Machine Gun Mama
Cast & Crew
Harold M. Young
Armida
El Brendel
Wallace Ford
Jack La Rue
Luis Alberni
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Brooklyn truck drivers Johnny O'Reilly and Ollie Swenson become stranded in Mexico with their cargo, Bunny the elephant, when they lose the delivery address. Although Ollie has grown fond of Bunny, Johnny is desperate to rid himself of the pachyderm and ties her to a tree and heads for the U.S. border. Just as they are about to cross the border, however, Bunny breaks free and catches up to them, forcing them to return to Mexico. After noticing signs advertising a carnival in a nearby town, Johnny decides to sell Bunny to the show. When they arrive at the carnival, Nita Cordova, the pretty daughter of the owner, is sitting above a tank of water into which she will drop if someone hits her target with a baseball. Johnny hits the target three times, drenching the hot-tempered Nita, who begins to curse Johnny. Nita and Johnny's argument is curtailed when Ignacio, the owner of the flea circus, attempts to shoot himself because his prize flea, the beautiful Dolores, is missing. After pulling the gun from Ignacio's hand, Ollie and Johnny introduce him to Bunny, and he transfers his affections to the elephant. When Johnny learns that Nita's father Alberto has heavily mortgaged the carnival to José and Carlos, two menacing Americans, he suggests staging a parade featuring Bunny to pay off the mortgage. To prevent Alberto from raising enough money to get out of debt, Carlos and José decide to harm Bunny. That night, Carlos sneaks into Bunny's quarters, but the elephant throttles him with her trunk, and the parade is a financial suceess. As Nita is counting the proceeds, two detectives appear and inform her that they are looking for two Americans. She concludes that they are pursuing Johnny and Ollie and warns Johnny, who thinks that they are searching for Bunny and informs Alberto that he is unable to sell the elephant as promised. Believing that Johnny'refusal is a ploy to drive up the price for Bunny, Alberto becomes angry. That night, when Johnny, who has fallen in love with Nita, asks Alberto for his daughter's hand in marriage, Alberto, feeling betrayed by Johnny, refuses. Soon after, Señor Hernandez comes to town and informs Captain Olivera of the police department that he is Bunny's owner. Olivera then arrests Ollie and Johnny for Bunny's theft. Later, Alberto discovers that his safe has been robbed, and then José and Carlos claim to have found the contents near Johnny's truck, further incriminating the two truck drivers. At the height of the fiesta, Johnny and Ollie escape from their guards and run into the crowd, and when Nita spots Johnny, she accuses him of robbery. In the midst of their spat, Olivera arrives, followed by a blonde who claims that she is José's wife. At that moment, Bunny shoves Carlos, causing a bundle of Alberto's money to fall from his coat. The blonde then identifies Carlos and José as the American criminals for whom the police are searching. Seeing the bundle of money, Hernandez offers to sell Bunny for an exorbitant price, but after Johnny presents his fee for hauling and feeding the elephant, Hernandez gives Bunny to Alberto. All ends happily when Ollie finds Dolores burrowing into his neck and returns the flea to Ignacio.
Director
Harold M. Young
Cast
Armida
El Brendel
Wallace Ford
Jack La Rue
Luis Alberni
Ariel Heath
Julian Rivero
Eumenio Blanco
Anthony Warde
Crew
George Bahr
Michael Breen
Clarence Bricker
David Chudnow
Robert O. Crandall
Harry D. Edwards
Frank Fox
Mort Glickman
William Lynch
Sam Neuman
Sam Neuman
Gus Peterson
Harry Reif
Jack Schwarz
Ray Smallwood
Frank Sylos
Edith Watkins
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Moonlight Fiesta and Mexican Fiesta. The picture opens with the following written prologue: "Ladies and gentlemen...any similarity between this tale and a sensible thought is purely coincidental-or should we say accidental. It could never happen in a million years to anybody else but it did to our heroes, who came from a strange and far away place-Brooklyn. Looking not at the beauty that is Mexico with its snow-tipped Sierras, not the lush verdant tropics, and oblivious to its romance, its gaeity, its color, its love, they have been drawn across the length and breath of this exotic country with its strain of soft guitars-by one desire-to deliver an ELEPHANT!"