Let's Get Tough!

Last updated
Let's Get Tough
Letsgetpos.jpg
Original film poster
Directed by Wallace Fox
Written by Harvey Gates based on his story I Am an American
Produced by Sam Katzman
Starring Leo Gorcey
Huntz Hall
Music by Johnny Lange & Lew Porter
Distributed by Monogram Pictures Corporation
Release date
  • May 22, 1942 (1942-05-22)
Running time
62 mins
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Let's Get Tough! is a 1942 film and the ninth film in the East Side Kids series, starring Leo Gorcey (as Muggs), Huntz Hall (as Glimpy), Bobby Jordan (as Danny), and Robert Armstrong (as "Pops" the Cop). Released in early 1942, it was directed by Wallace Fox, and features the gang caught up in World War II and fighting the Black Dragon Society, an enemy sabotage ring.

Contents

Plot

Watching a military parade, the gang decides to enlist in order to "kill a million Japs". Rejected by the Army, Marines, and Navy for being too young, the punks help the war effort by throwing fruit at a shop they believe is owned by a Japanese American. Confronted by him wielding a short sword, the gang decides to come back at night but finds him dead. Their father figure Police Lieutenant "Pops" Stevens tells them they should be ashamed of themselves as Keno, the owner of the shop, was Chinese, an ally of America and that Danny should be especially ashamed as his brother is in the service.

The boys buy some flowers and go to the shop to apologize to the widow. They notice a Japanese man taking a pen from a locker the widow opened for him. Glimpy steals the pen and find that it contains a message written in Japanese.

They visit a Japanese shop run by Mr. Matsui to have it translated. He tries to steal the message but the gang threatens him, whereupon Mr. Matsui commits hara-kiri in their presence. The boys run to the police.

Matusui's son successfully disguises himself as his late father to impersonate him and discredit the boys to the police. The boys take the law in their own hands to discover that Matsui is in league with German residents of the neighborhood who are in a sabotage group called the Black Dragon Society. In a subplot, Danny's brother Phil has supposedly been dishonourably discharged from the US Navy but is working undercover to infiltrate the Black Dragons. Danny's brother's girlfriend Nora, (who is in the Naval Aid Auxiliary) has a Japanese friend she went to high school with whom she seeks help to translate the message. However he turns out to be Matsui's son, the leader of the spy ring and has her locked up in a cell in the basement of the shop.

The gang breaks into Matsui's shop that is filled with haunted house type secret passageways and trapdoors where they discover the Black Dragon Society dressed in hooded costumes that Glimpy refers to as "Japanese Halloween". The gang frees Nora and revenges the attack on Pearl Harbor by beating up the saboteurs. [1] The film ends with Nora and Phil getting married but as they walk down the church steps with a sabre arch of East Side Kids holding their captured Japanese swords (that are quickly confiscated by the police at the end of the ceremony!). Phil is told he has orders to report back to his base as soon as possible. Phil and Nora briefly lament their not going on a honeymoon, but Muggs and the gang pile in the car and gallantly offer to accompany Nora on her honeymoon unaware of what a honeymoon entails. [2]

Cast

The East Side Kids

Additional cast

Production

Made between Mr Wise Guy and Smart Alecks, the East Side Kids go from being a gang of punks to a group of, as Danny puts it, "Junior G-Men" (an in joke as that was the name of two serials the gang did for Universal Pictures). The film captures the attitudes many Americans felt towards Japanese but this is tempered with the boys being chastised and shamed for attacking an innocent shopkeeper. Japanese American internment on the West Coast of America did not begin until Civilian Exclusion Order No. 346 was issued on May 3, 1942 authorized by Executive Order 9066. The Black Dragon Society was an actual Japanese espionage organization that first appeared in the Russo-Japanese War. On March 27, 1942 FBI agents arrested members of the Black Dragon Society in the San Joaquin Valley of California. [3]

The Black Dragon society also appeared in Black Dragons a 1942 release starring Bela Lugosi also written by Harvey Gates and filmed by Sam Katzman's production company.

Ernest Morrison who played Scuno in the film said that in a scene where the gang runs off he thought the filming had stopped and began counting his money he had in his pocket. The gang ad-libbed an attack on him. [1]

The British Board of Film Censors who usually gave the East Side Kids series an 'A' (adult) rating gave Let's Get Tough! a rating approving it for all audiences, perhaps as a wartime morale booster. [1]

At just over an hour, Let's Get Tough! is fast-paced with the romantic subplot and comedy setpieces blending into the main plot of the sabotage ring. For example, Glimpy's incompetent violin playing grating on his teacher's nerves lead to the gang pawning the violin to buy flowers for Mr Keno's widow, that leads them to see Matsui's son take the pen that contains the secret message. The same violin case attracts Glimpy's attention to discover that it now contains magnesium powder (that Glimpy steals a sample of) to be used for sabotage that the gang only discover when it explodes and burns when placed next to Glimpy's mother's stove. The film stands as a reminder of the attitudes and cultures of the time, such as a fear of sabotage from well known members of the community.

Related Research Articles

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 proved to be so popular that they continued to make movies under various monikers, including the Little Tough Guys, the East Side Kids, and the Bowery Boys, until 1958.

<i>Bowery Blitzkrieg</i> 1941 film by Wallace Fox

Bowery Blitzkrieg is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Sam Katzman. It is the sixth installment of the East Side Kids series. The film "introduced" Huntz Hall in his first of the East Side Kids film series.

The Little Tough Guys were a group of actors who made a series of films and serials released by Universal Studios from 1938 through 1943. Many of them were originally part of The Dead End Kids, and several of them later became members of The East Side Kids and The Bowery Boys.

<i>Docks of New York</i> 1945 film by Wallace Fox

Docks of New York is a 1945 American comedy film directed by Wallace Fox and starring the East Side Kids.

<i>Spooks Run Wild</i> 1941 film by Phil Rosen

Spooks Run Wild is a 1941 American horror comedy film and the seventh film in the East Side Kids series. It stars Bela Lugosi with Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan and Huntz Hall. It is directed by Phil Rosen, in his first and only outing in the series, and produced by Sam Katzman. The original script is by Carl Foreman and Charles R. Marion.

<i>Clancy Street Boys</i> 1943 film by William Beaudine

Clancy Street Boys is a 1943 comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring the East Side Kids. It is Beaudine's first film with the team; he would direct several more in the series and many in the Bowery Boys canon. Leo Gorcey married the female lead Amelita Ward. There is no mention of "Clancy Street" in the film, but a rival gang at Cherry Street appears at the beginning and climax of the film.

<i>Neath Brooklyn Bridge</i> 1942 film by Wallace Fox

'Neath Brooklyn Bridge is a 1942 film released by Monogram Pictures. It is the eleventh installment in the East Side Kids series and one of the more dramatic films of the series, released at a time when they were making lighter, more humorous fare. The film is now in public domain and can be downloaded legally from numerous web sites.

The Bowery Boys are fictional New York City characters, portrayed by a company of New York actors, who were the subject of 48 feature films released by Monogram Pictures and its successor Allied Artists Pictures Corporation from 1946 through 1958.

<i>Kid Dynamite</i> (film) 1943 film by Wallace Fox

Kid Dynamite is a 1943 American film directed by Wallace Fox and starring the East Side Kids. It was based on the 1942 short story The Old Gang by Paul Ernst and features additional dialogue by comedian Morey Amsterdam. The working title of this film was Little Mobsters.

<i>Mr. Wise Guy</i> 1942 film by William Nigh

Mr. Wise Guy is a 1942 American film starring The East Side Kids and directed by William Nigh.

<i>Million Dollar Kid</i> 1944 film by Wallace Fox

Million Dollar Kid is a 1944 American film directed by Wallace Fox starring the East Side Kids.

<i>Smart Alecks</i> 1942 film by Wallace Fox

Smart Alecks is a 1942 American film directed by Wallace Fox and starring the East Side Kids.

<i>Ghosts on the Loose</i> 1943 film by William Beaudine

Ghosts on the Loose is a 1943 American comedy horror film and the fourteenth film in the East Side Kids series, directed by William Beaudine. The picture co-stars horror film icon Bela Lugosi as well as Ava Gardner in one of her earliest roles.

Charles J. "Buddy" Gorman was an American stage and movie actor who became famous for portraying a member of the comedy teams The East Side Kids and The Bowery Boys.

<i>Mr. Muggs Steps Out</i> 1943 film by William Beaudine

Mr. Muggs Steps Out is a 1943 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring The East Side Kids.

<i>Block Busters</i> 1944 film by Wallace Fox

Block Busters is a 1944 American comedy film directed by Wallace Fox and starring the East Side Kids.

Bowery Champs is a 1944 American film directed by William Beaudine and starring the East Side Kids.

<i>Mr. Muggs Rides Again</i> 1945 film by Wallace Fox

Mr. Muggs Rides Again is a 1945 American comedy film, directed by Wallace Fox and starring The East Side Kids.

The East Side Kids were characters in a series of 22 films released by Monogram Pictures from 1940 through 1945. The series was a low-budget imitation of the Dead End Kids, a successful film franchise of the late 1930s.

Come Out Fighting is a 1945 American film directed by William Beaudine. It was the last in the Monogram Pictures series of "East Side Kids" films before the series was reinvented as "The Bowery Boys. Film critic Leonard Maltin described the film as "grating," giving it one and a half out of four stars.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hayes, David and Walker, Brent. The Films of the Bowery Boys. Citadel Press, 1984, pp. 66-67.
  2. ↑ Dennis, Jeffrey P We Boys Together-Teenagers in Love Before Girl-Craziness Vanderbilt University Press 2007
  3. ↑ 1942 World War II Chronology
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.