Skippy

The little son of a doctor makes friends with a poor kid from shantytown.

First time viewing for me and I liked it very much. Jackie Cooper is great in the title role, so much that he got an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. The thing I liked most about this was how it shows what it is like to be a kid, especially in the early 1930s but still has some timeless quality. All the children in this film seem like real kids, not actors. It has a bit of Our Gang vibe to it, as in the scenes where the kids put on a show and sell lemonade. Cooper and Donald Haines were both members of Our Gang. Haines played a bully in this, just as he did in the Our Gang short The First Seven Years (1930) . Cooper and Haines appeared together in that one too.

Some interesting trivia is that Jackie Cooper was at the Oscar ceremony but fell asleep on Marie Dressler's arm, so he did not hear that he lost to Lionel Barrymore in A Free Soul. Norman Taurog, the director did win for this. He was Cooper's uncle (by marriage). This became infamous years later when Cooper revealed that Taurog got him to cry by pretending he was going to shoot Jackie's dog. His crying scene here is heartrending.

This movie is a MUST for Jackie Cooper fans or for anyone who likes sentimental comedy/dramas of the early 1930s.

Skippy (Jackie Cooper) is the spunky son of stern Dr. Herbert Skinner who hates the poor and forbids him from returning to the poor side of town. Nevertheless, he goes back to the shantytown with his friend Sidney. He saves new kid Sooky from bully Harley Nubbins.

I really like the kids. In fact, I like most of the kids and their amateurish acting. This is Our Gang or Peanuts. Jackie Cooper would get an Oscar nomination. I'm not sure if this film deserves Best Director. It's all about the kids and Jackie in particular. The movie is best when it's just the kids. I would like more of Sidney and Eloise. I even like the bully. Robert Coogan does try but he's mostly half step behind his older brother except for the last act. The story takes over at that point and hits the audience with a brutal turn. It takes the movie to another level.

"Skippy" is a very unusual film because young Jackie Cooper was only 8 years-old when he made the movie...and was nominated for Best Actor! In addition, the film was nominated for Best Picture and the director, Norman Taurog, received the Oscar for Best Direction*.

The story is similar to a full-length Little Rascals episode...minus the humor. Apparently folks in the early 30s ate up schmaltzy stories featuring kids....and the public ate this one up!

Skippy (Cooper) is a child who lives in a lovely home and his father is the head of the board of health. However, his dad is also rather snobby and doesn't want Skippy playing with the poor kids who live on the other side of the tracks (literally). However, Skippy likes the kids in Shantytown....and who can blame him since the kids living near him are annoying...with Jackie Searl playing the usual sort of annoying brat he played in most every film! However, Skippy's new friend, Sooky (Robert Coogan--Jackie Coogan's brother) is in a lot of trouble, as the nasty dog catcher got his dog and he can't afford to pay for the return of the mutt. So, Skippy tries to help out the best he can.

This is a modestly enjoyable film. My only complaint about it is the ending...it gives the audience everything they probably wanted but it wasn't logical at all. It's a shame, as the film was quite good until this 'out of nowhere' ending. Still, overall it's well worth seeing....particularly if you have a high tolerance for schmaltz.







*In his autobiography, Jackie Cooper recounted a story about the director (who was also his uncle). Apparently, the script called for Cooper to cry and the boy was having difficulty doing it. So, Taurog apparently told a crew member to 'take the dog out and shoot it'...and the crew member apparently shot a gun into the air to make it sound like they really DID do it! The boy cried...and never forgave his uncle for this! And, frankly, I can't blame the boy and think Taurog was a bit of a monster.

I couldn't quite give Skippy a 7. Close, but not quite. The film is like a Little Rascals episode only feature length, slightly more adult in atmosphere, and overall better written. One could look at Skippy as a glance back into what childhood looked like before the internet and really, before television. It isn't quite a perfect portrayal of those days, but it wouldn't be all that far off. Apparently, there is a companion piece, Sooky. If it should ever be shown on TCM, I'll make sure to see it. I say that as a nod to Skippy and its cast of kids, including Jackie Cooper, who 45 years later portrayed Clark Kent's boss, Perry White.

... and even though it was a Best Picture nominee, I figured a film about a comic strip character involving child stars would probably not be up my alley. But it was quite good.

Skippy (Jackie Cooper) is the only child of Dr. And Mrs. Skinner. Dr. Skinner is the head of the city board of health and has condemned the poor side of town - "shanty town" - to be destroyed because he considers it a breeding ground for disease and ordered all of the inhabitants to move. I guess he just can't figure why they haven't, without prompting, put a few cases of Perrier water in the back of the family Suburban and signed a lease for a more sanitary upscale condo, to put it in very modern and similarly elitist terms. So dad is overconcerned with work and a bit clueless.

Over in shanty town, which is a place Skippy's parents don't want him to play, Skippy has made friends with Sooky. Sooky has a problem because the dogcatcher, Nubbins, has caught Sooky's dog and it will take three dollars - a princely sum in 1931 for a child - to get the dog the needed license and rescue him from being killed, which is scheduled to happen in three days if the boys don't return with enough money for a dog license.

Perhaps I had a bad attitude going into this because of all of the saccharine movies involving child stars made over at MGM during the same time period, movies that are very available thanks to Ted Turner's largesse during the 1980s. Maybe it was because, besides Jackie Cooper, the only other child star's name that I recognized was that of Mitzi Green, the lone child star of the period contracted to Paramount and extremely annoying in every role I had seen her in. Fortunately, though, she is in small doses here and doing what she did best - being annoying.

At any rate, this really is good entertainment for child and adult alike that doesn't drag at any point. Some of the adults actually learn something and it also illustrates that poor people can really be complete jerks for no good reason just as easily as rich people can.