| Palooka | |
| Director: | Benjamin Stoloff |
| Producer: | Edward Small Harry M. Goetz |
| Starring: | Stuart Erwin Lupe Vélez Jimmy Durante |
| Cinematography: | Arthur Edeson |
| Editing: | Grant Whytock |
| Studio: | Reliance Picture Corporation |
| Distributor: | United Artists |
| Runtime: | 86 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Palooka is a 1934 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Benjamin Stoloff and starring Stuart Erwin in the title role, Lupe Velez and Jimmy Durante, and based on the comic strip by Ham Fisher. The film was adapted by Jack Jevne, Arthur Kober, Gertrude Purcell, Murray Roth and Ben Ryan from the comic strip. The film is also known as The Great Schnozzle in the United Kingdom.
Joe Palooka (Stuart Erwin) is a naive young man whose father Pete (Robert Armstrong) was a champion boxer, but his lifestyle caused Joe's mother Mayme (Marjorie Rambeau) to leave him and to take young Joe to the country to raise him. But when a shady boxing manager (Jimmy Durante) discovers Joe's natural boxing talent, Joe decides to follow him to the big city, where he becomes a champion and begins to follow his father's path of debauchery, much of it including the glamorous cabaret singer and fortune hunter Nina Madero (Lupe Vélez). The film also stars William Cagney, the younger brother of actor James Cagney in the role of the adversary prize fighter to Knobby. Finally his mother comes to the city to look after things...
The film was the second movie Edward Small made under an agreement with United Artists.[1] Small bought the rights to the song "Inka Dinka Doo" specifically for the movie.[2]