Search - Dead End Kids: Little Tough Guy on DVD

Billy Halop leads the pack with little tough guys.

James McDonald | Southern California | 02/19/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It began with Dead End (1937), The boys came from the Broadway play and landed their first starring role togther. After Dead End (1937), First National Pictures picked them up for Crime School [VHS] (1938) and they made many more films for over 20 years until 1958. In 1938, Billy Halop brought along Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell and Bernard Punsly in Little Tough Guy (1938). This spun off into another film series with a total of nine films for Universal from 1938-1943. They also made film serials for the new Universal: Junior G-Men - Volumes 1 & 2 (Complete Serial) (2-DVD) (1940), Sea Raiders - Volumes 1 & 2 (Complete Serial) (2-DVD) (1941) and Junior G-Men of The Air - Volumes 1 & 2 (Complete Serial) (2-DVD) (1942). In 1940, Leo Gorcey and Bobby Jordan bacame The East Side Kids for Monogram Pictures Corp. for 22 films from 1940-1945. Huntz Hall and Gabriel Dell would later join the new gang. Then in 1946, The East Side Kids bacame The Bowery Boys and made 48 more films from 1946-1958. Now back to Billy Halop and Bernard Punsly. They continued with The Dead End Kids with The Little Tough Guys film series until they both said goodbye in MUG TOWN (1943). Billy Halop continued a film and television career, but getting parts was hard. In between acting jobs, Halop was a chef, electric dryer saleman and in his final years was a male nurse. He played "Bert Munson" in he CBS tv series, "All in the Family" in 1972 and aired through 1977. In 1976, Billy Halop had a heart attack and passed away ending a 50-year career in show biz that started with radio in the 1920's. Bernard Punsly last film ever was MUG TOWN (1943). He became a gynocologist M.D. in Torrence ,California and recently passed away on January 20, 2004 as the last surviving Dead End Kid. Huntz Hall died January 30, 1999. Marjorie Main who was in DEAD END (1937) plays a role as Halop's mother in this film. She went on to do THE EGG AND I (1947) as "Ma Kettle" (which spawned into a new film series "Ma & Pa Kettle"). This film, Little Tough Guy is also David Gorcey's (Leo's younger brother) film debut."

LITTLE TOUGH KIDS!!!!!

larryj1 | AZ, USA | 05/07/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Universal Dead End Kids/Little Tough Guys features are great little films. It's unfortunate that the first film, Little Tough Guys, is the only one readily available. It's the typical story, but I never tire of it. The Alpha DVD print is one their better ones with no splices. The film is complete except that the Universal logo is missing. It would be fantastic if Universal would just put these out in a set."