''Little Tough Guy'' is a 1938

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

that starred several of the ''

Dead End Kids The Dead End Kids were a group of young actors from New York City who appeared in Sidney Kingsley's Broadway play ''Dead End'' in 1935. In 1937, producer Samuel Goldwyn brought all of them to Hollywood and turned the play into a film. They prov ...

''. In the follow-up films, the studio began using the group name '' The Little Tough Guys'', and later '' The Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys''. This was the first of several films and serials that Universal made using several of the "Kids", whom they borrowed from

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

''Little Tough Guy'' is in the public domain.

Plot

Johnny Boylan's father was sentenced to death for a crime that he was never fully proven to have committed. He and his family move to a poorer section of the East Side in New York City. His sister, Kay resorts to dancing in a burlesque theater after she is fired from her job. Her former fiancé, Paul Wilson, still cares for her and wants to help her, but she avoids him because of the shame she is feeling. Johnny tries to enlist his fellow newsboy friends to help prove his father's innocence. They try to convince the judge, but are unsuccessful. In frustration, Johnny tosses a brick through the judge's car window, which begins his life of crime. He enlists his friend "Pig" to help him rob a drugstore. They are subsequently chased by the police and hide out. However, the cops find them and Pig begs Johnny to surrender. Eventually Pig leaves the store and is shot and killed by the police. Johnny is captured and sent to reform school.

Cast

The Dead End Kids *

Billy Halop William Halop (February 11, 1920 – November 9, 1976) was an American actor. Early life Halop was born to Benjamin Cohen Halop and Lucille Elizabeth Halop on February 11, 1920. Halop came from a theatrical family; his mother was a dancer, and ...

as Johnny Boylan *

Huntz Hall Henry Richard "Huntz" Hall (August 15, 1920 – January 30, 1999) was an American radio, stage, and movie performer who appeared in the popular "Dead End Kids" movies, including ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1938), and in the later " Bowery ...

as "Pig" *

Gabriel Dell Gabriel Dell (born Gabriel Marcel Dell Vecchio; October 8, 1919 – July 3, 1988) was an American actor and one of the members of what came to be known as the Dead End Kids, then later the East Side Kids and finally The Bowery Boys. Acting care ...

as "String" * Bernard Punsly as "Ape" *

David Gorcey David Gorcey (February 6, 1921 – October 23, 1984) was an American actor and the younger brother of actor Leo Gorcey. Gorcey is best known for portraying "Chuck Anderson" in Monogram Pictures' film series The Bowery Boys, and "Pee Wee" in i ...

as "Sniper" *

Hally Chester Hal E. Chester (born Harold Ribotsky; March 6, 1921 – March 25, 2012), was an American film producer, writer, director, and former juvenile actor. Early life and career Born in Brooklyn, New York City, he was the youngest of seven child ...

as "Dopey" Additional cast *Robert Wilcox as Paul Wilson *

Helen Parrish Helen Virginia Parrish (March 12, 1923 – February 22, 1959) was an American stage and film actress. Career Parrish was born in Columbus, Georgia. She started in movies at the age of 4, getting her first part playing Babe Ruth's daughter in t ...

as Kay Boylan *

Marjorie Main Mary Tomlinson (February 24, 1890 – April 10, 1975), professionally known as Marjorie Main, was an American character actress and singer of the Classical Hollywood period, best known as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the 1940s and ...

as Mrs. Boylan *

Jackie Searl John E. Searl (July 7, 1921 – April 29, 1991) was an American actor. He portrayed bratty kids in several films, and often had only small roles, such as "Robin Figg" in 1934's '' Strictly Dynamite''. Early years His name is sometimes writte ...

as Cyril Gerrard * Peggy Stewart as Rita Belle *

Helen MacKellar Helen MacKellar (February 13, 1895 – August 5, 1966) was an American actress. Born in Detroit, Michigan, MacKeller's ancestry was Scottish and French-Canadian. She studied acting in Chicago and Spokane. Her stage debut came in Spokane in ''Th ...

as Mrs. Wanamaker *

Edward Pawley Edward Joel Pawley (March 16, 1901 in Kansas City, Missouri – January 27, 1988 in Charlottesville, Virginia) was an American actor of radio, films and Broadway. The full name on his birth certificate is Edward Joel Stone Pawley; he never ...

as Jim Boylan *

Olin Howland Olin Ross Howland (February 10, 1886 – September 20, 1959) was an American film and theatre actor. Life and career Howland was born in Denver, Colorado, to Joby A. Howland, one of the youngest enlisted participants in the Civil War, an ...

as Baxter *Pat C. Flick as Peddler

Home media

The film was released on DVD on July 22, 2003.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Little Tough Guy 1938 films American black-and-white films Universal Pictures films Films directed by Harold Young (director) American crime films 1938 crime films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films