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Me and My Gal (1932)

Young New York cop Dan falls in love with waterfront
waitress Helen. Helen's sister Kate falls for gangster Duke.
Dan must do in Duke.

"Me and My Gal" is an ingratiating pre-Code comedy-drama
enhanced by spirited banter between Spencer Tracy and Joan
Bennett who play two young people feeling each other out as
potential mates. Bennett is surprisingly good as a wise-cracking,
down-to-earth waitress who speaks her mind and can easily
hold her own against Tracy's New York City cop. The pre-Code
era's lack of pretense about sexuality makes their impassioned
kiss in the diner -- as the two knock over items on the lunch
counter -- all the more humorous. Bennett, both impressed and
amused by Tracy's kiss, responds: "If you're gonna kiss me like
that, you're gonna have to marry me." It's a magical little moment
that caused the passage of time since 1932 to drop away and
left me there with them to enjoy the fun.

A sub-plot involves Bennett's newly married sister, a good girl
who nevertheless can't resist her bad boy gangster ex-boyfriend.
When he needs to hide from the police, she installs him in a spare
bedroom, under the nose of her disabled father-in-law who is
confined to a wheelchair, can't speak a word and communicates
only by blinking his eyes in Morse code. Later, when everything
gets resolved, Tracy tells the father-in-law that the daughter-in-law
is a good kid at heart in spite of what she did, expressing pre-Code
generosity for forgiveness and tolerance, even in sexual transgressions
with gangsters.

Directed by Raoul Walsh
Writing credits: Philip Klein, Barry Conners, Arthur Kober,
Frank Dolan,  Philip Dunne, Charles Vido, Alfred A. Cohn

Cast:

Spencer Tracy ....  Danny Dolan
Joan Bennett ....  Helen Riley
Marion Burns ....  Kate Riley
George Walsh ....  Duke
J. Farrell MacDonald ....  Pop Riley
Noel Madison ....  Baby Face
Henry B. Walthall ....  Sarge
Bert Hanlon ....  Jake
Adrian Morris ....  Allen
George Chandler ....  Eddie Collins
Emmett Corrigan ....  Police Captain
Jesse De Vorska ....  Jake
Lemist Esler ....  Doctor
Hank Mann ....  Hank
Frank Moran ....  Drunk's Foil
Will Stanton ....  Drunk
Frank Atkinson
Billy Bevan ....  Ashley
Heinie Conklin ....  Worker
Roger Imhof ....  Down and Outer
James A. Marcus ....  Tugboat Captain
Pat Moriarity ....  Priest
Russ Powell ....  Burper
Ralph Sipperly ....  English Drunk
Phil Tead ....  Radio Salesman
Eleanor Wesselhoeft ....  Wife

Original Music by James F. Hanley
Cinematography by Arthur C. Miller
Film Editing by Jack Murray
Art Direction by Gordon Wiles
Costume Design by Rita Kaufman
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director Horace Hough
Sound Department George Leverett
Other crew: George Lipschultz ....  musical director
Billy Abbott ....  assistant camera
Don Anderson ....  assistant camera
Roy Johnson ....  still photographer
Joseph LaShelle ....  camera operator
Clarence Slifer ....  assistant camera (uncredited)

Also Known As:Pier 13
(USA) (working title)
Runtime: 79 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Black and White
Sound Mix: Mono

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