Rough, Tough and Ready
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Del Lord
Chester Morris
Victor Mclaglen
Jean Rogers
Veda Ann Borg
Amelita Ward
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
When Brad Crowder commits his marine salvage company to the Army to perform military operations, he is disappointed that the government refuses to grant him an officer's commission. After Brad informs his employees that they must attend an army training center before beginning their mission, Owen McCarey, Brad's good friend and a diver with the company, responds that as a sergeant in the reserve corps, he will remain at the company and not attend school. While diving one day, Owen becomes trapped between two steel girders and is freed by Brad. Later, at the apartment the two men share, Owen suggests that Brad should settle down and marry Jo Matheson, the tomboy they have known since they played together as children. Brad, a ladies' man, considers Jo to be a child still and dismisses Owen's suggestion, even though Jo is clearly in love with him. Instead of keeping his dinner engagement with Jo that night, Brad bets Owen that he can steal his date and later leaves Owen a note to meet him at the Gull Club. When Owen enters the club, he sees Brad dancing with Kitty Duval, the woman Owen had been dating. After Kitty decides to leave with Brad, Owen stays behind and becomes enchanted by the club's entertainer, Lorine Gray. Soon after, Brad and the others leave for training school, and when Jo kisses Brad goodbye, he realizes that she has matured into adulthood. While at school, Brad receives a letter from Owen, informing him that he plans to marry but refusing to divulge the name of his sweetheart. When Owen proposes to Lorine, however, she is reluctant to make a commitment to him even though she accepts his engagement ring. Upon returning home, Brad bets Owen that he can discover the name of his fiancée. Later that night, Brad goes to the club to meet Kitty. Kitty, who has accepted another date, sends her roommate, Lorine, to tell Brad. Knowing that he has only one week's leave before shipping out on the August , his old boat, Brad convinces Lorine to spend the time with him. At week's end, Lorine has fallen in love with Brad and returns Owen's ring. Jo, now a sergeant in the WAC, visits Brad at his apartment, and after they kiss, Brad invites Jo to dinner and breaks his date with Lorine. Soon after, Owen comes home, broken-hearted, and when he sees a photograph of Lorine and Brad embracing, he accuses Brad of deliberately stealing his fiancée. A fight ensues, and the two men are arrested and jailed by the military police. At their hearing, their commanding officer, Capt. Murray, lectures them about the virtues of teamwork and assigns them to work together on the August . During their voyage to an island near the Japanese mainland, Owen shuns Brad and refuses to accept his apologies. Upon arriving at their objective, a sunken Japanese ship resting on a shelf in the harbor, Owen is ordered to dive and plant explosives that will wrench the ship from the shelf. As Owen sets the charges, Japanese planes attack, and the concussion of their bombs causes the ship to slide off the shelf, pulling Owen down with it. When his air line is snagged by the ship's propeller, Owen begins to gasp for air and instructs the captain of the August to leave him behind and flee the attacking aircraft. After American planes fly to the rescue, Brad dives to save his friend. While working to free Owen's air line, Brad is knocked unconscious by a falling propeller, and Owen then comes to his friend's aid and helps him to the surface. Their mission accomplished, the men return home and Brad is awarded his officer's commission. At a celebration dinner, Owen swears off women for life, but Brad bets his friend that he won't keep his vow. When an old girl friend calls and Owen makes a date with her, Brad wins his bet.
Director
Del Lord
Cast
Chester Morris
Victor Mclaglen
Jean Rogers
Veda Ann Borg
Amelita Ward
Robert Williams
John Tyrrell
Fred Graff
Addison Richards
William Forrest
Tex Harding
Loren Tindall
Bob Meredith
Ida Moore
Blackie Whiteford
Jane Hazard
Jack Overman
Victor Travers
Joseph Palma
Nolan Leary
Dorothy Vernon
Tom Kennedy
Emmett Vogan
Jessie Arnold
Anne Loos
Leroy Taylor
Dick Thorne
Alphonse Martel
Harry Barris
Crew
Louis Diage
Richard Fantl
Robert Gordon
James M. Goss
Walter Holscher
Lt. Forrest E. Jones C.e., U.s.a.
Juanita Lopez
Edward T. Lowe
George Meehan
James Nicholson
Alexis Thurn-taxis
Edwin Wetzel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Men of the Deep. The picture opens with an acknowledgment of thanks to the United States Army Corps of Engineering, Salvage Division, for their cooperation in the production of the film. The Variety review noted that the characters portrayed by Victor McLaglen and Chester Morris in this picture are similiar to "Quirk" and "Flagg" popularized by McLaglen and Edmund Lowe in the 1926 film What Price Glory (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.6213); the 1931 film Women of All Nations; and the 1933 film Hot Pepper (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.5195 and F3.2000).
