Harris Berger Movies

This wildly uneven "Dead End Kids/Little Tough Guys" entry focuses on young Tom Barker (Billy Halop), whose older brother Eddie ended up in the electric chair. Idolizing Eddie's memory, Tom and his buddies are also fascinated with Eddie's former partner, gangster Monk Bangor (Paul Fix). Police officer Frank Conroy (Dick Foran) tries to steer the kids away from a life of crime by setting up a neighborhood recreational center, but while he's able to interest Pig (Huntz Hall), Ape (Bernard Punsley) and String (Gabe Dell) in the project, Tom remains determined to follow in his brother's footsteps-even more so when he discovers that Sgt. Conroy was responsible for Eddie's arrest. Eventually, Tom realizes that his true enemy is the double-crossing Monk Bangor, prompting an instantaneous reformation. Versatile juvenile performer Darryl Hickman adds a bit of class to the proceedings as a pugnacious little Dead-Ender named Butch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this entry in the long running saga of the "Dead End Kids," the East Side boys leave the Big Apple and go to California to seek their fortunes. They'd rather not have to work for their money, but end up working on the ranch of an aged Italian woman who treats her employees kindly (unlike other farmers of the era, who often treated their migrant workers worse than animals). Her son disappeared as a baby and one of the boy's decides to convince her that he is the long lost child in hopes of getting an inheritance. After a while, he is so moved by her kindness that he changes his mind and tries to help her for real when the truckers team up with a union to keep her harvest from reaching the market. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This "Little Tough Guys" series entry finds the kids gainfully employed building airplane engines. Hoping to get into the air themselves, the boys take jobs with a crooked crop-dusting concern. Carter (Victor Jory), the head of the company, refuses to buy new planes, despite the dangers faced by his pilots. When young Rap (Bobby Jordan) is killed in a subtandard plane, his pal Tommy (Billy Halop) swears revenge. The plot is resolved in a wild car chase which segues into an aerial dogfight between Tommy and the fleeing Carter. Much-needed comedy relief is provided by series regular Huntz Hall and by the inimitable Shemp Howard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "Little Tough Guys" get involved in a circulation war between a paper with underhanded tactics and a paper being mismanaged by the woman who inherited it. The Tough Guys' leader is partial to the latter, since it took him in when his sheriff father was murdered. He helps draw readers away from the other paper and gets to avenge his father's death, since the man playing dirty is his father's killer. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

Childhood chums Rocky Sullivan (James Cagney) and Jerry Connelly (Pat O'Brien) grow up on opposite sides of the fence: Rocky matures into a prominent gangster, while Jerry becomes a priest, tending to the needs of his old tenement neighborhood. Rocky becomes a hero to a gang of teenaged boys (played by Dead End Kids Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Bobby Jordan and Bernard Punsley). Father Jerry despairs at this, asking Rocky to lay off so he can keep the kids on the straight and narrow. Then Rocky's crooked business associates George Bancroft and Humphrey Bogart attempt to end Father Jerry's radio campaign against the rackets by killing the priest. Rocky (whose cynical outlook on life has been softened by his romance with true-blue Anne Sheridan) shoots them down and takes it on the lam. Arrested and convicted of murder, Rocky sits smugly on death row, fully intending to go to the chair with a smile on his face. A few moments before the execution, Father Jerry pleads with Rocky to "turn yellow" so that the tenement kids will despise his memory. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide