BUDDY BOYS: THE MOVIE II
THE SEARCH FOR THE GOLDEN ROLL

 

PRIMARY TECHNICAL CREW

Written By	Michael W. Mowery, Bill Shute
Produced & Directed By	Michael W. Mowery
Cinematography By	Bryan Dietzman, Michael W. Mowery, Bill Shute
Original Concept By	Bob Schoelkopf, Bill Shute, Michael W. Mowery

 

PRIMARY CAST

Guts and Glory	Joe McGroarty
Brains of the Operation	Bill Shute
the Supplier	Michael W. Mowery
Hammer	Anthony Salerno
Lightning Bolt	Brian McGroarty
The Enforcer	Mike Shute
Slick	Brian Repici
Cuz	Jeff Wilkinson
Stake Out	Bryan Dietzman
Doug McIntosch	Bob Schoelkopf
Archeologist James Copeland	Al Giansanti
News Caster	Frank Repici

 

The sequel which everyone expected, Buddy Boys: The Movie II The Search For The Golden Roll is the second installment in the T.P. Gang saga. The film opens with the last few moments of it's predecessor. Then the opening credits appear with a new computerized look (this is to foreshadow the technical advances the Bandits and the T.P. Gang have evolved to.) The first ten minutes of "new" film answers the "loose ends" of the first film. Questions like: What does Hammer do with the knowledge of knowing who Mr. Big is? Once these open ended questions are answered, the film then jumps six months ahead and a totally new adventure begins.

In this story Guts (Joe McGroarty) awakes to find his house toilet papered. His first reaction is to call Bill and Mike and reassemble the gang. While discussing the recent TP crime wave in headquarters, they receive a phone call from Doug McIntosch (Bob Schoelkopf). McIntosch is calling on behalf of Archeologist James Copeland (Al Giansanti) who is searching for the Golden Roll. Copeland feels the T.P. Gang may be able to help him because they have all that high tech equipment and know the area as well as anyone. He offers the gang $6000 if they can find it.

Meanwhile the Bandits reunite with a plan destined to destroy the T.P. Gang. The newest member appropriately named Stake Out (Bryan Dietzman), follows the gang around reporting anything unusual to Hammer (Anthony Salerno).

Just when things were going well for the T.P. Gang, Copeland gets kidnapped by the new local terrorist group in town, the Wolverines. Unknowing to the T.P. Gang, but very clear to everyone in the audience, the Wolverines are really a militia outfit of the Bandits.

The film then takes off with action packed scenes as the T.P. Gang travels around the country trying to find the Golden Roll. Every time they feel as though they have a little space, the Bandits appear to dampen the day.

By films end, we see that Mr. Big betrays the Bandits and uses them because he needed them to follow the T.P. Gang until they found the Golden Roll. After Hammer gets the Roll, Mr. Big holds him at gunpoint and takes it. Brains (Bill Shute) then is able to surprise Mr. Big as he hits him from behind. The Bandits and T.P. Gang join forces to unmask Mr. Big (again.)

This film is historic because it officially marks the screen debut of one of the series originators Bob Schoelkopf. This means that for the first time, Bill Shute, Michael W. Mowery and Bob Schoelkopf would be in a film together. To make it more special, they only share three scenes together in the entire production.

Some wonder how Schoelkopf can receive a "concept by" credit in this film as well as the original. Well the answer is simple, back in the writing session of 1990, the whole concept would have had the heroes (Bill Shute and Dave DeMatteo) find the Golden Roll and try to return it to museum for which they worked. Bob Schoelkopf and Michael W. Mowery were the villain's who would try to steal the Roll and cash it in on the black market. Also the history of the heirloom was drawn up here.

One of the films major criticisms was the absence of female characters. In defense of this criticism, the writers agreed that in order to clean up the loose ends from the first film and introduce the new adventures of the sequel, something would have to be cut from the film. A big part for the females was originally thought of, the big problem was finding willing people to meet the shooting schedule. They were cut out because one of the main things that director Michael W. Mowery wanted to accomplish was good scenes with as few cast members as possible so that they could cut down on script revisions which would hold the continuity of the film flowing.

Another major cut to the film was a huge story line featuring the old guys from the diner scene in the first film. Irving (Bill Shute), Leaky (Chris Divell) and Charlie (Joe McGroarty) would return as well as introducing Morty (Bob Schoelkopf) and Stanley (Michael W. Mowery). Schoelkopf would reprise his theatrical role from Bill Shute's Hey Do You Want A Donut? This would have allowed Bob to play a substantial role in the film. For Mowery, it would have been a newly formed character. Bill Shute was contracted to write all of the old guys segments with a collaboration on the concept with Michael W. Mowery. The old guys would appear after every news cast. Eventually, we would learn that the old guys were responsible for T.P.ing the town. The end of the film would find the old guys getting caught T.P.ing Guts' house. Their reason was revenge for stealing the women at the diner from the first film. The final scene would show the old guys and the T.P. Gang laughing at the situation and T.P.ing together as the screen fades to black with the Escape Club's I'll Be There" playing over the credits.

The old guys sequences were scrapped for the same reason as the girls, it was to distracting from the stories plot. The writers needed to stay focused on the two main story lines and although the old guys would be a memorable part of the film, they ran the risk of upstaging the main story. The other concern is that by keeping their story line, this film would run longer than the first film. The near two hour film was a major concern of the first film. When it was finally decide to drop the old guys, Mowery left the film open ended. The film still ends with the T.P. Gang finding the house covered in T.P. This brings the Gang to the conclusion that the Bandits were behind it all along. They race off into the night as the credits roll. This would give the creators plenty of third film story lines to pursue.

Now that the female characters and old guys were discussed and dropped, the creators still had the task of bringing a freshness to the film. This would occur when James Copeland (Al Giansanti) was kidnapped. Originally the story had Hammer kidnap Copeland as a way of forming his own gang and running the Bandits into the ground once and for all. This would mean that Anthony Salerno would still have a major role in the film and scenes between the two gangs would be necessary. This was changed in favor of bringing in the militia branch of the Bandits gang known as the Wolverines. This allows a new set a villan's to be created for the T.P. Gang as well as giving the Bandits time off from the set.

The new gang would consist of four major characters. The original cast had Dave DeMatteo playing the lead role of Wiseguy. This would allow DeMatteo to play a major part and join Schoelkopf in sharing the screen with the other creators of the Golden Roll story line. DeMatteo's right hand man would be Tom Seager as Slapstick. For Tom, it would have been his screen debut. Another McGroarty would join the film ranks as Chris (Joe and Brian's brother) would serve as one of the Gangs members. Eventually a falling out with DeMatteo led to his and Seager's departure. Chris would also be replaced shortly before filming began. Enter Frank Napoli to play Wiseguy. His interpretation of the character made his screen debut a memorable one. Also joining the cast was Scott Wilkinson to play Slapstick. Originally the writers did not want to use Wilkinson because that would have hurt the continuity of the series. Scott debuted as Shock Wave in the desert scene of the first film. The argument was that as soon as the the T.P. Gang saw Wilkinson, they would realize that the Bandits were behind everything. The writers decided to embark a little Hollywood magic. This means he was a completely new character and someone the T.P. Gang never saw before. The end result was one of the films best scenes.

Another scene which stands out is the school chase. It was a rare case where the end results of film was actually better than it was on paper. Good camera work and the freshness of a brand new set helped this scene to become one of the very best scenes in franchise history. The icing on the cake in this scene was the climax when for the first time Golden Roll Productions attempted to film a sequence in slow motion.

One of the biggest risks the writers took was sending the cast to Washington, D.C for the films final scenes. The writer's weren't sure if the cast would go on the pre arranged date of May 20, 1992. As it turned out, it rained all day long. Mowery believed that the cast would not return for a second trip so they proceeded to film. Some on the fly revisions had to be made because the crew really couldn't go everywhere they wanted because of the rain. The other obstacle was that a few cast members were unable to make the trip. Joe McGroarty, Mike Shute, Jeff Wilkinson and Bob Schoelkopf did not attend. Bryan Dietzman's role would become larger as he was added to the Washington scenes. Brian McGroarty would not only play his Lightning Bolt role, but incorporate all of the Enforcer's dialogue as well. Jeff Wilkinsons lines were given to Ollie Sabitsana who reprised his role as Jug Head from the desert sequence of the first film. Some lines were changed and a scene in T.P. Headquarters was reworked to make it appear that Joe McGroarty got lost in Washington, D.C. The biggest problem however, was that Bob Schoelkopf was not there. He was supposed to be Mr. Big during the climatic moment when the T.P. Gang unmasks Mr. Big. Bryan Dietzman was used as a body double in the scene where Hammer gets held up at gun point by Mr. Big. The actual unmasking took place at a later date in New Jersey so that both Schoelkopf and Joe McGroarty could be part of the sequence.

Besides the screen debut of Bob Schoelkopf, Al Giansanti and Frank Napoli. Anthony Misuraco and Joe Coia debut as Wolverine gang members. The one debut that will always be remembered is that of the news caster, Frank Repici. Frank was the body double for Bill Shute during the car chase in the first film. This however was his first major part. He set a GRP record of 44 takes on one scene before he got it correct. Other cast notes to be mentioned are; Bryan Dietzman was promoted from an extra Bandit to the expanded role of Stake Out. Stake Out was created to replace Joe McGroarty's on screen brother known only as the Spy (Brian Burns) when it was decided that they could not develop that role any further.

This film is more entertaining than the first. Stronger acting and new sets helped the movie out dramatically. Also the film is shorter which was the overall goal of the creators. Finally the films bloopers are shown just like the original.

 

Scenes of Interest
Philadelphia, Washington D.C., School Chase, News Casts

This film has been rated TP (adult language, violence)
Running Time: 98 minutes
Released: June 30, 1992