Big Ears

Whenever I hear a reference to 'the Little Rascals', I cringe. This is partly because I just don't find those kids very funny, but largely because there never really was a 'Little Rascals' movie. Hal Roach's long-running series of low-budget kiddie comedies were actually called the 'Our Gang' shorts ('Our Gang' being the title of the first film in the series). For some reason, the movie prints that have been syndicated for television were retitled 'Little Rascals'. If you own any movies with 'Little Rascals' in the credits, you've got a TV print.

'Big Ears' is one of the few sound-era Our Gang shorts that has never, to my knowledge, been shown on television. A previous IMDb reviewer says that this is because the storyline involves divorce, a traumatic subject for young children. Well, divorce is mentioned in the dialogue, but that's not why 'Big Ears' is too touchy for television.

The central character in 'Big Ears' is little Wheezer, one of the more annoying kids in Our Gang (which is saying a lot!). The title 'Big Ears' doesn't actually refer to over-sized lugs. It's the nickname for somebody who pokes his ears into conversations where he shouldn't be listening. Wheezer overhears his parents having an argument, in which they consider getting divorced. With the typical logic of childhood, Wheezer decides to feign illness in the hope that his parents will be concerned about his health and forget about divorcing. Wheezer's buddy Stymie believes that Wheezer is actually sick, so he raids the medicine chest for something to dose him with. *This* sequence is the reason why 'Big Ears' is never shown on TV. The kids watching at home might get the idea that it's fun to grab random items out of the medicine chest and swallow them. I laughed as Stymie treated Wheezer's nonexistent illness with hair oil and other noxious substances ... but this is definitely not something that impressionable kiddiewinks should be watching.

At one point, Wheezer's father (played a bit too prissily by Creighton Hale) refers to African-American child Stymie as 'the little pickaninny'. A very few of the Our Gang films have racist plot lines -- notably the notorious 'Kid from Borneo' -- but many of the Our Gangs had casual examples of racial stereotyping that are tossed out at random. This is one such example, but it only lasts a few seconds in 'Big Ears' and could easily have been cut out. The real problem is the medicine-chest sequence, which is the only part of this movie that I laughed at. I do like the fact that the Our Gang comedies showed white and black kids playing together as equals, in a time when racial segregation was taken for granted ... but there's still plenty of racial slurs in these movies. I'll rate 'Big Ears' 4 out of 10.

"Big Ears" is one of the few "Our Gang" films not to be shown on television, and the reasons are obvious from the storyline. Wheezer's parents are planning on getting a divorce. With the Gang's help, he hatches a plot to get so sick that the parents will reconcile. But will it work?

The divorce angle is obviously a difficult subject to handle in a "Little Rascals" film. With divorce rates ever on the rise over the decades, this film was shelved from television, and with good reason. As uncomfortable as the divorce storyline is, what makes the film doubly difficult to watch is how Wheezer matter-of-factly swallows things out of the medicine chest (ouch).

Some laughs, but too painful overall to recommend for younger children and sensitive adults. 3 out of 10.

Usually, an Our Gang/Little Rascals film is a guarantee for 20 minutes of laughs and warm feelings. This isn't the case here.

Wheezer is upset because of his parents' constant (and admittedly hammy and unconvincing) arguments around the house about really silly things such as the coffee being cold and the toast not being buttered right. The writers seemed to have been asleep at the wheel on this one. He gets the parents to reconcile, but only briefly. He overhears his dad talking about a divorce, which drives him to go to his pal Stymie for solace. That is disturbed when big kid Donald Haines callously explains to Wheez what a divorce really means (always one in any crowd of kids) which starts the bawling Olympics all over again. This leads to the medicine cabinet scene where Stymie and Dorothy fill Wheez with stuff form the medicine cabinet to make him sick and hopefully encourage his parents to reconcile. Does it work? You'll see.

This is really grim and dark for an Our Gang comedy. Even the few gags that exist are mostly horrible by modern standards. This film would be unwatchable for anyone who's been through a divorce or experienced this as a child (which luckily, I didn't). Adults would be horrified by the sight of the unsupervised children playing with medicine and feeding Wheez whatever they could find. Was this considered funny in 1930? Stymie tells a yarn about his falling out of a window and not hurting his head but leaving a hole in the sidewalk (modern audiences may be unfamiliar with the ancient stereotype of the alleged hardness of Black people's skulls). YECCCH. Then Wheezers dad casually refers to Stymie in conversation with Wheez as a "pickaninnny." I'm no fan of politically correct prudery myself, but racially loaded language of this kind was actually quite rare in the Our Gang films.

Most Gang/Rascals films often climax with funny chase scenes or hilarious moments of suspense. That is not to be found here, just a VERY bad soap opera. This was not known to have been shown on television with the rest of the Gang/Rascals films. Wonder why? See it (with some Pepto-Bismol at your side) and you'll understand.

Big Ears (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Incredibly distasteful Our Gang short has Wheezer overhearing his parents fighting and saying they're getting a divorce so he decides to make himself sick so that they'll stay together. This is a rather ugly film for several reasons including the subject matter of divorce but the film gets even uglier as we get a few racial slurs to the black kid Stymie and an even uglier scene where Wheezer is in bed with a tummy ache only to have the thread of various medicines being fed to him. Even with all the ugliness surrounding the film there are still a few funny moments but most of these are during the first half of the film. These scenes have Wheezer trying to get his parents to stop fighting by talking to each one separately and then bringing them together. Bobby Hutchins, the kid who plays Wheezer, does a great job in the adult subject matter.

Contrary to what several people have written here, Big Ears played quite frequently on television. I saw it yesterday for the first time in forty years and remembered almost every detail from seeing it on TV as a kid. As is often the case in Our Gang comedies, there's no great acting on hand, but as is also often the case, the worst acting is by the adults. Wheezer's parents fight and threaten divorce, so Wheezer tries to make himself sick so his parents will come together out of concern for him. There's a pretty hysterical sequence where the kids pour every concoction in the medicine cabinet down Wheezer's throat to help him get sick. Of course it's not recommended for kids actually to do something like this, but trust me, if your kids are able to drink all the medicine in your medicine cabinet, it ain't OUR GANG who's at fault. Wheezer's crying is realistic and touching, and his reactions to the taste of various elixirs is a riot. Very funny short--not the best of the Gang's by a long shot, but a good one nonetheless.