Juke Girl 1942

Steve Talbot, [Ronald Reagan], and Danny Frazier, [Richard Whorf], are farm workers who head to the fields around Cattail, Florida, a small town where Henry Madden, [Gene Lockhart], effectively runs the local economy. Madden controls Muckeye John’s Club, the area’s main amusement hub, and owns the town’s largest employer, a big packing plant. He uses tough, often coercive tactics to prevent farmers from selling their crops directly to buyers—keeping them on his terms and frequently in a system of consignment. Danny buys into Madden’s setup, lands a job at the plant, and climbs the organization’s ladder, while Steve, raised on a Kansas farm, refuses to work for Madden’s exploitation and the harsh realities of the Great Depression.

Steve meets Lola Mears, [Ann Sheridan], a juke girl at Muckeye’s, and the pair form a growing bond. They befriend Nick Garcos, [George Tobias], a hardworking Greek immigrant farmer who bucks Madden’s monopoly by selling his crops directly to an Atlanta food distributor. This small act of defiance is almost crushed by Madden’s henchmen, but Steve orchestrates a bold stand: he stalls one of Nick’s trucks at the distributor’s entrance and refuses to move until a deal is made for Nick’s entire crop. The gambit pays off, and Nick finally experiences a measure of success he’s never known before.

Back in town, Nick celebrates at Muckeye’s and attempts to mend fences with Madden. Madden rebuffs him, orders him off the premises, and a scuffle ensues. In the chaos, Nick is accidentally killed by Madden, who then tries to pin Steve and Lola with the murder. Madden’s guilt, however, is eventually uncovered, setting off a chain of consequences that lead to his arrest.

With Madden out of the picture, the town’s once-formidable economic grip loosens, and Cattail is no longer the boom town it used to be. Steve and Lola, along with Madden’s ex-employees, decide to pack up and seek new lives elsewhere, choosing to chase opportunity beyond the confines of Madden’s former realm. The story unfolds as a tempered, human look at power, resistance, and the outcomes of standing up to exploitation during hard times.