Two Guys from Milwaukee (1946) User Reviews

some fun some hokey

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 1 September 2022]

European Prince Henry (Dennis Morgan) is on a tour of the United States. He's tired of prepared meetings with the powerful. He wants to meet regular folks and Lauren Bacall. He sneaks away from his entourage for a 24 hour escape. He befriends cabbie Buzz Williams (Jack Carson).

The prince gets discovered rather quickly but they transition into a fun fake love triangle. It's fun until it's not. The fight is a little too much and would only work if they're falling down drunk. A drunken fight could be fun. It takes a while for it to wrap up. They do finally end this after a lot of praising of America and the common man. It's hokey but it probably won over the post-war audience.

Both actors really were from Wisconsin

[fflambeau · 7/10 · 25 November 2012]

Perhaps unknown to most of the posters here, both stars of this movie, Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan, were born in Wisconsin of which Milwaukee is the biggest city so there is something of an inside joke here! Dennis Morgan was born in tiny Prentice, Wisconsin, and went to college at Carroll College in Milwauke as did Jack Carson. Carson was born in Canada but his family moved to Milwaukee soon after and he always regarded that as his home town. So this is kind of an inside joke in a script full of inside jokes. Carson and Morgan were great friends. Carson died the same day Dick Powell did.

This is not a great movie but it is an entertaining one and with the startling cameo from....at the end, what could be better?

Fun In NYC

[atlasmb · 7/10 · 9 September 2022]

A Balkan prince making an official tour of the United States jumps off the train to mingle with the common people and experience the "real" America. Prince Henry (Dennis Morgan) befriends a cabbie from Brooklyn named Buzz Williams (Jack Carson) and gets a street-level view of New York City with the help of Buzz's family and friends.

The prince particularly enjoys seeing the sights with Buzz's girlfriend, Connie (Joan Leslie), who is a manicurist. In a short time, they grow very close, setting up a romantic triangle that is the crux of the film. All three characters are very likable and the romantic complications are kept light. In fact, Buzz and Connie have an unusual relationship. When Connie has to make a choice between the two gents, it is handled very well.

Within the story are plugs for democracy (in the immediate aftermath of the world war). This coincides with the beginning of the American effort to export its political system.

Warner Brothers also used the film to promote its upcoming film, "The Big Sleep", which would be released later. This is done cleverly and humorously.

The entire cast is fun to watch. Carson and Morgan might not be the studio's answer to Crosby and Hope, but they have a chemistry that works well. They will later appear in "Two Guys from Texas".

Likable, but Repetitive

[dougdoepke · 8 October 2016]

Plot-- A European prince travels to the US to learn about life in a democracy. There he meets a Brooklyn cab driver and gets a whirlwind intro to big city America, especially when he and the cabbie compete for the same girl.

Is democracy a better governing institution than monarchy. Boy, there's a tough one for the movie to answer. Forget the plot that has the prince (Morgan) discovering the joys of blue- collar Brooklyn. Instead, it's the cast and a number of comedic touches that lift this romantic comedy. Morgan and Carson may never have reached Hope and Crosby's level of team success, but they're just as likable.

Actually, many of the laughs come from the supporting cast plus good side-action touches. For instance, there's that sly old teddy bear, SZ (Cuddles) Sakall. His fractured English is always good for a chuckle and a hug. Then there's Franklyn Pangborn doing his flustered bit as the theatre manager. It's always fun to watch his officious manner get punctured. The girls, Leslie and Paige, are both fetching and energetic, lending real bounce.

I confess looking forward to these 40's features in order to marvel over the ladies hats. Back then, a woman wasn't really dressed without a dress hat, and invariably the head-gear resembled alien life forms, as the exaggerated plumes do here.

Anyway, Butler directs with verve and style, helping get us over Connie's (Leslie) rather tiresomely repetitive dilemma—will it be blue-collar Bud (Carson) or refined royalty (Morgan) that she ends up with. Too bad the rivalry drags out longer than it should. A trim job here would have given the comedy more punch.

Nonetheless, the likable cast generally keeps the chuckles coming, while Morgan-Carson make an entertaining team. I just hope Bud learns to park his cab before I get there.

An 'A' script wasted on a 'B' picture, but very amusing nevertheless

[robert-temple-1 · 6/10 · 23 December 2007]

This film could have been a classic, because the script by I.A.L. ('Iz') Diamond is first rate. But as it was only his second film, and he had no clout, Warner Brothers threw it away on a B picture directed by an inferior director, David Butler, with a low budget, and a B cast, in which Jack Carson's bad acting made it all a mess. There are sub-texts to this film which few viewers could suspect unless they knew a great deal of background. The story concerns the visit to America of a prince of a Balkan country, whose fate as future king is about to be decided by plebiscite. Although the fate of the Italian monarchy was being decided at this time, the real satirical target of Diamond's script was Romania. Diamond was a Romanian Jew born in Romania, and knew more than a thing or two about Balkan monarchies and their reception in America. Queen Marie of Romania, a contemporary of Diamond's, was the most rapturously received royal visitor the United States ever had until Princess Diana came along. In this satirical tale, the visiting prince, very well played by Dennis Morgan, wants to escape royal protocol and discover what real American life is like. He becomes a 'guy from Milwaukee', along with a real one, a cab driver from Brooklyn played by Carson. Prince Henry (Morgan) eats his first hamburger, falls in love rather quickly with an all-American girl (Joan Leslie, who does an excellent job), and ends up siding with democracy instead of monarchy. Much excellent political satire in the script is completely lost in the film which resulted. S. Z. Sakall is most amusing as the prince's equerry. Diamond gives plenty of reign to the part of a charming little girl, who gets many of the best lines in the film, played by Patti Brady, aged nine. However, all these brilliant touches are wasted in the B film ambiance and because of the total and deadly lack of inspiration of the director. Throughout the film, a constant obsessive thread runs, which is the prince's crush on Lauren Bacall. This is more than just an inside joke, as Bacall was herself of Romanian Jewish descent, like Diamond, so that there is a lot more to all this than meets the eye, and Diamond was bringing in various favourite subjects and people without anyone knowing the background or reasons. Diamond was later to become famous for writing 'Some Like it Hot', 'The Apartment' (for which he won a well-deserved Oscar), and many other famous films. This could have been on the list of his triumphs, but it was written too soon. The film is very funny nevertheless, with some great lines, not always well delivered. You have to imagine the film as it should have been while you watch this.

In Pursuit of Bacall

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 29 October 2006]

Two Guys from Milwaukee was Warner Brothers attempt at cutting in on the Crosby/Hope popularity of the Road pictures at Paramount. They don't quite make it, mainly because the Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson haven't quite got the chemistry between them that Bing and Bob do. They also don't have a songwriting team at Warner Brothers giving Morgan the same quality songs that Johnny Burke and James Van Heusen did for Crosby at Paramount.

The plot of this film actually is taken from real life because the people of Italy were deciding right at this time whether to continue with a constitutional monarchy and the House of Savoy or opt for a republic. Prince later King Umberto was a bit more interested in the whole proceeding than Morgan is in his unnamed European country.

Morgan would like to become an American, be an average Joe and asks only one thing, that he meet the woman of his dreams Lauren Bacall. When he ducks out of things, the way Audrey Hepburn did in Roman Holiday, he meets up with Jack Carson. Carson is a cabdriver, originally from Milwaukee and now, where else but Brooklyn. Carson shows him the ropes all right, but Morgan starts moving in on his woman.

Let's just say this ends in a way no Road picture ever did except the Road to Rio and Hope had a gimmick there. Morgan does get to meet Lauren Bacall and her well known husband as well.

It's a pleasant enough diversion from two very capable players. But you notice that Morgan and Carson never quite attained the heights Crosby and Hope.

Did you ever meet Lauren Bacall? Yeah I ran across her a number of times.. In my better dreams.

[sol-kay · 6/10 · 22 January 2010]

***SPOILERS*** Sick and tired of being pampered all his life together with him having a Lauren Bacall fixation soon to be anointed King of a unnamed Balkan country, if his people vote to keep their monarchy, Prince Henry, Dennis Morgan, wants to get away from it all and just become one of the boys; if just for a scant 24 hours. On an official state visit to the United States the Prince gets his wish when he gets himself lost in New York's Pennsylvania Station by wearing a pair of sades and slipping out into the crowd awaiting to welcome him there.

Getting a ride from a friendly Brooklyn cabbie Buzz Williams, Jack Carson, the Prince gets an eye as well as stomach full, in guzzling down 11 boilermakers and a half dozen hamburgers, of what life is all about among the unwashed masses and starts to really like it. Staying at Buzz's place that he shares with his married sister Nan, Rosemary DeCamp, and her 8 year old daughter Peggy, Pattie Brady, the Prince's secret identity, in being a real live honest to goodness Prince, is discovered the next day! That's when his photo is plastered across the front pages in all of the local and national newspapers! It's feared that he was kidnapped just before he was to make his grand and official appearance in New York. What makes things even worse is that Buzz's girlfriend Connie, Joan Leslie, a beautician who later meets the Prince while giving him a manicure fell madly and heads over heels in love with him!

Being the odd man out in this round robin love affair Buzz's feelings for the Prince, whom at first he thought was such a swell guy, starts to sore to the point where the two guy's from Milwaukee, Buzz's actually being from there and the Prince only making it up, start to take swing at each other with Buzz getting the worst of the exchange! While all this is going on the Prince's assistant or aid de camp Count "Ossie" Oswald, S.Z Sakall, is frantically looking for him all over New York. Ossie thinks that the Prince had been kidnapped and is trying to get in contact with his kidnappers to pay them off in order to free him! Ossie like the Prince soon gets the hang of what life is all about outside the palace grounds with Connie's friend Polly-Janis Page-falling for the totally confused, in what's going on in the movie, old guy and he starts to like it.

***SPOILERS*** Somewhat bittersweet ending with the Prince not only losing Connie to Buzz after planing to elope with her but him also getting kicked out of his job as Prince by his people in a special election! That's after they heard a rousing radio speech about freedom and democracy by the Prince's on and off good friend Buzz who didn't know, as he was reciting it, that the mike was turned on. Now without a study job or country to come back to the Prince, with his expertise in fine wines and fine spirits as well as all other alcoholic beverages, ends up working as a publicist or pitchman for a major Milwaukee brewing company!

P.S It's also later in the movie that the Prince finally gets his wish and meets sultry and deep voiced actress and love from afar Lauren Bacall on a plane ride to the beer capital, Milwaukee, of America. Only to have her tough guy husband Humphrey Bogart pop up and have the shocked and embarrassed Prince, in avoiding getting his lip buttoned, make a hasty retreat.

I.A.L. Diamond scripted comedy is blandly entertaining and features a game cast.

[a_chinn · 6/10 · 3 June 2018]

TCM did an interesting marathon of films by Billy Wilder's frequent writing partner I.A.L. Diamond, highlighting primarily films Diamond did not write with Wilder. In this film, Dennis Morgan plays a European prince who tries to hide out as a regular American, which makes for a silly culture clash comedy, with Morgan getting advice on how to act American from cabbie Jack Carson. It's nothing as funny as his work with Wilder, but it's inoffensively entertaining, features a likable cast, and even boast a funny cameo by Bogie and Bacall.

Two Guys From Milwaukee is great fun.

[scotty3333 · 9/10 · 13 February 2006]

Two Guys From Milwaukee was a fun, comedic surprise. Yes, it was a little predictable; though, who would win the girl was in question almost until the end. The story moved along quite quickly with smart and snappy dialogue and an array of likable characters.

Beyond the comedy and the quickly developed love story was a very enjoyable window into everyday life in Brooklyn in the mid-1940's--the friendliness, the simplicity (by modern standards), the economic modesty. Director David Butler shot the movie in an intimate fashion, which makes you feel like you're sitting with the characters in the living room, riding the tour bus in Manhattan or waking with them in the morning.

Jack Carson plays the role of Buzz Williams, the very likable Brooklyn cabbie. Carson has played many enjoyable characters, but this one has a unique charm to it. He's a simple enough guy, but with some real life complexity to him. Even during a rather obvious advertisement for democracy (of course, having just won WWII, there's nothing wrong with marketing the winning stuff) Carson delivers the message in a humble, regular-guy-on-the-street way.

All in all, you'll smile through much of the movie and laugh out loud, too. It was a very enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes.

Fun....but slight.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 2 November 2017]

drunk driving joke about spouse abuse Buzz and Henry

This film is a bit like two older George Arliss films, "The Millionaire" and "The King's Vacation"...especially "The Millionaire". This is because like "Two Guys From Milwaukee", this is a Warner Brothers film about a very important man deciding to 'slum it'...and hang with the common folk. While not quite as good as the Arliss films, it is much easier to watch, as TCM often shows this Dennis Morgan/Jack Carson film.

Prince Henry (Morgan) from some fictional European country is traveling to America. But he's sick of all the fancy parties and receptions and just wants to see America like an ordinary guy. So, he sneaks off the train and goes incognito in New York...where he soon meets Buzz (Carson) and they go on a series of adventures. Unfortunately, romance also occurs...unfortunate because this eventually sets these two new friends against each other. Fortunately, they're able to get past this. But the next problem...that's NOT so easy to overcome and that is the Prince's tenuous hold on the throne. It seems a discussion with Buzz about the monarchy was broadcast over the radio--and Henry talks about how he prefers a democracy. Soon the people of his country will get to decide whether they agree with him or not!

This is a sweet and enjoyable, albeit slight, film. Pure fantasy but quite enjoyable.

Implausible, Labored -- and Cute

[Handlinghandel · 4/10 · 8 August 2005]

Dennis Morgan is highly unconvincing as a prince. He and Jack Carson worked together often and are appealing -- in a way. The supporting cast is fine.

Throughout, there are hints at a sexual interest between the two men. (You'd never fins that with Hope and Crosby, who were a more famous, but -- to me -- less appealing team.) Maybe I imagined them but if so, my imagination was working overtime.

The notion that a man would be pleased, actually pleased, that he is no longer a prince is very much in step with today's anti-elitist times. Morgan finds out that monarchy was voted out and democracy voted in. Is he upset? At all? No. He is happy to be able to stay in Brooklyn and, well, without giving anything away, maybe return to the title city.

A motion picture many decades ahead of its time - the leading lady Joan Leslie is liberated

[Ed-Shullivan · 8/10 · 27 April 2018]

First of all I am a man writing this review and not a left leaning liberated woman. Having gotten that out of the way, after reading some of the other reviews one would have thought that this picture is just like a string of previous released films in which the dim-witted gorgeous leading lady is confused as to whom she really loves and she will let her two (2) alpha male co-stars duke it out to decide who gets to marry her.

I didn't see the leading lady actress Joan Leslie who plays a manicurist named Connie Reed in the same light as most other narrow minded film goers. No, in my humble opinion the attractive Connie Reed by her own admission had been dating a string of men over the past few years tasting the many different shaped lips of her many male suitors not in a deliberate effort to get her main man cabbie Buzz Williams (Jack Carson) jealous but smartly just to see if she would be missing out on anything before she decided if it was worth settling down with her hack driver Buzz.

I viewed actress Joan Leslie as an actress a half century ahead of her time in which this leading lady certainly had a mind of her own and no one was going to tell her who she could date and where she could be seen in public with, even if it looked as if she may be just another gold digger. Kudos also to the original screenplay writers Charles Hoffman, and I.A.L. Diamond who had the foresight to create Connie Reed's character as a liberated and free thinking woman which was well ahead of its time back in 1946 when this film was first released.

If you think the story is about a foreign prince who comes to Brooklyn to escape his royal treatment and just eat hamburgers and swig beer with a cab driver you would be remiss in your thinking. I believe the message really is about a woman named Connie Reed perfectly cast with Joan Leslie who chooses her own future husband. Before she decides to settle down she wants to take advantage of what other men may have to offer her too and she makes no bones about her strong will and backs down to no man, even if that man is a royal prince.

Two Guys from Milwaukee is an underrated film with a message for liberating woman that was decades ahead of its time. Quite possibly the film saved thousands of women from marrying the wrong man and settling for less than they were deserving of in an equal partner. You may have to watch this film more than once to appreciate the same message that I garnered from this classy comedy/romance film but the message is clear. You are woman and we hear you roar!

A very deserving 8 out of 10 rating

These Milwaukee Guys-A Wisconsin Favorite ***1/2

[edwagreen · 8/10 · 3 January 2010]

Dennis Morgan teamed with Jack Carson in an earlier film with Ann Sheridan.

What makes this film so good is that eventually the 2 guys will change status and accept what has become of them.

The story basically deals with a Balkin Prince (Morgan, in a non-singing role) who comes to America on the eve of his country deciding whether or not to maintain the monarchy or change to a republic. His goal is to spend some time with the common people and of course, he meets up with cab driver Carson.

Naturally, Joan Leslie, Carson's girlfriend, falls for our prince and there are some very funny scenes as the FBI trails the trio.

The ending is a good one with a big surprise. It has something to do with Morgan's goal throughout the picture.

Great comedy, Great acting

[hawaiialin · 8/10 · 2 August 2005]

It caught me by surprise, having seen previous Jack Carson movies. I felt that this was a nice and light comedy that rivals some of the big budget flicks that lack acting talent in today's world. The story moved with a good flow, the plot was predictable yet acceptable. Kudos for a movie that the whole family can enjoy. Jack Carson was the usual energetic character that he always seems to have been. His dynamism and antics bring light to a film that I feel would have felt short otherwise. The rest of the cast fit in perfectly and the cameos by Lauren Bacal and Humphrey Bogart towards the very end were pleasantly casted and surprising. Highly recommend it.

Female lead confused! May contain spoilers!

[donwc1996 · 3 January 2010]

I enjoyed the playfulness / innocence of Dennis Morgan &Jack Carson. They meet, get drunk, and fall into bed together---but this is 1946 & it's all OK ( even Carson's sister says that he brings strange men home all the time}. I thought that the writer of the screenplay gave Joan Leslie a rather confusing role. She's Carson's girlfriend--but he is Only a taxi driver & doesn't earn enough money--so when Morgan comes along she seems to immediately fall in love with him--and he with her. Later, when Carson gets rich,she drops Morgan & gets back together with Carson--who she had treated pretty awful. Is this romantic? I felt very annoyed with her character &was disappointed with the movie.

Darn good

[SanteeFats · 8/10 · 1 October 2014]

This is a really good old time movie. Funny, corny, and trite. Jack Carson (Buzz) plays a cabbie who thinks his long time girl (Connie) is in love with him, wrong. Prince Henry has run away from official duties to see the real America. He meets Buzzes Connie and of course they fall in love in a very short time. Typical for this time in the movies. The prince's aide is Count Oswald, played by S.Z. Sakall. He does a nice job except he has an accent and the prince does not. Another girl who has worked with Connie (Polly) as a manicurist is so obviously in love with Buzz that it isn't funny, well yeah it is. The prince tries to do the noble thing and he and Buzz end up arguing about who show be Connie's husband. Then there is the young girl (Peggie) who ties the whole thing together at the end with her young wisdom. At the end of the movie the prince is giving a speech to his country (inadvertently), which is about to vote for or against a monarchy. Buzz has made a stirring speech and gets a call from the President's secretary to drop by if he is ever in Washington. Buzz now gets so many appearances and offers that he is overwhelmed. The vote comes in for the prince and his people have voted for the republic. Is the prince disappointed, not by a long shot. To settle the Connie matter the two men take her for a ride to determine who she will wed. So who does she pick, well there is a car accident and she is knocked out, when she comes to she picks the prince, whoops he is not. At the end the prince gets a job offer from the beer industry in Milwaukee, as he leaves for his new job Connie comes out of her knock out state and realizes who she does love. Big surprise at the end when Connie actually picks Buzz. There are two cameos at the very end by Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart.

Corny yet Classy

[laurelhardy-12268 · 9/10 · 5 November 2023]

This film fits into an elite category. The writing is smart and often sassy; while the film generates a warmth throughout.

Dennis Morgan is good and Jack Carson is great.

But most of the movie revolves around a couple of things. First, having just, by chance) met a cab driver (Carson), at the depot; the Prince (Morgan), opts to play hooky from his entourage and media, to basically, go out and have some fun with his new found friend, (cab driver Carson). And of course, Carson has no idea of his new friend's true identity. 2nd, is merely the sparring between the Prince (Morgan) and the cab driver (Carson).

And both end up chasing Connie (Leslie), even though she was Carson's gal up to that point.

They wrote (Connie) Joan Leslie, pretty well. But the heartfelt exchange between she & Carson, (where she is basically breaking up with him); she blurts out "Every girl dreams of marrying a Prince". This diminished her a bit, quickly relegating her to Golddigger, even though it might be very accurate (especially in an era were women were never given an opportunity to make a decent living, let alone get ahead.)

Now, if you're not an old guy (like me), you probably will not experience the unintentional nostalgia. Even though I have my 70th coming up soon, my grandmother was born in 1878. I mentioned that because it has a bearing on my exposure and appreciation of Classic movies, swing music, and so much more.

All that said, in many ways, this 1946 flick is your standard fare, but honestly, it feels more like a 1936 movie. And yes, I get it. To a younger person, it might as will be 1625 vs 1635. I.e. Meaningless.

There are times in the middle of the film where the dialogue loses its edge, but those lulls are (thankfully), fleeting.

The count (S. Z. Sakall), certainly deserves mention. And as usual, he does a great job with that special screen presence and natural congeniality. From Yankee Doodle Dandy, to Casablanca, S. Z. has a resume as long as your arm.

Overall, it's a fast fun fare, but not frantically so, like some cornball entries that often come up short.

There's more I could say on this movie, but my iPhoneX Max, like me, is running out of power. Moreover, as mentioned, I'm 70, and I'm going through mentalpause.

I recommend for at least a one time viewing.

Bob R.

Fair Comedy, Great Ending

[Michael_Elliott · 2 February 2010]

Two Guys from Milwaukee (1946)

** (out of 4)

Warner comedy has Prince Henry (Dennis Morgan) landing in America but not wanting to do the normal Prince stuff like meetings and royal dinners. Instead he wants to see NYC and meet Lauren Bacall. He meets a taxi driver (Jack Carson) and the two hit it off until the Prince starts to have feelings for his girlfriend (Joan Leslie). I've read several positive reviews for this film but I must call it a pretty big disappointment for several reasons. I think my biggest problem with the film was that I simply didn't laugh at anything. I didn't laugh at the Prince getting drunk for the first time and I didn't laugh at anything that followed. The movie was fairly boring, although I give Morgan and Carson a lot of credit because you can tell they're giving it their all to try and get laughs but the screenplay really lets them down. For me the movie dragged from one scene to the next and none of them got any better or had any real energy that would keep me into the story. I think it was pretty predictable that the Prince would end up falling for his friends girlfriend and in many ways this isn't all that funny because I personally felt bad for the taxi driver. There's a running joke of the two men telling everyone that they're from Milwaukee but I didn't find this funny either. I think the film would have been better had the Prince actually done his first goal in trying new things. The movie seems to forget this and by the twenty-minute mark he pretty much knows his way around. The movie does end on a very good note when the Prince's main dream comes true but he also meets her better half.

Underrated Gem

[finetunes · 9/10 · 20 February 2024]

I thought I'd seen every great mid-century comedy. Maybe I had passed this one by because the title sounded like a musical. This movie starts out as good as any Preston Sturges movie. Follow the dialogue carefully because their are some fabulously funny lines, some of which might pass you by. The movie does start to lose some of it's magic halfway through but it's still totally enjoyable. The ending is worth the wait; don't miss this movie! Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan were great; Joan Leslie comes across as sort of an opportunist but don't let that stop you from thoroughly enjoying the mid-40's comedic romp.

Wow

[lkim-10534 · 10/10 · 29 January 2024]

This one came out of the sky! What a shocker what started out a little slow, flew like a 747! Like the seats on a plane this movies had several seating options. Poor little rich girl, struggling guy trying to do right. To poor man living in the middle of no where. Perfect love story, man goes after daddy's spoiled rich daughter, Nothing is ever what it seems including the mine shafts.. Plenty of double takes as there's old faces in every scene. Romance, comedy and who done it. Don't get comfortable in who u think she ends up with it may not happen. In the end everyone is better off and leaves happy and better adjusted.