Wild Boys of the Road

William Wellman followed up Heroes for Sale with another film about the economic woes of the nation, Wild Boys of the Road. This one has stood the test much more than many other films from the period, and is something of a classic.

The film opens with the hijinks of two high school buddies, played by Frank Darro and Edwin Phillips. Darro lives a comfortable middle class life, while Phillips' family is struggling to make ends meet. But Darro learns that his father has been laid off, and he wants to do something to help. He sells his beloved jalopy, but that's not enough, and he and Phillips decide they don't want to be a burden and hit the road, hoping to go to a big city where they can find jobs.

They hop a freight train and meet a fellow traveler, Dorothy Coonan, who is dressed as a boy. They visit Coonan's aunt, but she turns out to be the operator of a brothel. They keep pressing east, dealing with railroad cops. Coonan is raped by a railroad employee (Ward Bond), and the increasing large tribe of kids mete out justice. Then Phillips meets with a grisly accident, leaving him with only one leg.

The kids set up a camp in a yard full of sewer pipes outside Cleveland, but the local authorities flush them out with the use of firehoses. The three friends move on to New York, and Darro has a line on a job, but before he can start he's arrested for robbery. A happy ending occurs when a kindly judge promises to do all he can to give the kids a break.

Wild Boys on the Road is a startlingly effective bit of social commentary. It has the trappings of a teen comedy (the opening scenes involve the boys sneaking into a dance) and there are Andy Hardy-like gags about eating large portions of pie and cake. This makes the subsequent scenes of poverty and desperation all the more keenly felt. The scene in which Phillips loses his leg is very poignant. Wellman used close-ups sparingly, equating them with exclamation points, so when he uses them as Darro comforts Phillips just before his leg is to be amputated the effect is powerful.

As for Coonan, she was the fourth (and last) wife of Wellman's, and the mother of his children. She was a dancer with Busby Berkeley who caught Wellman's eye. She refused to date him until his divorce was final, and even after that was reluctant to succumb to his charms. In an interview he said that he implored her to "give me a chance to make your life miserable." Coonan would only make a few more films before becoming a full-time mother.