Robert Winkler Movies
- 1938
The Our Gang kids square off against "Butch's Assassins" in a crucial football game. Star player Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer balks at participating, leaving it up to Darla Hood to coerce and cajole him into donning his uniform. The climax of the game finds Alfie attempting a sixty-yard touchdown, despite the formidable opposition of his lifelong rival Tommy "Butch" Bond. Originally released on November 12, 1938, the one-reel Our Gang entry Football Romeo benefited from the comedy expertise of uncredited script contributor Jack White, of Three Stooges fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, (more)
- 1937
After appearing as a peripheral player in several earlier "Our Gang" shorts, Tommy Bond made a spectacular return to the series in Glove Taps. Here and in all future appearances, Bond is cast as neighborhood bully Butch, the bane of the existence of Spanky McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and the rest of the Gang. Normally, Butch explains, he beats up every kid in school to prove that he's Big Man on Campus; but to save time, he'll lick the toughest kid in school. By a fluke, weak-kneed Alfalfa is chosen to face Butch in the barnyard boxing ring --- and he has only one day to train for the big bout! If the background music in this one-reel comedy sounds familiar, it should; much of it was lifted from Marvin Hatley's Oscar-nominated score for the Laurel and Hardy feature Way Out West (1937). A fast and funny exercise in adolescent wish-fulfillment, "Glove Taps" was originally released on February 20, 1937. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, (more)
- 1937
It is Valentine's Day, and Our Gang members Spanky McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas and Eugene "Porky" Lee aren't impressed. Deciding that romance is the bunk, the boys form the He-Man Woman Hater's Club. Alfalfa is willing to go along with this until he falls head over heels in love with classmate Darla Hood. Hoping to scotch this relationship, Spanky, Buckwheat and Porky insert soap in the sandwich and cream puff that Darla has prepared for Alfalfa. Tortuously, Alfie downs the nauseating repast, rather than hurt Darla's feelings. Things get worse for the would-be Romeo when schoolteacher Miss Lawrence (Rosina Lawrence) prevails upon Alfalfa to offer a bubbly (in every sense of the word!) rendition of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart". The "Our Gang" one-reeler Hearts Are Thumps (sometimes misidentified as Hearts Are Trumps) was originally released on April 3, 1937. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, (more)
- 1937
Acting as if the previous "Our Gang" one-reeler Hearts are Thumps never happened, the Gang's male members, headed by Spanky McFarland, decide to create the He-Man Woman Hater's Club. When the kids ask who will be elected president, Spanky nominates his pal Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer in absentia -- because everyone knows that Alfalfa "hates women." Alas, at this very moment Alfie is writing a love letter to his sweetheart Darla Hood. Just as he sends Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas and Eugene "Porky" Lee to deliver the note, Alfalfa is informed that he has been unanimously elected president of Spanky's new club. Without even asking what the club is all about, Alfie declares that all rules must be obeyed, lest the members suffer a paddling at the hands of "sergeant-at-arms" Henry "Spike" Lee. Only then does he discover that he has agreed to take charge of the He-Man Woman Hater's Club -- and from this point forward, it's every He-Man for himself! One of the best-remembered "Our Gang" comedies, Mail and Female was originally released on November 13, 1937. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, (more)
- 1936
Hoping to attract customers to Spanky McFarland's barnyard production of Romeo and Juliet, star performer Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer proposes a "pay as you exit" policy: If the kids like the show, they'll pay the alotted one-cent admission on the way out. Alas, the show is nearly over before it starts when leading lady Darla Hood walks out, complaining that Alfalfa has been eating onions (which, he insists, improves his splendid speaking voice). After stalling for time, Spanky hits upon a replacement for Darla: black youngster Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas, decked out in a glorious blonde wig! Joe Cobb, an "Our Gang" star from the series' silent days, makes an amusing return appearance. Among the "mood songs" played on the Victrola by stagehand Eugene "Porky" Lee in the course of the show are LeRoy Shield's familiar background tunes "In My Canoe" and "Hide and Go Seek, as well as "Walking the Deck, a tune written for (but deleted from) the 1936 Laurel and Hardy feature Our Relations. The one-reel "Pay as You Exit" was originally released on October 24, 1936. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Darla Hood, (more)
