Well Deserved Praise

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Joseph Calleia takes over the parts usually played by Wallace Beery in this corny story of an armored car robber who befriends the runaway kid (Jackie Cooper) who overheard the stick-up occur. After shooting the kid's dog (Rin Tin Tin Jr.), the gangster has a change of heart, and after some hedging, agrees to let the kid go on the run with him. Meanwhile, the kid's father (Robert Warwick) gets involved in the federal case while searching for his son.The MGM sentiment gets in the way of reality here as Cooper cries over his wounded dog, Calleia sings Spanish songs while picking berries and shooting bunny rabbits, and Rin Tin Tin Jr. protects his old pal and new buddy (I guess dogs do forgive) as the law and Calleia's vindictive cronies (sensing ransom money for Cooper) and the law closes in. This was so close to the following year's "Captain's Courageous" in set-up, in fact everything but excellence. This defies reality on all ends, even though the action keeps the viewer from giving up on it although a speeded up fight scene looks absolutely ridiculous. One interesting thought about this film is that while there are a few women extras in the film, not one of the billed actors are female. There's only one moment where a woman reacts briefly out loud to Calleia's being wheeled in on a gurney into a waiting ambulance.

The back and forth between Jackie Cooper and Joe C. is at times hilarious. I love the touching scene with them at the camp fire toasting marshmallows while on the lam. "Hey, these ain't bad", quips Joe and then laughs to himself. "what's funny", says Jackie. "Oh...I was just thinking about what it be like to shove one of these in a guy's ear...". And in classic gangster lingo: "I got no use for dames; I had one once and she give me the air. What would you do if a dame did that to you?" "Why, I'd knock her block off!", says Jackie. "That's exactly what I did", chuckles Joe, "and they ain't found her YET" (both laugh). Yeah the dog's great too....

Tough Guy is a film that has not aged well in the can. It was films like this that led to a gradual waning of Jackie Cooper's popularity as a kid star. It's one far cry from The Champ or Treasure Island.Cooper's a rich kid whose dad Robert Warwick won't let him keep his dog, although why anyone would resist owning Rin Tin Tin of any generation is beyond me. Maybe Warwick's a cat person like me. Anyway Cooper runs away from home and dad calls in the cops as personified in this film by Harvey Stephens.But Stephens gets another case that moves the Cooper runaway situation to the back-burner. A truck hijack which left the driver and a cop wounded has sparked a manhunt for a gang headed by Joseph Calleia.But wouldn't you know it, Jackie Cooper and the dog hid in the back of the hijacked truck and naturally of course the gang's all for silencing Cooper. But Calleia just melts with all that pouting innocence that Jackie Cooper could bring to bear. Even after he shot Rin Tin Tin, does Calleia take it on the lam without boy and dog? No with the cops looking for him, he finds a veterinarian, Jean Hersholt, and takes the boy and dog to him.I can't imagine that audiences in 1936 bought that one, let alone audiences seeing Tough Guy today. You can probably figure out how this one is going to end, but there are a few more eye openers left.Joseph Calleia, God Bless him, kept a straight face throughout all this claptrap. I can't believe Jackie Cooper doesn't cringe watching this one.

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.