Bill Cracks Down

March. 22,1937      
Rating:
5.6
Subscription
Trailer Synopsis Cast

William Reardon, a steel magnate, dies and leaves a strange will. When his spineless and dandified heir and son returns home from living in Paris, he finds "Tons' Walker, a strong and burly steel worker running the company, per his late-father's will request. He also finds that his father's will specifies the Junior will change his name to Bill Hall and work in the family steel mill for a year under the fake name. Walker's job is to make a man out of the son. The son is not overjoyed by this prospect. Neither is Walker.

Grant Withers as  'Tons' Walker
Beatrice Roberts as  Susan Bailey
Judith Allen as  Elaine Witworth
William Newell as  Eddie 'Porky' Plunkett
Pierre Watkin as  William 'Bill' Reardon Sr.
Roger Williams as  Steve, Mill Foreman
Georgia Caine as  Mrs. Witworth
Greta Meyer as  Hilda
Edgar Norton as  Jarvis, the Butler
Landers Stevens as  Dr. Colcord

Similar titles

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Prime Video
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
A man named Farmer sets out to rescue his kidnapped wife and avenge the death of his son – two acts committed by the Krugs, a race of animal-warriors who are controlled by the evil Gallian.
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale 2008
The Mummy Returns
Max
The Mummy Returns
Rick and Evelyn O’Connell, along with their 8-year-old son Alex, discover the key to the legendary Scorpion King’s might: the fabled Bracelet of Anubis. Unfortunately, a newly resurrected Imhotep has designs on the bracelet as well, and isn’t above kidnapping its new bearer, Alex, to gain control of Anubis’s otherworldly army.
The Mummy Returns 2001
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
A history professor and his wife entertain a young couple who are new to the university's faculty. As the drinks flow, secrets come to light, and the middle-aged couple unload onto their guests the full force of the bitterness, dysfunction, and animosity that defines their marriage.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966
Another Kind of Wedding
Prime Video
Another Kind of Wedding
A fractured family is forced to confront what tore them apart at the eldest son's wedding.
Another Kind of Wedding 2017
The Juror
Starz
The Juror
With his gangster boss on trial for murder, a mob thug known as "the Teacher" tells Annie Laird she must talk her fellow jurors into a not-guilty verdict, implying that he'll kill her son Oliver if she fails. She manages to do this, but, when it becomes clear that the mobsters might want to silence her for good, she sends Oliver abroad and tries to gather evidence of the plot against her, setting up a final showdown.
The Juror 1996
Devoted
Devoted
A son inherits the unhealthy habits of his work-obsessed father to write the perfect student short story.
Devoted 2023
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Paramount+
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
After her husband dies, Alice and her son, Tommy, leave their small New Mexico town for California, where Alice hopes to make a new life for herself as a singer. Money problems force them to settle in Arizona instead, where Alice takes a job as waitress in a small diner.
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore 1974
Losing Isaiah
Prime Video
Losing Isaiah
Khaila Richards, a crack-addicted single mother, accidentally leaves her baby in a dumpster while high and returns the next day in a panic to find he is missing. In reality, the baby has been adopted by a warm-hearted social worker, Margaret Lewin, and her husband, Charles. Years later, Khaila has gone through rehab and holds a steady job. After learning that her child is still alive, she challenges Margaret for the custody.
Losing Isaiah 1995
Our Son
Our Son
When his husband Gabriel files for divorce, Nicky fights for custody of their 8-year-old son Owen, as he struggles to come to terms with what it means to love someone and what it means to be a father.
Our Son 2023
Happy Endings
Prime Video
Happy Endings
Filmmaker Nicky offers to track down the son that Mamie gave up for adoption nearly two decades before. Meanwhile, Mamie's stepbrother (and the father of her child), Charley, along with his boyfriend, Gil, try to find out what became of the sperm Gil donated to a lesbian couple. Finally, singer Jude becomes entangled in a love triangle with androgynous drummer Otis and his conservative father.
Happy Endings 2005

Reviews

Moustroll
1937/03/22

Good movie but grossly overrated

... more
Console
1937/03/23

best movie i've ever seen.

... more
Pacionsbo
1937/03/24

Absolutely Fantastic

... more
Quiet Muffin
1937/03/25

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

... more
mark.waltz
1937/03/26

Everybody loves the boss. Pierre Watkin is the head of a steel mill with a ne'er' do well son (Ranny Weeks) who arrives to take over when the old man dies. But he finds himself under the thumb of dad's right hand man (Grant Withers) who has taken over the company and Weeks does everything to under-mind him, even going after his girl (Beverly Roberts). Fists fly as the two come at odds and it is up to Roberts to make peace. This results in a drama with comic overtones of turning a boy into a man, and even if certain plot elements of the film might seem to come out of nowhere or even seem realistic, it is obvious that the writers were going for something different than normal, which results in all of the characters learning a major life lesson and coming out better. Standard B fare is short and sweet, typical for the bottom of the bill feature, and acting is passable, if not remarkable. Watkin, in his brief scenes, makes more of an impact than the other actors. William Newell strives hard for laughs but a lot of his attempts at comedy end up with groans.

... more
dbborroughs
1937/03/27

Grant Withers plays a steel man and friend of the mill owner who is left control of the mil when the owner dies. Withers is to control the mill until the owners son proves himself over the course of a year. Odd comedy/drama/romance thats set in and around a steel mill. The film is an odd mix of seeming real locations (the mill) and Hollywood sets (everything else). As I said the film is rather odd, pausing for a song in the midst of everything else thats going on. The unevenness of the tone works against total enjoyment of the film since it seems to be shifting gears a bit too often. Its not bad, its just not as good as it should have been.

... more
boblipton
1937/03/28

William Rearden Sr, who built the steel mill, dies on the job and leaves the mill to his son, a painter in Paris, if he works in the mill for a year. In the meantime, it is in the hands of 'Tons Walker'.It's an interesting idea for the story, and the steel mill sequences are shot with care and verve. Grant Withers as Tons is excellent, and Beatrice Roberts as the love interest is fine, but the rest of the cast is, at best, uneven and some are bad. Ranny Weeks as Bill Jr. is nasal and annoying. But he's not a patch on William Newell, playing his raccoon-coat-wearing, ukulele-strumming buddy, 'Porky' in an awful Jack Oakie imitation.There are some potentially interesting plot complications added, but they are played by stiffs. If I were you, I wouldn't bother.

... more