History Film / TheLittleRascals

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Apart from being ditched by Darla following the revelation of his cheating in the race, it's not shown whether or not Waldo received any more punishment. The last time we see him, he's in his limo telling Alfalfa and Spanky "You'll be hearing from my lawyers'' before driving off, so it's not clear whether he was making idle threats, or if [[spoiler:he was talking to Darla, whom until that moment Alfalfa and Spanky had mistaken to Waldo due to the matching full-body racing outfits both of them are wearing with tinted visors to obscure the face]].

--> '''Alfalfa''': Now usually, I'm a [[ActualPacifist lover, not a fighter,]] but in this case, I'm willing to make an ''exception!'' [''Punches Butch into a pig pen, and intimidates Woim into jumping in after Butch.'']

* NotNowKiddo: [[spoiler: A deleted scene reveals that Porky and Buckwheat try to approach Spanky about their idea to charge admission to the talent show right away, but Spanky brushes them off.]]

* TheRival: Waldo.
* RoadSignReversal: While on his way to the race with Buckwheat, Porky pushes one of the signs marking the racetrack, which were built using tires, so that its arrow points straight ahead instead of pointing to the right like it's supposed to Three go-karts (Alfalfa/Spanky, Waldo/Darla, and Butch/Woim) go in that direction. A guy assigned by the arrow quickly moves it back to right as the other go-karts were coming.

* SamusIsAGirl: A.J. Ferguson

* TemptingFate: While running around town in his underwear, Alfalfa says, "Things couldn't possibly get any worse!", just before running straight into Butch and Woim.
** He even lampshades it
-->'''Alfalfa''': (After the above happens) And then the clouds opened up and God said "I Hate You Alfalfa!"

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Apart from being kicked out of his own racer by Darla, thereby losing both the race and the girl, it's not shown whether or not Waldo received any more punishment. The last time we see him, he's in his limo telling Alfalfa and Spanky "You'll be hearing from my lawyers'' before driving off. It may have just been an idle threat.

* A 1994 feature film, directed by Penelope Spheeris and released by Creator/{{Universal}} Pictures. It won Young Artist awards for no fewer than six members of the cast: Ross Bagley, Juliette Brewer, Bug Hall, Brittany Ashton Holmes, Travis Tedford and Kevin Jamal Woods.

* CrossOver: Spanky, Stymie and Tommy Bond appear in Charley Chase's ''The Cracked Ice Man''.
** Stymie also appears in Chase's ''Four Parts''.

%%* AnimalReactionShot: Pete's speciality.

%%* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Several. Notable ones include Spanky (in his early years), Wheezer (again, in his early years), and Junior.

%%* BaldOfAuthority: Stymie, on occasion.

%%* BigDamnMovie: The box office bomb ''General Spanky''.
%%* BigEater: Chubby Chaney and Porky Lee.
%%* BigFriendlyDog: Pete the Pup.

%%* BitchInSheepsClothing: Mr. Crutch in ''Shrimps For a Day''.
%%** Percy in ''Sprucin' Up''.
%%* BlackFace: Appears in ''Uncle Tom's Uncle'', ''Spanky'', ''Anniversary Trouble'', ''The Pinch Singer'', and ''Ye Olde Minstrels''.

%%* BlindWithoutEm: Froggy in ''Baby Blues''.

%%* TheBoxingEpisode: ''The Champeen!'', ''Boxing Gloves'', and ''Glove Taps''.
%%* BrattyHalfPint
%%* BreakingTheFourthWall: Alfalfa at the end of ''Came the Brawn''.
%%** The entire cast at the end of ''Saturday's Lesson''.
%%* BreakOutCharacter: The series had several: Spanky, Alfalfa, Stymie, Farina, and Froggy, among others.
%%* TheBully: Butch, but in the shorts ''For Pete's Sake!'' and ''The Lucky Corner'', the bully was played by Leonard Kibrick.
%%* BumblingDad: Mr Hood, Darla's father, in particular.
%%* TheBusCameBack: Sort of. Mickey Daniels returns to town in ''Fish Hooky'' as a truant officer.
%%* ButtMonkey: Farina, Bonedust and Wheezer.

%%* CloudCuckoolander: Stymie in his early days.

%%* {{Costumer}}: ''General Spanky''.

%%* CoveredInMud: Paul Toien in ''Olympic Games''.
%%* CowboyEpisode: ''War Feathers''.

%%* DeadpanSnarker: Spanky.
%%* DeathGlare: Spanky in his earlier episodes. Usually directed at Scotty.

%%* DroppedAfterThePilot: Anna Mae Bilson and John Hatton.

%%* EverybodyLaughsEnding: Happens occasionally, mostly in the MGM era.
%%* FakingTheDead: Harry Spear in ''Spook-Spoofing''.
%%* FatComicRelief: Joe Cobb, Chubby Chaney, Porky Lee.

%%* PrinceAndPauper: ''Alfalfa's Double''

%%* RegalRinglets: Dorothy.
%%* RevolvingDoorBand: Used to keep the group young.

%%* SmugSnake: Jerry Tucker in ''Hi'-Neighbor!''

%%* {{Schoolmarm}}: Miss Crabtree

%%* StageMom: Spanky has one in ''Beginner's Luck''.

%%* StarCrossedLovers: Mickey and Mary, Alfalfa and Darla.

%%* SyndicationTitle: ''The Little Rascals''.

%%* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: Porky in ''Three Smart Boys''.

%%* TookALevelInBadass: Alfalfa in ''Football Romeo''.

* AllThereInTheManual: Miss Crabtree is Spanky and co.'s teacher, but since none of this film takes place at their school, there's nothing in the film to indicate that she's their teacher. In the context of this film, she might have just been a woman Spanky new from the neighborhood.

* AllJustADream: ''Seein' Things'', ''Cat & Dog & Co'' ''Mama's Little Pirate,''Our Gang Follies of 1938'', and ''The Little Ranger''.

* AllJustADream: ''Seein' Things'', "Cat & Dog & Co"' ''Mama's Little Pirate,''Our Gang Follies of 1938', and "The Little Ranger".'.

* AllJustADream: ''Seein' Things'', ''Mama's Little Pirate'', and ''Our Gang Follies of 1938''.

* ButtMonkey: From his picnic with Darla to the end of the movie bad things constantly seem to happen to him.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Virtually every character in the series. That is, if one actually considers the series to have [[NegativeContinuity ever had any continuity]]. Buckwheat is the only one to not have this troope when the series ended.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* TitleDrop: "''YOU LITTLE RASCALS!''"

* AllNaturalFireExtinguisher: The He-Man Woman Haters Clubhouse catches fire after Spanky sabotages Alfalfa's date with Darla. Petey, a dog, [[UrineTrouble attempts to put out the fire by peeing on it.]]

* : [[ShouldnTWeBeInSchoolRightNow Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?]]: Typical with most series focusing on kids, several episodes show the kids out of school. On rare occasions, this is justified:

* SpecialGuest: Will Rogers in ''Jubilo Jr,'' [[Creator/LaurelAndHardy Laurel and Hardy]] in ''Wild Poses.''

* TwoScenesOneDialogue: The boys and girls complain simultaneously about their troubles with the opposite sex, with the camera constantly switching between the boys' tent and the girls' SlumberParty. At one point, the scene switches between Spanky and Darla while he's talking, so that Spanky appears to speak the below line through Darla!
--> '''Spanky and Darla''': Why do they have to be so different?

* OffModel: The ring around Petey's eye tends to be inconsistent in the films, mainly because they used several different dogs to play him.

* TookALevelInBadass: Alfalfa, when he punches Butch into the pig pen after the race, and threatens to do the same thing to Woim, who just jumps into the mud with Butch to avoid getting hit.

A revolving cast of child stars came and went throughout the course of the series. Among the better-known personalities were George "Spanky" [=McFarland=], Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Tommy "Butch" Bond, and Darla Hood. Cast members who went on to adult acting careers (some shorter than others) include Ernest "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison, Scotty Beckett, Matthew Beard, Dickie Moore, Carl Switzer, Tommy Bond, Robert Blake, Creator/JackieCooper and Creator/DorothyDandridge.

Hal Roach created this series of short comedy films in the 1920s. During the silent years (1922–29), Roach tried such series names as ''Hal Roach's Rascals'', but since the first short was titled ''Our Gang'', moviegoers began to call them the "Our Gang Comedies", and that name soon became official. The series moved to sound just prior to the onset of TheGreatDepression. In 1938 Roach sold the series to its distributor Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer, a move which is generally regarded by fans as the start of the series' SeasonalRot period. The child cast changed almost annually until the series ended in 1944.

[[caption-width-right:300:Boys will be boys, girls will be girls, and sometimes kids can really be rascals.]]

* TheChick: Darla from the later, better-known shorts. In the earlier films, this role was filled by Mary Kornman, Jean Darling, Mary Ann Jackson, and Dorothy [=DeBorba=], among others. After Darla's departure, the role was given to Janet Burston.

[[quoteright:295:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/little_rascals_movie_poster.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:295:Boys will be boys, girls will be girls, and sometimes kids can really be rascals.]]

Hal Roach created this series of short comedy films in the 1920s. During the silent years (1922–29), Roach tried such titles as ''Hal Roach's Rascals'', but since the first short was titled ''Our Gang'', moviegoers began to call them the "Our Gang Comedies". The series moved into sound just prior to TheGreatDepression. In 1938, Roach sold the series to its distributor Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer, a move which is generally regarded by fans as the start of the series' SeasonalRot period. The child cast changed almost annually until the series ended in 1944.

It is said that Roach [[InspirationForTheWork got the idea]] for the comedies that revealed the world as seen from a child's point of view after hearing through his office window some children in a lot next door arguing over discarded scraps of wood they were trying to split up for salvage.

In 1949 MGM sold the films back to Roach, but retained the rights to the ''Our Gang'' name. Thus, when Roach packaged the films for television syndication in the mid-'50s, the series was retitled ''The Little Rascals'', leading to a certain amount of TitleConfusion over the years.

Hal Roach created this series of short comedy films in the 1920s. During the silent years (1922–29), Roach tried such titles as ''Hal Roach's Rascals'', but since the first short was titled ''Our Gang'', moviegoers began to call them the "Our Gang Comedies". The series moved into sound just prior to the Great Depression. In 1938, Roach sold the series to its distributor Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer, a move which is generally regarded by fans as the start of the series' SeasonalRot period. The child cast changed almost annually until the series ended in 1944.

* ''General Spanky'', actually an ''Our Gang'' feature film from 1936. After it fared poorly at the box office Hal Roach went back to making shorts exclusively.

[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/little_rascals_movie_poster.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:280:Boys will be boys, girls will be girls, and sometimes kids can really be rascals.]]

Hal Roach created this series of short comedy films in the 1920s. During the silent years (1922–29), Roach tried such titles as ''Hal Roach's Rascals'', but since the first short was titled ''Our Gang'', moviegoers started calling them the "Our Gang Comedies". The series moved into sound just prior to the Great Depression. In 1938, Roach sold the series to Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer. The sell is generally regarded by fans as the series' SeasonalRot period. The child cast changed almost annually until the series ended in 1944.

It is said that Hal Roach [[InspirationForTheWork got the idea]] for the comedies that revealed the world as seen from a child's point of view when he heard through his office window a conversation among some children in a lot next door arguing over discarded scraps of wood they were trying to split up for salvage.

In 1949, Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer, which had purchased the series from Roach in 1938, sold the films back to him but retained the rights to the ''Our Gang'' name. Thus, when Roach packaged the films for television syndication in the mid-'50s, the series was retitled ''The Little Rascals'', leading to a certain amount of TitleConfusion over the years.

A revolving cast of child stars came and went throughout the course of the series. Among the better-known personalities were George "Spanky" [=McFarland=], Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Tommy "Butch" Bond and Darla Hood. Cast members who went on to adult acting careers (some shorter than others) include Ernest "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison, Scotty Beckett, Matthew Beard, Dickie Moore, Carl Switzer, Tommy Bond, Robert Blake, Creator/JackieCooper and Creator/DorothyDandridge.

Part of the reason why the series is remembered even to this day is that it showed black and white children playing together as equals, which was more or less unheard of for films of its day. Hal Roach was actually planning to make a whole series out of Ernie Morrison, one of the first black child stars in Hollywood, but when distributors said it wouldn’t fly, he put Morrison in the ''Our Gang'' films alongside Allen Hoskins as Farina and the white child actors for the rest of the group. Ever since then, each iteration of the series had at least 1 black child, who in the shorts got to play with their white counterparts, eat in the same places as them, and even go to school with them! This is not to say racial humor wasn’t ever used (see below), but it was radical enough that Southern theaters often complained or outright refused to show the series.

* ''General Spanky'', actually an ''Our Gang'' feature film from 1936. After it fared poorly at the box office Hal Roach went back to making shorts.