Film Rascals

[Lyle Roblez]

Rascalis a 1969 American drama film made by Walt Disney Productions. The film is based on Sterling North's book of the same name which tells the story of young Sterling North and his "ringtailed wonder" pet raccoon, Rascal. Although set in 1918 Wisconsin, the movie was filmed in California.

In the summer of 1918 in the little town of Brailsford Junction in central Wisconsin, Willard North takes his son, Sterling out into the woods, where a lynx surprises a family of raccoons, who run away, leaving a young raccoon behind. Sterling brings the raccoon home and names him Rascal. As Willard has to leave for work, his daughter, Theo, lines up interviews for a potential live-in housekeeper before returning to her job in Chicago. Willard agrees to meet with Theo's favorite, Mrs. Satterfield, but dismisses her afterwards, deciding that Sterling can take care of himself.

During the summer Rascal starts causing trouble, including trashing up a local store and digging up a neighbor's corn patch. A local constable threatens to hold Sterling responsible for damages unless he keeps Rascal caged up. On his way home, Sterling takes Rascal to a race between a Stanley Steamer and a sulky. Rascal's presence inspires the sulky's horse, Donnybrook, to win the race, changing the town's opinion of him. Theo returns from Chicago, finding the home in a mess. Enraged, Theo confronts Willard, reminding him that Sterling is his son who needs help. Willard vows to become a better father to Sterling.

In the award-winning book of the same name, all three of Sterling North's real-life siblings are featured in the story: his brother Herschel and his sisters Theodora (Theo) and the future poet and editor Jessica Nelson North. Theo is the only sibling featured in the film version.

Rascal was the first film given a review in a publication by film critic Gene Siskel (later of Siskel and Ebert), appearing in the Chicago Tribune one month before he became the paper's official film critic in 1969. His review of the film was not favorable ("Because of excessive gimmickry, most kids will miss the tenderness", he wrote).[2][3]

Howard Thompson of The New York Times described the film as "genteel, sweet-natured and appealingly frail", but thought the story "gets a little patly philosophical in trying to thrust practical responsibilities on the young hero, Bill Mumy, and his carefree, widowed father, Steve Forrest."[4] Variety said that the film is a "diverting adaptation of Sterling North book about a boy and his pet raccoon. Rascal will pull younger generation as well as family-groups in to see a clean, well-presented, unashamedly sentimental Disney film."[5] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "for the young (and old) audience for which it is intended, Rascal is practically perfect hot weather fare, offering a spacious escape to a world of tree-shaded streets and spacious lawns, verandas, woods and ponds, trotting horses and Stanley Steamers (one at least)."[6] The Monthly Film Bulletin stated: "Routine Disney boy-befriends-animal feature, agreeable enough on its own terms but as mawkishly sentimental as usual and with the additional embarrassment of a commentary by Walter Pidgeon which keeps insisting what a marvellous boyhood summer it all was."[7]

The Little Rascals is a 1994 American family comedy film produced by Amblin Entertainment, and released by Universal Pictures on August 5, 1994. The film is an adaptation of Hal Roach's Our Gang, a series of short films of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s (many of which were broadcast on television as The Little Rascals) which centered on the adventures of a group of neighborhood children. Directed by Penelope Spheeris, who co-wrote the screenplay with Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur, the film presents several of the Our Gang characters in an updated setting, featuring re-interpretations of several of the original shorts. It is the first collaboration by Guay and Mazur, whose subsequent comedies were Liar Liar and Heartbreakers.

Spanky McFarland is the president of the "He-Man Womun [sic] Haters Club" with many school-aged boys from around the neighborhood as members. His best friend, Alfalfa, has been chosen as the driver for the club's prize-winning undefeated go-kart, "The Blur", in the annual Soap Box Derby style race. However, when the announcement is made, Alfalfa is nowhere to be found.

The boys catch Alfalfa in the company of Darla. The club's members try their hardest to break the two apart, eventually causing their beloved clubhouse to burn down. Darla is mistakenly led to believe Alfalfa feels ashamed of her, so she turns her attentions to Waldo, the new rich kid whose father is an oil tycoon. Spanky, Stymie and friends judge Alfalfa's punishment to be left guarding the go-kart day and night until the day of the race. Until that day comes, Alfalfa makes many attempts to woo back Darla including a visit to her ballet rehearsal, an undelivered love letter, and through serenade, all of which fail.

In order to rebuild their clubhouse, the boys try to fund-raise the cost of lumber, $450, but the youngest ones, Porky and Buckwheat, have unknowingly come up with $500. Their school teacher, Miss Crabtree, finds out about the scheme, but Spanky convinces her to use the funds as prize money for the go-kart derby. Later that day, Alfalfa and Spanky get into a heated argument when Alfalfa finds out that Spanky is the reason for his breakup with Darla which causes Alfalfa to quit as a club member.

"The Blur" is stolen by local bullies Butch and Woim. In addition to having to rebuild the clubhouse, the boys now need a new set of wheels. They band together to build "The Blur 2: The Sequel." Prior to race day, Spanky and Alfalfa reconcile and decide to ride in the two-seat go-kart together. They hope to win the prize money and the trophy, to be presented to the victors by the greatest racer of all, "A.J. Ferguson."

Butch and Woim make several sneaky attempts to stop Alfalfa and Spanky from winning the race. Waldo, who (seemingly) kicks out Darla from his race car, pulls a few tricks of his own. It's a wild race to the finish, but "The Blur 2" crosses the finish line ahead of the pack (and resulting in a photo-finish between "The Blur" and "The Blur 2" literally "by a hair" due to Alfalfa's pointy hairstyle), despite the many scrapes and crashes throughout the derby. When Butch and Woim try to beat up Alfalfa, he knocks Butch into pig slop and Woim throws himself in.

Along with first prize, Alfalfa also wins back Darla's heart after it turns out that Darla kicked Waldo out of the car, not the other way around. Spanky, meanwhile, is shocked at the trophy presentation when he finally meets his favorite driver, A.J. Ferguson -- "a girl!" As soon as the club house is rebuilt, the boys collectively have a change of heart toward membership and welcome Darla and friends to their club, with "Women Welcome" added to the sign.

Bill Thomas Jr., son of the late Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, contacted the studio and was invited down to visit the set, but got the impression that the filmmakers did not want him or any of the surviving original cast members involved in any production capacity. The surviving cast members saw this as especially hurtful, in light of the fact that director Penelope Spheeris had previously made a point of including Buddy Ebsen, from the original Beverly Hillbillies, in her 1993 feature film adaptation of that series. Eugene Jackson, who played the original Pineapple from the silent Our Gang comedies, tried unsuccessfully to contact the studio to be a part of production, stated, "It's real cold. They have no respect for the old-timers. At least they could have recognized some of the living legends surviving from the first films."[3] Filming took place from January 11, 1994 to April 6, 1994.[citation needed]

Brian Lowry of Variety magazine wrote: "Those who grew up watching The Little Rascals may well be intrigued by the idea of introducing their kids to this full-color, bigscreen version. Still, the challenge of stretching those mildly diverting shorts to feature length remains formidable, and one has to wonder whether an audience exists beyond nostalgic parents and their young children."[7]

Rascals is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language action black comedy film directed by David Dhawan. The film stars Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn, Kangana Ranaut and Lisa Haydon in lead roles, with Arjun Rampal essaying an important role in the film. It was presented by Bharat Shah. The film released on 6 October 2011, and received mixed to negative response from critics. The movie opened strongly at the box office.[3]

Chetan Chauhan (Sanjay Dutt) and Bhagat Bhosle (Ajay Devgn) are two con artists, who have recently robbed Anthony Gonsalves (Arjun Rampal). Bhagat first meets Anthony and steals his suitcase, covering it up with a fake suitcase of his own, and tries to leave with it, but the real suitcase accidentally comes out of the fake one, causing Anthony to chase Bhagat, who escapes. When Anthony goes to his car, he finds out that someone stole it. Chetan takes the car to a dealer, who changes the color of the car to fool Anthony in case he comes.

The two cons meet each other on a flight to Bangkok. Bhagat brags to Chetan that he is going to meet a girl named Dolly (Lisa Haydon), who he has paid for 4 nights and 3 days. Bhagat even tells Chetan the code word for meeting Dolly. When they reach the airport in Bangkok, both rob each other, but only Chetan is successful, as he gets Bhagat's cash and expensive watch, while Bhagat gets Chetan's fake wallet with fake money and fake credit cards. The two become enemies since then. But both meet again when their eyes fall on Khushi (Kangana Ranaut). Chetan lies that he is a donor, who helps the needy, while Bhagat acts to be a blind man, who was once a Navy officer. Both of them play foul tricks to get Khushi, which leads to disastrous results. Later, Bhagat gets hurt in an accident with his motorbike, and claims that the shock repaired his eyesight. After a party, Bhagat, Khushi, and Chetan go to a church while they are drunk, where they meet father Pascal (Satish Kaushik).

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