The Hard Guy

Unemployed Guy (Spencer Tracy) complains to his wife Ellen (Katharine Alexander) about his life. They have a young daughter. He reads about a jewel heist in the newspaper. He takes his gun to do who knows what. Later that night, Ellen overhears two policemen looking to take down a gunman. Guy returns with lots of stuff.

This is most interesting for a young Spencer Tracy. He is about 30 here and it's one of his first roles. His face is much younger and I probably wouldn't recognize him. On the other hand, the voice is unmistakable. He has nascent leading man presence. Katharine Alexander does well. This probably needs another scene where he is holding the gun outside a store. That would really help the ending.

A very young Spencer Tracy plays the eponymous guy in this Depression-era short that starts out as a gritty slice of realism and, due to a surprise and funny ending, ends as a comedy. This kind of thing served merely as a time filler, so there's no point in reviewing it for its artistry or film techniques. But it is very interesting from a historical standpoint. Simply knowing that this short film played in mainstream movie houses, and addressed the Depression head on, shows how different a world we live in today, when mass entertainment seeks to do anything but make its audiences think about current events. And there's a chilling moment when Tracy says that the war they're currently waging (the Depression) makes the war they just lived through (WWI) seem like a cake walk---this wouldn't have been chilling at the time, but from today's vantage point, knowing WWII was just around the corner, it gives this little nothing of a film a prophetic quality.

I was fortunate to see this early Tracy short on TCM. I haven't seen a Spencer Tracy movie yet that I didn't like. In the first minute of this movie I quickly realized that Spencer Tracy's talent was natural. Here it was in 1930 in his 3rd film looking as seasoned an actor that he was much later. He looked out of place with the other actors only because they seemed awkwardly amateurish next to him. Okay, so there were only 4 other actors, but you could see how he made it big- time. It was fun to see him so young in the film. I rate this 7 minute film a 9 out of 10 only because of the limited talent that surrounded Tracy. I recommend this film. It is a must for all Spencer Tracy fans.

I didn't know what to expect from a 6-minute quickie with Spencer Tracy. But the producer being 1930's Warner's and with a title like The Hard Guy, I couldn't pass it up. And a heckuva hard guy Spence is, but who wouldn't be— no work, no food, not even a dolly for his little girl. The wife's doing the best she can and so's the sweet daughter. But he's the man of the place so he better come up with something, because the Depression's not getting easier and the New Deal's still 2- years away. Gotta say I didn't see the upshot coming and I doubt anyone did. Note too, that less than a year separates the stock market collapse from this film. Thus, this quickie may have been one of the first to register the economic collapse. In any event, it's a nifty little short that probably cost a buck-eighty in order to dramatize a really bad time in America. At the same time, Spence shows why he would soon shoot to Hollywood's top.

My first thought when I saw it was that this short is something you would never see now. A short film with a happy ending seems to be something unattainable in this generation. Anyway that being said it's neither a great nor a bad short. A man and his wife are trying to feed and provide for their child. The man goes out, hoping to find a job, but first grabs his revolver. His wife find the revolver in the coat and is scared. He goes out with the gun and returns with a haul. His wife assumes that he stole the things after hearing a commotion downstairs with a police officer chasing after. Finally he tells her he sold the gun. Spencer Tracy is young and an okay actor. In my opinion just as he always was. If you want to see an entertaining movie with Spencer Tracy, try "Desk Set." It is apolitical and is a pretty cute comedy involving a mad computer and a coupl'a risqué librarians.