The Good Humor Man

1950 "Following in the fun-packed footsteps of The Fuller Brush Man!"
6.3| 1h20m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 01 June 1950 Released
Producted By: Columbia Pictures
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Budget: 0
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Biff Jones is a driver/salesman for the Good Humor ice-cream company. He hopes to marry his girl Margie, who works as a secretary for Stuart Nagel, an insurance investigator. Margie won't marry Biff, though, because she is the sole support of her kid brother, Johnny. Biff gets involved with Bonnie, a young woman he tries to rescue from gangsters. But Biff's attempts to help her only get him accused of murder. When the police refuse to believe his story, it's up to Biff and Johnny to prove Biff's innocence and solve the crime.

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Director

Lloyd Bacon

Production Companies

Columbia Pictures

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The Good Humor Man Audience Reviews

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.
Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
weezeralfalfa Good Humor man Biff Jones(Jack Carson) seems like a big kid himself, sometimes taking part in activities relating to the Captain Marvel club, in the ramshackle clubhouse, next to the school. This is truly a feast of comedy, mainly of the physical sort. It's also a murder and theft mystery. In fact, there are 2 murder mysteries, plus a twice disappearing body! Quite a lot happening in 80 min.! I was never bored, and I'm sure kids won't be. The first half features humor, without the complication of murder mysteries. Jack (or his dummy) almost floats down a storm drain after he was stuffed in his truck freezer, by some bad guys, then rescued by police, who had a hankering for a Good Humor. His stiff ice-encased body falls over into the water from a nearby gushing decapitated hydrant, hit by a car. Then, his body is swept toward a storm drain, being pulled out at the last second. He creates havoc in the police station when he is recovering, letting loose mega- sneezes that shatter windows, blow the petals off a bouquet, or scatter the desk papers all over. .....In another incident, a furnace stoker wants a good humor. But every time, it melts before Jack can deliver it. Finally, he puts a bit of dry ice in his hat, along with the good humor. It almost works, but we see the melted ice cream and chocolate running down his face. ........Jack is sometimes accompanied by his secretary girlfriend Margie(Lola Albright), or briefly, by another blond: Bonnie(Jean Wallace), who pulls him into her life, then is apparently strangled, perhaps by Jack, in his sleep(But, see later). I wish they had used 2 actresses who didn't look so much alike, as I was confused for a while.......The last 20 min. is a non-stop barrage of hilarious slapstick events, as the bad guys chase Jack and Margie around in the playground, then inside the school, having misadventures with the musical instruments. Eventually, the Captain Marvel gang are alerted and come on bicycles, in soap box cars, and even in a bathtub on wheels, pulled by a mule! It's like The Little Rascals returned! The kids use a variety of physical aids to subdue the villains, ending in pandemonium. .......Unless you are averse to slapstick, and murder mysteries, or B&W films, be sure to check this out at YouTube
Robert J. Maxwell Do they still make Good Humor ice cream, with those bells and the toasted almonds that I usually couldn't afford? Yum. There's a simulacrum that cruises around these New Mexico neighborhoods in the summer but it always plays La Cucaracha.I didn't sit through this beyond the first forty-five minute and maybe it gets better, turns into more amusing fare. It could hardly get worse for an adult.Don't make the mistake of confusing this with one of Red Skelton's better works during the same period. Skelton was a better comedian than Jack Carson. Some of the scenes in Skelton's movies, like "A Southern Yankee", were positively surreal. Buster Keaton was working as one of the gag writers.This film is aimed at younger sensibilities, those who read Captain Marvel comic books and who think it's funny when ice cream is smashed without adumbration into someone's face. Gee. Look at the chocolate running in streams down his cheeks.But, as I say, it may improve as the story unfolds. I doubt it.
dougdoepke I love it when human Popsicle Jack Carson goes floating down the gutter into a storm drain, only to be rescued at the last moment. The gags fly fast and furious in this cockamamie send-up of the friendly neighborhood ice-cream man. I guess some such is to be expected from scripter Frank Tashlin, who never gave up his love affair with cartoons or the comic book. The gags are nothing if not inventive, from the opening sound effect to the closing school house free-for-all. Just count how many times Carson gets to mug-up the outrageous happenings-- I doubt if there's a number big enough.This is a Carson showcase. Too bad this wonderfully versatile performer never received the recognition his prodigious talent deserved. Here, his man-boy good-humor man never annoys, unlike, say, a Jerry Lewis, who whined his way through a number of similar roles for Tashlin. I hope Carson got extra pay for all the physical contortions Tashlin and director Bacon put him through. Speaking of stunts, the luscious Lola Albright (the real Mrs. Carson) does her share, a decade before smouldering across the TV screen as Peter Gunn's torch-singing lady love.Note the clever touch with the plug-ugly newlyweds, a subject usually sentimentalized to a nauseating degree by Hollywood. None of that here. The bride may be a groom's nightmare, but she's an optometrist's dream. Here the screenplay had to tread lightly around the comedic potential of a near-sighted bride, still the edgy humor shines through. Still and all, I wonder how the same potential would be treated by today's no-holds-barred cinema.There were a number of these occupation-based slapsticks produced around this time-- Fuller Brush Man (Red Skelton), Fuller Brush Girl (Lucille Ball), Kill the Umpire (Bill Bendix) et al. None, however, are any funnier than this. My one complaint-- the schoolhouse slapstick goes on too long. It's as if Tashlin can't turn off the inventive engine once its started. But knowing when to stop can be as important as knowing how to start. Nonetheless, this remains a lively and chuckle-filled 80 minutes, and a lasting tribute to that under-rated performer Jack Carson, along with the wonderfully inventive Frank Tashlin.
abimilech-1 I saw this movie several times on broadcast television during the 1960's. The opening scene of the stuck bells remains a truly classic moment, as are the references to the comic book fan club. There is a finely crafted mystery in the film. Carson's character is boyish and charming and appropriately dim-witted but lovable. The jackass adds a wonderful measure of fun.This film really needs to be printed on DVD for it is a great film, funnier than anything Abbott and Costello ever did. They just don't make good clean films like this anymore.By the way.. Good Times Video did release a VHS version of this classic film. apparently, fairly highly sought after as the lowest priced via Amazon.Com was $51.00 as of 2-6-07David Wilson