Joe and his neighbors Marvin (Rodney Bell) and Mr. Grogan (Paul Newlan) are up before a judge (Arthur Q. Bryan, the voice of Elmer Fudd in Bugs Bunny cartoons). In flashback, a cop tells us why.
First, Joe discovers that Marvin is using Joe's garbage can instead of his own to stash his trash. Before we go any further, let's examine this premise. Joe is usually chided in these shorts for his cheapness, yet here's his neighbor, who won't fork out a one-time payment for an old trash can. Furthermore, he gets all dolled up for the day (the movie shows him wearing a tie) and then waits until the moment Joe goes off to work, so that he can filch the use of his neighbor's trash can. There are some major psychological issues here that this short doesn't begin to touch upon.
Anyway, the next day, Joe catches Marvin in the act and dumps Marvin's trash all over Marvin's yard -- until a cop on the beat catches Joe and makes him put the trash back in the can without asking what caused Joe's actions in the first place, and without Joe putting up a fight. Suspension of disbelief is getting stretched mighty thin here.
That night, Mr. Grogan has a wild party at his house that lasts until 4:00 a.m. Joe gets the brilliant idea of tape-recording the party's sounds as evidence. Unfortunately, Joe forgets to turn off the recorder while he's giving his wife Alice a tirade about how crooked the town's cops and judge are. When all three neighbors get hauled into court, the judge hears Joe's sterling critique on the audiotape and concludes that the trio cannot get along together. Thus, either Joe will have to buy his neighbors out, or vice versa. That rattle you just heard was suspension of disbelief cracking in two.
The two neighbors buy Joe out, leading to one of the weakest-ever wrap-ups in the McDoakes series, leading the viewer to conclude that these three guys deserve to spend the rest of their lives together, pulling sub-"I Love Lucy" shenanigans on each other.
Our rating: (C) 2012, Steve Bailey.
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