Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

weezeralfalfa I love this movie. I'm sorry I didn't detect the same level of enthusiasm among the other reviewers. Tracy is at his blustering best. You might call it overacting but, to me, it's classic gung ho Tracy. Maybe his character made some poor impulsive decisions, such as quitting his job and union, but he also made some good decisions, such as seeing that calling a strike was just what the boss((Joseph Calleia, as Nick) wanted, so that he could void their 5 year contracts and bring in cheaper labor. Also, he worked out a plan for Jean's prison break. True, that was a very risky undertaking and, at the end, she (and he)was still being hunted by the police. The scene of the escape is exciting, with women screaming and running every which way after a rat was released in the laundry room. This provided Jean and her 2 accomplices diversion so that they could hop down the big storm drain pipe during a heavy rain, and get carried to outside the prison wall, to a waiting car. Later, Tracy detects a plan to blow up an oil tanker, while serving as the night watchman, and knocks out the 3 of them! As to why Jean favored Tracy over Calleia, as some wonder. Partly, it's a matter of history, Clearly, they have been romancing on and off for some years. Looks like she wants a bully, who can fight with his fists as well as his brains, who alternates between loving her and fighting(mostly verbally)with her. During one of their fights, Jean labels him as riffraff. He's a man who doesn't want the bother of children, but is pleased when he sees the son Jean presents to him. Apparently, he's the most productive tuna fisherman of the lot, which counts for something. In contrast, to me, Calliea comes across as too oily. Apparently, Jean thought so too.Tracy typically talks very fast and with certitude, although occasionally he admits he may not be as smart as he thinks. The recently released "You are my Lucky Star" composed by Arthur Freedman and Nacio Herb Brown, is sung by a male chorus during the July 4 celebration, later reprised by Jean when in prison. It was also sung in "Broadway Melody of 1936" and, of course, in the later "Singing in the Rain".As one reviewer pointed out, the plot seemed more in keeping with a Warner-type film. But, that doesn't keep it from being grand entertainment.A young Mickey Rooney, and Una Merkel have subsidiary roles as Jean's younger brother and sister, respectively. Mickey puts a small firecracker in each ear, then wonders why it hurts when they go off!See it at YouTube. The film was in excellent condition...Several reviewers claimed that "Libeled Lady", also costarring Tracy and Jean, but Myrna Loy and William Powell, as well, is much superior to this film. I haven't seen it, but doubt I would agree.

classicsoncall This film has all the pacing and dialog of a screwball comedy, but it's emphasis is on drama and the fiery up and down relationship between it's principals. Personally, I couldn't wrap my head around the chemistry between Dutch Muller (Spencer Tracy) and his fiancé/wife Hattie (Jean Harlow), though obviously stranger pairings have occurred both in movies and real life. But just to quickly make my point, take note of the Fourth of July party on the Fairy Queen - Dutch gets miffed at Hattie and shoves her away with a hand in her face, while she spits on him in response. Boy, talk about a budding romance.The story involves Dutch Miller's ambition to rise to the top of the local fisherman's union to thwart cannery owner Nick Lewis (Joseph Calleia) from taking advantage of his position against the tuna men. There's an interesting sequence showing the operation of a cannery assembly line, though I was amazed to see one of the female workers packing a can of tuna by hand! That didn't seem very probable to me but with just a quick glimpse there's no way to tell how normal that was. Other aspects of the assembly line required no hands-on involvement.As one of those cannery workers, Hattie must have left work each day smelling like fish, thereby adding some resonance to Dutch's remark while dancing closely next to her - "That's swell stink-up you got in your hair". It was meant as a compliment obviously, though I'd be wary of using one like that today. If you try it though, get back to me and let me know how it went over.The thing that really blew me away in the story was Hattie getting sent up to Sorena Valley Prison for ripping off her boss at the cannery. Geez, how much could she have stolen to get sent to the slammer? Then, when the picture segues to her prison life, she's in her jail cell with a baby! Come on, when was that ever the case? Okay, the film makers were going for a little pathos here, but that was just too in-your-face. But I guess it served it's purpose to bring Dutch back down to Earth from his high-hat ambition as a union boss.The picture is peppered with it's share of colorful characters with names like Flytrap (Victor Kilian), Ratsy (Arthur Housman), Brains McCall (J. Farrell MacDonald), and Hattie's Dad Pops (Roger Imhoff). However the one to really keep your eye on and ear tuned into was the sleazy cannery owner Nick, who's dialog always kept you guessing. Case in point, one of his conversations with attorney Markis (George Givot) commenting on everything that's happened in the story - "What is past is gone out and over done". It sounded like something Stan Laurel would say.

vincentlynch-moonoi There's a certain time in the late 1930s when, in my view, movies come of age. This film does have some substance, although it is not quite of that very slightly later Hollywood when films became "modern". And, the same can be said of Spencer Tracy (one of my two favorite actors; the other being Cary Grant). This was the film just before his breakout role in "Fury" and a series of truly impressive starring roles. This is the Tracy that seemed to feel he had to yell to make a point (or was that the direction he was receiving?). He hadn't quite learned what I'll refer to as simmering-subtlety. Nevertheless, Tracy has his moments in this film.Jean Harlow is impressive, even without her platinum blond hair. You'll recognize quite a few of the supporting actors (including Una Merkel and a young Mickey Rooney). I was interested to see Joseph Calleia as the bad guy here...a common role for him at the time, although I remember him best as the papa from the Martin & Lewis film "The Caddy" more than a dozen years later. Although not a large role, there's a strong performance by supporting actor J. Farrell MacDonald (if you watch old movies, you'll recognize him, although you probably never knew his name).The portion of the film that is most interesting is about midway through. After we learn that the major characters are sort of low class yellers, and after Tracy and Harlow split, it's the scene at the hobo camp that brought real substance to the movie...quite touching. And speaking of the hobo camp, it's a reminder that this film was made right in the middle of the Great Depression, and its depiction of labor unions is quite impressive. But then the film once again sinks into that pre-GWTW immaturity that I spoke of earlier. Harlow steals money from the bad guy to help Tracy, gets caught, goes to womens' prison, escapes through a drain pipe in the middle of a thunderstorm, at about the same time that the poor night watchman at a dock (Tracy) saves the union workers' jobs by foiling a sabotage attempt (why was there such an attempt by hobos???). Yes, it gets kinda dumb, and oh, I forgot to mention that while in prison, Harlow has a baby which nobody tells Tracy about. And believe it or not, despite Harlow breaking out of prison, they all live happily ever after. Dumb, dumb, dumb...but somewhat entertaining!

calvinnme ...but I guess the title "Riffraff" would do as well as anything else MGM could have come up with - but it's not very descriptive. Hattie (Jean Harlow) is a cannery worker in love with Dutch (Spencer Tracy), a very good fisherman and also a tremendous blow-hard. He fancies himself the leader of some future workers' revolution. Hattie lives with her extended family including sister Lil (Una Merkel) and Lil's husband and two kids, with the son being played by a mischievous Mickey Rooney. Dutch doesn't treat Hattie very well - they spend most of their time arguing, and to complicate matters she has caught the eye of wharf boss Nick (Joseph Calleia).However, between arguments, Dutch and Hattie do manage to get married. Some have asked whatever Hattie saw in a selfish windbag like Dutch, but if a coherent 500 word essay was a prerequisite for love it would be the end of the human race, and I have seen odder pairings in real life that worked. They are married only a few months when Dutch decides he was meant for bigger and better things, and he tells Hattie he is leaving her - for awhile - to find his destiny. She understandably doesn't take this well, and he gets the last word in by saying that it's goodbye for keeps. Thus begins the long melodrama of these two apart as Dutch's plans don't exactly work out as he figured and an impulsive act by Hattie meant to aid Dutch in a time of trouble and that act's repercussions show Dutch how selfish he has been and how much she really means to him.In spite of the melodrama, there really are no bad guys here. Even lecherous Nick is likable in his own way, and his conversations with his lawyer are particularly humorous. Thus this film is pure Depression-era entertainment in the MGM tradition. It has many of the familiar building blocks of 30's MGM dramas, but they are assembled in a rather quirky way such that this is nothing that will change the world, but it's still very interesting. The cast is outstanding with good performances by all. Especially notable is Una Merkel's performance as loyal sister Lil who manages to be simultaneously feisty and frumpy.