Overrated and overhyped

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Crappy film

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

From the outset, you can tell that this is NOT the gritty Dick Powell of the 1940s (when he appeared in such great Noir films as MURDER MY SWEET). No, this is clearly the 1930s Dick Powell--with lots of singing and not particularly deep plots. While the film is not his usual song and dance extravaganza, it still features Powell singing quite a bit--and was just the sort of film that Mr. Powell apparently hated to make. Fortunately, the tunes are lighter and the plot goofy enough that, while fluff, at least it's enjoyable fluff! The film begins with, what else, Powell and his friends singing. This time they are in a boxcar headed for California in the hopes of making it big in Hollywood. However, they are caught and, along with their instruments, are tossed off the train (literally). In the middle of the wide open West, they soon stumble upon a dude ranch where they are given jobs singing cowboy songs for the paying guests. The trouble is that Powell and his friends are from New York and Powell also is deathly afraid of animals. Despite this, when talent agent Pat O'Brien comes to the ranch, he's taken with Powell and sees him as the next Gene Autry--not knowing that Powell knows nothing about life on the ranch.The film's plot is rather silly (especially with the hypnotism scenes) but it also is quite fun--so despite some stupid aspects of the film (such as Dick Foran's poorly written and overacted character) and too much singing you can't help but enjoy it. I also think that the best performance in the film was that of O'Brien--who spoke a mile a minute and really seemed in his element as the talent agent.

During his early Warner career, DICK POWELL found himself playing the leading juvenile role over and over, sometimes with pleasant results. HARD TO GET ('38) with Olivia de Havilland at least showcased him in a daffy, colorful comedy role that he handled adeptly and had only a couple of songs to sing. It was really one of the best among his brash Warner roles.But COWBOY FROM BROOKLYN is pretty thin stuff, even for Dick Powell fans and pretty hard to swallow, even with a cast that includes PAT O'BRIEN, PRISCILLA LANE, RONALD REAGAN and ANN SHERIDAN, none of them seen advantageously, particularly Reagan and Sheridan in minor roles.It's a musical about a singer (DICK POWELL) who must pretend to be an authentic cowhand for the sake of landing a job on a dude ranch run by PRISCILLA LANE. PAT O'BRIEN is a manager who discovers Powell and thinks he's an authentic cowboy he can use in his rodeo. The zany plot takes it from there with the mistaken identity theme in full gear.A book on Warner films gives a brief rundown of the film as described by N.Y. Times critic, Bosley Crowther: "A piteously frail satirical idea." Nuff said.Fans of any of the above stars are likely to agree with Crowther. I know I did. Some of the musical moments are pleasant enough, but not enough to compensate for the silly plot, culminating in a hypnotized Powell able to overcome his fear of animals long enough to get a film producer to sign him to a contract.Trivia note: That's JEFFREY LYNN in a bit role as a reporter with one line to speak--and JAMES STEPHENSON as the hypnotist.

This film is terrible. What makes this all the more unfortunate is that the film has a solid idea and a great cast. The idea was used to much better advantage in Abbott and Costello's 1942 comedy for Universal "Ride 'em Cowboy". Coincidentally Dick Foran also appears in that film although as a character similar to Dick Powell's, the phony cowboy. Pat O'Brien plays his standard fast talking promoter to perfection but adds very little to the proceedings. It's hard to believe that this was the same year that he did both "Boy Meets Girl" and "Angels With Dirty Faces", both co-starring James Cagney. The songs are less than memorable. It's great fun to see a very young Ronald Reagan in a supporting role.

While fairly average as far as musicals go, this movie is noteworthy for me because it is the only film that features my two favorite actresses, Priscilla Lane and Ann Sheridan.While they don't have any scenes together, unfortunately, there is a scene where Priscilla looks at a picture of Ann. It's not much, but I'll take what I can get!It's too bad The Cowboy from Brooklyn does not do a good enough job in showcasing Priscilla Lane in the female lead. And Ann Sheridan is barely featured at all.I can only imagine what could have been...