Riffraff is a 1936 film directed by J. Walter Ruben.
Rudolph "Dutch" Muller (Spencer Tracy) is a loud, pugnacious, and not terribly bright tuna fisherman and union leader. Harriet aka "Hat" Tuttle (Jean Harlow) works in the cannery associated with the tuna fisherman. Factory owner Nick Lewis keeps giving Hat presents in order to get into her pants, but Hat only has eyes for Dutch, even though he is so caught up in his alpha-male tough guy posturing that he continuously treats her poorly.
Dutch and Hat get married, sniping at each other even at their wedding reception. Dutch's need to prove that he's the biggest guy on the block causes him to lead the fishermen's union into an ill-advised strike, and also causes him to reject a decent settlement offer from Lewis. Dutch winds up getting kicked out of the union, whereupon he abandons Hat, and his life spirals into disaster.
Mickey Rooney, who would soon become a huge star, appears as Hat's rambunctious little brother Jimmy.
Tropes:
- Alcohol Hic: Hat's father, an amiable fellow but also a hopeless alcoholic, is walking unsteadily and hiccuping when he enters the kitchen. Hat's older sister Lil scornfully says "Stinko again."
- Battle in the Rain: Hat's escape, where she and her friends run down a storm drain while said storm drain is being flooded by pouring rain. A drenching rain is still falling when Hat and her friends come out the other end of the train, and two of the four get shot, but Hat and a friend get away.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Dutch and Hat are continually sniping at and insulting each other, usually because Dutch is too proud to admit that he likes Hat, which leads Hat to respond in kind.
- Black Comedy: Hat, in prison, talks about what an idiot Dutch is. She then wonders why she still can't stop thinking about him. The other lady convict says that she cut her man's throat, and it didn't help.
- Eek, a Mouse!!: Done for a jailbreak! One of Hat's friends in prison has managed to trap a rat in a cage. They let it out. Everybody freaks out in terror, guards and inmates alike, except for Hat and her friends who take advantage of the chaos to race out and jump into a storm drain.
- Establishing Character Moment: Hat's good-hearted nature is shown when she wakes up in the morning and gives pieces of cake to her niece and nephew and a quarter to her already drunk father.
- Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: "Extra, extra, scab fleet brings in tuna," say the newspaperboys, as Lewis is using scab fishermen in an attempt to break the strike.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Dutch, once a proud fisherman and union leader, is reduced to taking a job as a night watchman on the waterfront.
- Funny Foreigner: Lewis, who is obviously an immigrant and speaks in a funny foreign accent. When his lawyer mentions "due consideration" in Hat's possible divorce from Dutch, Lewis says "Due consideration? I gave her three considerations!"
- Gilligan Cut: Dutch angrily insists that he won't ever get married, not to Hat or to anyone else.
- Inadvertent Entrance Cue: Hat, on the lam after her jailbreak, makes it back home only to be told that Dutch won't make it because he's debauching with his friends after a party. Outraged, she says "Of all the big welching, swellheaded lowlifes that—", and at that moment Dutch shows up.
- Lingerie Scene: MGM had to make Jean Harlow less slutty and more wholesome after The Hays Code was imposed, but they still managed to have a scene where she is wearing a slip when she gets out of bed.
- Like a Son to Me: "Brains" McCall, the other union leader. Lewis finally offers the fishermen a deal, but only to Brains as he personally dislikes Dutch. When Dutch refuses to step aside and says that he'll never let anybody sign that deal and Brains can get lost, Brains says that for years he looked after Dutch like Dutch was his own son. But now, "I give you up."
- No Antagonist: Lewis the factory owner isn't really a villain; he tries to buy Hat's affections with a fur wrap and gifts and such, but when that fails he moves on to another floozy, and he eventually offers the union a decent settlement. If anything Dutch, with his aggressiveness and quick temper and pride, is a Villain Protagonist, at least until he reforms.
- Pride: Dutch's fatal flaw. He nearly loses Hat because he's too proud to admit he likes her. He starts a strike because he doesn't like Lewis. When the union finally, surprisingly gets a good settlement out of the strike but only if Dutch steps down as leader, Dutch refuses to accept it and gets kicked out of the union, losing his job.Hat: Can't you swallow your pride, just for me?
- Spinning Paper: "MULLER CALLES STRIKE" is a headline that zooms up to the screen, and other headlines pop up showing the the progress of the strike (not well for the fishermen).
- Stealing from the Till: Hat is almost as dumb as Dutch. When she finds out that he is now a tramp living in a hobo jungle, she steals $100 from Lewis and the factory to give to him. She goes to prison.
- Title Drop: Hat, trying to deny her obvious love for Dutch, says "Why waste time with this riffraff?"
- Verbal Tic: Lewis has a minion who has a habit of repeating everything twice. When he brings Hat a new fur wrap from Lewis he says "It's all paid for, it's all paid for."
