Tough

Oh boy, I was 10yrs when this movie came out, and played at the Capri Theatre in downtown Dallas, when streets were safe for little African-American kids to be left alone. I was too young to care about the cinematic flaws of the movie, but not too young to 'feel' the impact of the repercussions for being a bad kid!!! My friends and I talked about this movie for YEARS afterwards, and I'm sure, I had more than one reflective thought during my growth, that helped keep me out of trouble! Maybe the youth of today could do well by viewing this!!! So many people have never even heard of Johnny Tough!!!!

Johnny is a mischievous kid. He tells the teacher he didn't get his homework done because his mother just died. Of course, the teacher finds out that Johnny's mother is very much among the living. Johnny's antics become much worse when he discovers his parents are having marital problems. This film is not shot well; most of it looks very amateurish. However, it is an interesting time capsule of African-American life in the early to mid 1970s.

To say that this is an homage to Trufaut's 400 BLOWS would be an understatement. It's a good thing that France never got the chance to see this movie - they'd be in an uproar. Despite that, Johnny Tough is a raw, honest portrayal of a kid with self-indulgent parents, a demeaning teacher and tons of other problems. I'd say he's got like 401 Blows (especially with that surprise ending. If your jaw doesn't drop when the girls go the bathroom, then you must be a psychic. The school scenes are surprisingly touching by the end - it's got to be one of the most real teacher scenes currently in cinema. Not sure when or if ever it will be on DVD, but it's a keeper.