Plot Synopsis: of Izzy and Moe, starring Jackie Gleason and Art Carney, courtesy of Amazon.com
This is the film based on the true adventures of Izzy and Moe. They were two retired vaudeville performers who, being unemployed, decide to become prohibition enforcement agents. They are initially treated with scorn from fellow agents as old men pretending to be cops. That abuse soon stops when the pair refuse to use the standard but futile methods of the agency. Instead, they employ their theatrical experience to use an amazing variety of disguises and tricks. They become two of the most effective agents in the force. Eventually, their outstanding string of successful raids and arrests starts drawing the attention of the mob and their bought cops, who desperately plan to stop this pair.
Review of Izzy and Moe
Jackie Gleason famously said that he would only reunite with Art Carney if it was for something totally different from The Honeymooners. It’s safe to say that Izzy and Moe fits that bill – and it’s a very enjoyable TV movie, as well. There’s a good bit of humour between the two great comedians, but Izzy and Moe isn’t strictly a comedy. It’s a drama, set in the time of Prohibition, and deals with two older men. They’re estranged friends, former vaudevillians who have fallen on hard times. So hard, that they’re forced to rely on each other once again. And in the process, they show the trained professional police how to think outside the box. How to actually have an impact on the criminals. And how to put a bullseye on their backs.
Even if I had never seen The Honeymooners, I would have truly enjoyed Izzy and Moe — and I hope that you do as well.
Product description of Izzy and Moe courtesy of Amazon.com
Izzy and Moe re-unites two of the most beloved television performers, Jackie Gleason and Art Carney (The Honeymooners) in this made for television movie. Jackie and Art play the parts of Izzy Einstein and Moe Smith, two vaudeville performers-turned-prohibition agents in the 1920s. Mixing comedy with drama, they become two of the most effective agents in the battle against the bottle and when their success attracts the attention of the mob, the two vaudevillians must use all their wits to stay alive. In their last performance together on the small screen, Gleason and Carney are at the top of their form. Director Jackie Cooper plays it straight, letting the boys get the laughs.