For Pete's Sake! (1934) User Reviews

Good Rascals outing featuring Pete The Pup

[jimtinder · 7/10 · 8 September 2002]

Little Marianne is ill, and is comforted by the Gang and by her doll. Bratty Leonard breaks Marianne's doll, and the Gang must find her a new one before she goes to bed.

The Gang goes to a toy store, run by Leonard's father. They don't have the money to buy a doll, but Leonard's father strikes a deal with them; he'll trade a doll for Pete the Pup. The deal goes off until Pete destroys the toy store!

"For Pete's Sake" provides comedy, drama, and a cliffhanger with pleasant results. Several funny moments occur; one such scene features the Gang doing yardwork in an effort to raise the money for the doll. They end up destroying a rug in the process!

The effort to team Spanky McFarland and Scotty Beckett fully developed in this short. They were the observant and knowing younger Gang members compared to Wally and Stymie, the older boys who think they know more than Scotty and Spanky. An example of this takes place at the beginning of the short. Wally is filling Marianne's dolly with sawdust, unaware that it's running out of the doll into his pants. Scotty and Spanky know, but Wally can't be bothered with them - until he notices how puffy his pants have become!

Paced well and ably directed by Gus Meins, the short also features standout performances by Spanky, Scotty, and William Wagner as the storekeeper. Funny throughout. 7 out of 10.

Pretty good....but poor old Pete!!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 4 January 2012]

Marianne is sick and the gang want to make her feel better. When a jerky kid destroys her doll, they decide to work to earn money to get her another. A lazy boob pays the kids to do his chores--with expected results. Ultimately, they trade the shopkeeper their dog, Pete, for the doll--but the guy turns out to be a real jerk--and Pete gets his revenge--on both him and his bratty kid.

This is a decent Our Gang short. It's fun watching the kids make a mess of the guy's lawn as well as Pete destroying the other guy's store. I just couldn't get over the plot which had the kids trading their dog!! Poor Pete!! Still, it's fun and entertaining--and dull of lots of action.

The censors missed Spanky's posterior.

[thejcowboy22 · 6/10 · 18 November 2015]

The Gang is at again with their backs up against a stone wall as Bully Leonard breaks a home made doll especially made by the gang for a sick girl. You figured with a gang of 7 or more they could pummel The Bully Leonard to a pulp and you would have no story here. On the other hand the Boys could go down to the store and demand a new doll cause the shop keepers son, (who happens to be the fore mentioned Leonard), lassoed the doll and broke it.Gang leader Wally did nothing in either case. The boys went into action by happenstance overhearing a distraught Wife bellowing at her husband to do yard work on his day off. The gang slams into action and Spanky and Scotty have there own ideas of mowing a lawn. The rest is history as Spanky creates a home made chariot with Pete the Pup pulling the mower with Spanky sitting in the grass catcher getting stuffed with fresh cut carpet and grass as Pete veers off chasing a stray cat ruining the carpet. Spanky who is humiliated and filthy has to freshen up and remove the remnants from under his clothes.When the other carpets were move from a clothes line there we see Spanky bare bottomed running to the cactus plants ouch!! What happens to the Gang? Does the little sick girl get her doll? The ending we'll surprise you. Personally I put this episode in the top 20 of Our gang favorite Shorts. Oh by the way Spanky does but his pants back on complete with grass slippers.

For Pete's Sake review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 11 June 2020]

The little Rascals consider selling their beloved dog in order to buy a replacement doll for a little girl whose own doll has been destroyed by a local bully. An ok entry with some decent laughs generated by the kids' money-raising efforts - although the music had me expecting Laurel & Hardy to show up at any moment.

"Our Gang's" rogue socialist regime continues . . .

[pixrox1 · 8/10 · 3 March 2018]

. . . with FOR PETE'S SAKE, as the larcenous U.S. Merchant Class is depicted with Extreme Prejudice. Mirroring Real Life, the newcomers running the "Little Rascals" through their paces now set them in conflict with a rapacious bully boy and his shop-keeping swindler dad. These multi-generational miscreants sell over-priced toys, so they run a scam in which Junior roams the area, destroying the few playthings local kids possess. This forces these young crime victims to either pay exorbitantly inflated prices for replacements from Daddy at the crime cartel store, or trade in their beloved pets (most likely so that their cherished critters can be shipped to Asia as food). Another brief bit involving "Stymie's" sister sneaks through America's Upper Class Board of Censorship to imply that the deplorable "toy shop" may be a front for a human trafficking ring. (Both of these first two socialist "Little Rascal" outings feature child nudity--unlike their 37 predecessors--most likely in an effort to send a message "through the grapevine" about the scourge of child exploitation then building up steam to taint American Innocence.) FOR PETE'S SAKE shows the USA that "Our Gang" is not in Kansas anymore, nor on the "Good Ship Lollipop."

Pete the Pup shines again in this destructive short

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 19 March 2017]

FOR PETE'S SAKE! is a high-energy Our Gang short centred around the title character, a lovable dog that can't help but cause chaos wherever he goes. The kids end up selling the dog in this short but the sale only leads to much destruction and spirited antics involving the gang members.

The version of this I watched had been colourised to good effect. It's a brisk effort that doesn't hang about for a moment. The child actors do very well in their parts and they acquit themselves well with the material, but they play second fiddle here to Pete. The climactic chase through town is both destructive and hilarious and a fitting end to an above-average production.

For Pete's Sake! was another endearing Our Gang comedy

[tavm · 8/10 · 13 November 2014]

This Hal Roach comedy short, For Pete's Sake!, is the one hundred twenty-seventh in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the thirty-ninth talkie. Bully Leonard purposely destroys little Marianne's doll so the gang resolves to get her a new one before the day's over. Unfortunately, the store the new doll's in is owned by the bully's father who agrees to give them the doll for their dog, Pete. Instead, they get a job to beat a neighbor's rug. That doesn't go well. I'll stop there and just say this was quite a funny short. If one pauses-during today's times-in laughing at something depicted, it would probably be the scene when the gang inadvertently gets a doll painted a darker color though since it's not the doll they initially wanted-and it was wrapped in a hurry in duress, besides-it could still be considered innocent in flavor. Anyway, For Pete's Sake was another funny Our Gang short. P.S. This marked the first gang appearance of one Billie Thomas but he's not Buckwheat yet. That would be Carlena Beard-Stymie's sister-so in this case, Buckwheat really is a girl! It's also the first appearance of Leonard Kibrick who usually played the bully in these shorts. It's interesting noting his appearance here since he has a scene with Tommy Bond who would leave the series not long after but return a few years later as Butch, the new bully along with a sidekick who turned out to be Sidney Kibrick, Leonard's younger brother. This was also the first gang appearance of Marianne Edwards.

A doll for Marianne

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 7 March 2017]

"For Pete's Sake!" is a Rascals short film from 1934, so this one is also already over 80 years old and like the others it is a black-and-white silent film. Gus Meins is also a familiar name when it comes to this franchise and if you have seen more from the series, you will recognize some of the child actors in here. It runs for 18 minutes, slightly shorter than the Rascals short films usually are and it is about the kids trying to get a doll for one of the Rascal girls. The comedy mostly relies on cuteness and quirkiness (also sped-up sequences at times) and not really on good character writing or funny comments by the characters. This is usually the case for this series and that's also why I believe that this one hasn't aged that well. Animal action is also a crucial part again, especially at the end as the title character is a dog who shows up in many Rascals short films. Other than that we also have Stymie's sister in here, which is a bit of a rare occurrence. Overall, I would not say this was a good watch, but like I already wrote I am certainly not the biggest Our Gang fan and I would say the only somewhat interesting thing here is how the sound era quickly progresses and the Rascals were actually among the very first where we could hear them and also hear some music while watching their slapstick. Not enough. Tumbs down.