Dennis O’Keefe

(On Cable TV, August 2019) As someone who grew up on repeated viewings of the 1985 Richard Pryor version of Brewster’s Millions, I was very curious to go back to an earlier version of the story to see where it came from. I was certainly not disappointed, given that this version often feels funnier (in different ways) than the version I was most used to. Of course, 1945 is a different universe than 1985. Our hero here is an ex-soldier, with a capable team of veteran friends and a fiancé ready to sabotage his efforts when he must spend one million dollars (without telling anyone) in order to inherit seven million dollars. Much of the fun of this comedy is in seeing natural instincts being turned upside-down, with a protagonist being happy at wasting money while his entourage is aghast at his financial failures and sabotages his efforts through good will. The script has plenty of good one-liners, decent characterization and elicits a capable performance by star Dennis O’Keefe. It does remain a 1945 film, though, meaning that female and black roles remain limited and stereotyped—although the historical record tells us that at least one city in the American South banned the film for providing too good of a role to a black actor. Sociological considerations aside, this version of Brewster’s Millions feels substantially wittier than the Richard Pryor version—the machinations are more intricate, the ending more satisfying and the one-liners more amusing. It’s a good example of 1940s comedy (not a decade known for its comedy, especially once WW2 extinguished the screwball genre), and it’s still worth a few chuckles today.