade. Story develops at a fast pace and leads to a good payoff for crime boss Romero revealed to be the brute responsible for a number of gangland deaths.
Summing up: Good mixture of comedy and gangster crime circa 1920s Chicago.
For added amusement, JOAN DAVIS, ARTHUR TREACHER and CESAR ROMERO have some snappy bits of business--although the script never gives any of them the chance to really do their stuff.
There's some nice chemistry between Douglas and Peters, but they don't make a believable romantic pair and this has its drawbacks since the whole story concerns Douglas and his obsession for the pretty governess with show biz ambitions. He uses his influence to get her a job as a singer in a nightclub he owns--and the resultant musical number, while not exactly perfect, shows that Peters had more sides to her personality than the role really suggests. Good choreography makes the sequence amusing and pleasant enough to watch.
Biggest scene stealer is Price, with some sharp grown-up observations to go along with his tough guy facade. Story develops at a fast pace and leads to a good payoff for crime boss Romero revealed to be the brute responsible for a number of gangland deaths.
Summing up: Good mixture of comedy and gangster crime circa 1920s Chicago.
Cute Paul Douglas vehicle
HotToastyRag30 April 2021
Love That Brute is a fun gangster-with-a-heart-of-gold flick that belongs in the 1930s. You can easily picture Edward G. Robinson in it fifteen years earlier, with Humphrey Bogart as the heavy. If you're a Paul Douglas fan, you'll be happy to see him in his typical type of role. He's a natural in front of the camera, in only his first year of making movies. Jean Peters is also unrecognizable from her other movies; it's hard to see the sleazy floozy from Pickup on South Street in her prim and proper character here. But it's not hard to imagine her as Sister Sarah in Guys and Dolls, with Paul Douglas perhaps as Nathan Detroit. He may be a gangster, but he's a total softie.
Paul has a tough reputation as he battles it out with rival mob boss Cesar Romero. When he sees the decent Jean Peters caring for a group of children in the park, he vows to do anything to win her. So, he comes up with an outrageous lie and gets all his friends and cronies (Keenan Wynn, Joan Davis, and Arthur Treacher) to play along. He rents a problem child, pretends he's a struggling widower and hires Jean as a governess. Do you think she'll find out? Do you think she'll love him anyway? Rent this sweet oldie to find out. And if you like this one, check out the original from ten years earlier - in Tall, Dark, and Handsome, Cesar Romero plays the Paul Douglas part! Ninety percent of the movie is word-for-word like the original, even down to the "Chicago" song in the beginning and the Christmas setting. I watched both movies back to back and was tickled by the script, and I laughed just as hard each time!
Paul has a tough reputation as he battles it out with rival mob boss Cesar Romero. When he sees the decent Jean Peters caring for a group of children in the park, he vows to do anything to win her. So, he comes up with an outrageous lie and gets all his friends and cronies (Keenan Wynn, Joan Davis, and Arthur Treacher) to play along. He rents a problem child, pretends he's a struggling widower and hires Jean as a governess. Do you think she'll find out? Do you think she'll love him anyway? Rent this sweet oldie to find out. And if you like this one, check out the original from ten years earlier - in Tall, Dark, and Handsome, Cesar Romero plays the Paul Douglas part! Ninety percent of the movie is word-for-word like the original, even down to the "Chicago" song in the beginning and the Christmas setting. I watched both movies back to back and was tickled by the script, and I laughed just as hard each time!
Delightful!
fluxable30 May 2000
Although heavy set Paul Douglas is no match for a pretty young thing like Jean Peters, the movie works. Peter Price, the wise-cracking youngster - whom Douglas hires to pass as his son in order to get Peters's attention - is probably the funniest kid that has ever appeared on the big screen. There's a well choreographed musical number, which Miss Peters and some eight men in tux perform. Telling too much about the movie may give away the element of surprise at the end. It takes place in the roaring twenties, complete with gangsters and molls. Arthur Treacher does his famous butler, Joan Davis is quite funny, and Cesar Romero (who played the main character in the original version TALL DARK AND HANDSOME) is great as Doublas's foe. Even the romantic elements are a joy to watch and make you laugh. I hope Fox markets this one on VHS soon.
Well below Paul Douglas's brilliance
amerlyn9 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
What a disappointment this was. A basically absurd story, with only occasional sparks from a cast of often brilliant players (Douglas, Wynn, Kelley, Davis, Romero, and others). The young boy (Harry) came across to me as very unlikeable, unfunny, and a bore. For the most part, his lines were not funny or even clever, just stupid and aggravating. Keenan Wynn, as was most of the cast, was essentially wasted. His Bugsy character, perhaps meant to be comic relief, didn't make it as such and came across as dumb and forced. "....Brute" is not even close to the film "Angels in the Outfield" in which Douglas appeared and was excellent. Then again that film had good writing. Even skilled experienced players can't overcome weak and forced material, which "Love That Brute" is.
Tall dark handsome brute
jarrodmcdonald-123 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
It doesn't happen too often, but sometimes a star in an earlier version will have another key role in the remake. When 20th Century Fox remade 1942's gangster comedy TALL DARK AND HANDSOME eight years later, the studio rehired Cesar Romero. He had played the likable lead character the first time around, and now this time, he was cast in a supporting role as the villain.
Actually the villain was supposed to be played by Richard Basehart who was too busy doing other projects at Fox, so producer Darryl Zanuck decided to utilize Romero's talents again...probably because the actor knew the material from the original production and because he had the necessary charisma to go up against Paul Douglas, who was now playing the main part.
Romero and Douglas play rival hoods who battle each other for control of urban territory in 1928. Prohibition is in full swing, but these men know how to make money through various rackets, not all of them involving the illegal sale of alcohol. The twist is that Romero, the picture's true bad guy, is a homicidal killer, but Douglas is not. However, the police mistakenly think that a lot of the city's recent murders have been committed by Douglas and his men, though most of those killings were Romero's handiwork and Douglas is getting the 'credit' for it!
As if this weren't enough, Douglas bemoans the fact that he has no girl or family. He's about 40 and experiencing a midlife crisis. When he meets a governess (the always appealing Jean Peters), he decides she's the girl for him because she's pretty and has a kind way with children. Only she's heard of his reputation as a brute killer and she is afraid to have anything to do with him. Eventually, she is convinced to take a job working for Douglas at his mansion.
Added into the mix we have assorted oddball characters, like a loyal butler (Arthur Treacher); a loyal maid (Joan Davis, in a role played by Charlotte Greenwood in the original); a loyal pal (Keenan Wynn, on loan from MGM); and a very disloyal spoiled brat (Peter Price). The kid steals all the scenes he's in, and he's a perfect foil for Douglas who is trying to 'adopt' the little delinquent, to show Peters he is decent and can be husband and father material.
One slight issue I had with the film is that the editing seemed a bit disjointed in a few sequences. It was almost as if a few scenes from the 1941 version were left out and they didn't know how to smooth over the gaps. But I could overlook some of that, because the story, as nonsensical as it is at times, works largely thanks to Douglas and the rapport he has with the rest of the cast. All in all, it's a pleasant diversion, nothing too exciting or offensive...with a predictable but still satisfying ending.
Actually the villain was supposed to be played by Richard Basehart who was too busy doing other projects at Fox, so producer Darryl Zanuck decided to utilize Romero's talents again...probably because the actor knew the material from the original production and because he had the necessary charisma to go up against Paul Douglas, who was now playing the main part.
Romero and Douglas play rival hoods who battle each other for control of urban territory in 1928. Prohibition is in full swing, but these men know how to make money through various rackets, not all of them involving the illegal sale of alcohol. The twist is that Romero, the picture's true bad guy, is a homicidal killer, but Douglas is not. However, the police mistakenly think that a lot of the city's recent murders have been committed by Douglas and his men, though most of those killings were Romero's handiwork and Douglas is getting the 'credit' for it!
As if this weren't enough, Douglas bemoans the fact that he has no girl or family. He's about 40 and experiencing a midlife crisis. When he meets a governess (the always appealing Jean Peters), he decides she's the girl for him because she's pretty and has a kind way with children. Only she's heard of his reputation as a brute killer and she is afraid to have anything to do with him. Eventually, she is convinced to take a job working for Douglas at his mansion.
Added into the mix we have assorted oddball characters, like a loyal butler (Arthur Treacher); a loyal maid (Joan Davis, in a role played by Charlotte Greenwood in the original); a loyal pal (Keenan Wynn, on loan from MGM); and a very disloyal spoiled brat (Peter Price). The kid steals all the scenes he's in, and he's a perfect foil for Douglas who is trying to 'adopt' the little delinquent, to show Peters he is decent and can be husband and father material.
One slight issue I had with the film is that the editing seemed a bit disjointed in a few sequences. It was almost as if a few scenes from the 1941 version were left out and they didn't know how to smooth over the gaps. But I could overlook some of that, because the story, as nonsensical as it is at times, works largely thanks to Douglas and the rapport he has with the rest of the cast. All in all, it's a pleasant diversion, nothing too exciting or offensive...with a predictable but still satisfying ending.
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