Thanks for the memories!

Admirable film.

Absolutely Fantastic

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

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.

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.

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.