Tough Guy (1936)

Simply A Masterpiece

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Blistering performances.

This was kind of silly fun made worthwhile by the performances of both Calleia, in familiar gangster role and the young Cooper - who gets to cry about his dog, whom his father does not like. Cooper runs away in the first place to save his dog from dad's ire.One has to suspend all belief in the plot. At the start Calleia is intent on rubbing out young runaway Cooper because he is a witness to a crime he has just committed. But then a common love bond develops for Cooper's dog, who happens to be Rin Tin Tin, Jr. and Calleia does a miraculous if somewhat unbelievable 180. He soon becomes a big brother to Cooper and even does battle with the other baddies to protect him.I found myself wishing that I could be Jackie Cooper, romping around with a tender hearted gangster and my loyal Rin Tin Tin, swimming in a forest lagoon, frolicking amongst the berry bushes while singing an old Italian tune, and eating roasted rabbit and marshmallows. That being said, I'd have preferred a different ending, but only in regards to the gangster.

Southern California rich kid Jackie Cooper (as Frederick "Freddie" Martindale Vincent III) runs away from home when his wealthy widower father tells the boy he can't keep his dog "Duke" (a role credited to Rin Tin Tin Jr., billed as a canine offspring of the most successful animal star at the time). Young Cooper and his German Sheppard hit the streets as hitchhikers. Unable to get picked-up, Cooper and "Duke" jump a truck. In quick succession, they are caught in a gangster shoot-out, kidnapped and taken hostage by convicted bank robber Joseph Calleia (as Joseph "Joe" Calerno)...While trying to avoid detectives and disgruntled gangsters, Cooper and Mr. Calleia bond; they sleep, swim and toast marshmallows together. Cooper eventually finds himself in even greater danger, with Calleia, "Duke" and father Robert Warwick (as Frederick Martindale Vincent II) struggling to save the lad's life. Veteran humanitarian Jean Hersholt appears nicely as a La Crescenta veterinarian. "Tough Guy" is a formula film with subversive undertones. The co-stars perform well. Calleia and veteran director Chester M. Franklin skillfully bring it to a captivating, bang-up ending.******* Tough Guy (1/24/36) Chester M. Franklin ~ Jackie Cooper, Joseph Calleia, Harvey Stephens, Jean Hersholt

It's Jackie Cooper and Rin Tin Tin, Jr. against the world in the opening scenes of this okay crime drama. Having run away together, the two of them can't even hitch a ride--though they both give their best efforts at flagging down passing cars. Claudette Colbert being nowhere to be found, they eventually climb into the back of a parked truck, and....Joseph Calleia is the crook who, in an early turning point in the plot and in audience sympathies, can't refuse helping a boy with a wounded dog--he did have a dog himself, once, he admits.Speaking of audience sympathies, the other adult characters in this movie nearly all range from annoying to repulsive--and that includes the boy's neglectful father and the smug detective even more than Calleia's stooges who are ready to turn on him right from the moment we meet them.No surprises, overall, but Cooper is earnest and Rinny gets to show off his acting chops. And Calleia is actually quite good in a somewhat meatier role than he is normally seen in.

A nice little second feature, the last directed by silent perennial Chester Franklin -- brother of Sidney Franklin, with whom he co-directed a lot of children's movies in the teens.We needn't go too much into the details of the plot, which are pretty harmless as you might expect of anything with Rin-Tin-Tin Jr. and Jackie Cooper. However, it is a pleasure to watch Joseph Calleia, who was all too frequently cast as a gangster in evening clothes as a tough guy, being reformed by Coop's innocence and, of course, Rinty. He does very well with the role. MGM was trying to promote him as a leading man in this period. It's a pity it did not take.