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Bob Hope stars as Sorrowful Jones, a horse race bookie. When his dirty money mob boss Big Steve fixes a race, Sorrowful takes the bets on Dreamy Joe (the horse) even though he knows Dreamy Joe will lose.
- (238)
- Paramount Pictures
- Sidney Lanfield
A seemingly heartless, stingy bookie accepts a little girl as a marker for a bet, but when the girl's father is killed by notorious gangsters, the bookie, Sorrowful Jones, is stuck with her. The events that follow range from hysterically funny to emotionally provoking.
Feb 13, 2024 · Sweet and sentimental comedy with Bob Hope as a smalltime bookie and skinflint and Lucille Ball as his ex-girlfriend, barroom singer, and gangster's moll with just the most horrific head of grandma hair you've ever seen on a beautiful woman.
Sorrowful Jones: Directed by Sidney Lanfield. With Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, William Demarest, Bruce Cabot. A young girl is left with the notoriously cheap Sorrowful Jones as a marker for a bet. Her father disappears and he learns that taking care of her cramps his free-wheeling life.
- (872)
- Comedy, Drama
- Sidney Lanfield
- 1949-07-04
- Overview
- Summary
- Cast
Sorrowful Jones is a 1949 feature film from Paramount Pictures starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball.
Sorrowful Jones is a New York bookie who keeps his operation hidden behind a trap door in a Broadway barber shop. He suffers a financial setback when a horse named Dreamy Joe, owned by gangster Big Steve Holloway, unexpectedly wins a race and Jones has to pay all the bettors.
Jones learns that the race was fixed by Big Steve, who tells him about giving the horse a "speedball." It turns out Big Steve has informed all the bookies in his circle of friends about the fixed race, and demands a sum of $1,000 from each one of them in exchange for this information.
Before the next race, Jones learns Dreamy Joe will lose, but still takes bets on the horse from his customers. He even takes a bet from gambler Orville Smith, who leaves his four-year-old daughter Martha Jane as collateral. Orville overhears a phone call where Big Steve reveals that the race is fixed, so he is killed by one of Big Steve's goons, Once Over Sam. Jones is forced to take care of Martha Jane and brings her home with him. The next day Jones gets help from his ex-girlfriend, burlesque performer Gladys O'Neill.
Big Steve tells Jones he is being investigated by the racing commission so he is quitting the race-fixing business. Big Steve plans to make one final race before he gets out of the game, where he is fixing it so that Dreamy Joe will win. He also transfers the ownership of the horse to Martha Jane, unaware that she is Orville's daughter. After the race, Big Steve will kill the horse by giving it a too high dose of "speedball."
Jones tries to find Martha Jane's mother, but discovers she is dead. Gladys suggests that Jones give all of Dreamy Joe's winnings to Martha Jane to help her survive, or she will contact the police and tell them about Jones' operation. She has no knowledge of Big Steve's plan to fix the race.
Big Steve finds out that Martha Jane is Orville's daughter, so Jones must hide her to protect her from being killed. When hiding on a fire escape's landing, Martha Jane falls down and is seriously injured. In a coma, the little girl calls out for Dreamy Joe.
•Bob Hope as Sorrowful Jones
•Lucille Ball as Gladys
•Bruce Cabot as Big Steve
•William Demarest as Regret
Sorrowful Jones , a shifty Broadway bookie, becomes a reluctant foster parent when a desperate gambler leaves behind his five year old daughter, Martha Jane (Mary Jane Saunders) as collateral.
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Mar 27, 2023 · Sidney Lanfield’s Sorrowful Jones is a more than enjoyable remake of Damon Runyon’s Little Miss Marker featuring star Bob Hope doing a most agreeable acting turn and enjoying a solid throng of support from a handful of talented actors, foremost among them Lucille Ball and William Demarest.
