The Bechdel Cast - The Little Rascals with Tariq Ra'ouf

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

This week, little rascals Jamie, Caitlin, and special guest Tariq Ra'ouf head to their clubhouse and discuss The Little Rascals (1994)! Follow Tariq on social media at @tariq_raoufSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prohibition is synonymous with speakeasies, jazz, flappers, and of course, failure. I'm Ed Helms, and on season three of my podcast, Snafu, there's a story I couldn't wait to tell you. It's about an unlikely duo in the 1920s who tried to warn the public that Prohibition was going to backfire so badly it just might leave thousands dead from poison. Listen and subscribe to Snafu on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you? Why is my cat not here?

And I go in and she's eating my lunch. Or if hypnotism is real? You will use a suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. But what's inside a black hole? Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe. Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart original podcast, Science Stuff. Join me or Hitcham as we answer questions about animals, space, our brains and our bodies. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to Science Stuff

on the iHeart video app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, y'all? I'm AJ Andrews, pro softball player, sports analyst, and the first woman to win a Rawlings Gold Glove. On my new podcast, Dropping Diamonds, we dive headfirst into the world of softball by sharing powerful stories, insights, and conversations that inspire and empower. It's time to drop bombs and diamonds. Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews is an iHeart Women's Sports production

in partnership with Athletes Unlimited Softball League and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Listen to Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports Network. Do you remember what you said

the first night I came over here? Ow, goes lower. From Blumhouse TV, I Heart Podcasts, and Ember 20 comes an all new fictional comedy podcast series. Join the flighty Damien Hirst as he unravels the mystery of his vanished boyfriend. I've been spending all my time looking for answers about what happened to Santi.

And what's the way to find a missing person? Sleep with everyone he knew, obviously. Listen to The Hook Up on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. On the Bechdel cast, the questions asked, if movies have women in them, are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands, or do they have individualism?

The patriarchy's effing vast, start changing it with the Bechdel Cast. I call this meeting of the man-hating Bechdel Cast Club to order. O-tay. O-tay. That was my takeaway. That was my takeaway. That was my takeaway. Welcome to the Bechdel cast,

AKA some critics would say the man hating club, O-Tay. My name is Jamie Loftus. My name is Caitlin Durante. This is our show where we examine movies through an intersectional feminist lens using the Bechdel test simply as a jumping off point. It's not the focus of the show, we just use it to to launch bigger conversations about little boys who hate women and little boys who like women but are ashamed. Yes, the Bechdel test of course being a media metric created by

queer cartoonist Alison Bechdel, sometimes called the, being a media metric created by queer cartoonist, Alison Bechtel, sometimes called the Bechtel-Welles test. It has many versions. Ours is, do two characters of a marginalized gender have names? Do they speak to each other? And is there conversation about something other than a man? Ideally, we like it when the conversation

is like narratively relevant and not just like throw away dialogue. We'll figure out if the he-man-women-hating characters of this movie pass the Bechtel test. But yeah, today's episode is The Little Rascals, 1994, directed by Penelope Spheeris. Yes, I think our second Penelope Spheeris. Yes I think our second Penelope Spheeris on the show because we also did Wayne's World. Mm-hmm we sure did. Today

we have a wonderful guest with us to discuss the movie we're very excited he is a writer and journalist it's Tara Grof. Hi! Welcome! Hello. You brought us this movie. Tell us about your relationship, your history, et cetera, with it. I love how we start our episodes by being like, you brought us this movie. So why? So why? Why did you make me watch this? Well, explain yourself.

You know, I was really fond of it for such a long time. I remember watching it as a kid. I remember watching it just being in awe. And I specifically remember the pickle scene, like remembering the pickle scene as a kid, being like, I love pickles. I love the pickle dance. And it just was a fun time.

And I was like, I haven't seen the little rascals in years. So I was like, I saw that on your most requested list So I was like I saw that on your on your most requested list I was like, yeah, let's let's do it. I Especially cuz I I kind of remembered that they were in a club I didn't realize quite how women hating their club was until I was watching I was like, oh, okay. I thought it would be a really fascinating movie to dissect from this lens. It is I also didn't remember The extent to which like gender politics plays into this children's movie. It's yeah wild. Yeah, I have to be Honest like that. I went into this viewing being like this is gonna be a breeze

It's a kids movie 80 minutes minutes long, amazing, great. And then within the first two minutes you're like, oh, I have to lock the fuck in. This is a text. So this was a big movie of your childhood, Tarek, right? Yeah, I mean, I think I was probably, I was born in 91 and I don't remember when this movie came out, but I was roughly around

the same age as these kids, I think, when it came out. So yeah, it came out. I remember this being like a very popular like VHS pick. This came out in 94. Yeah, I was three. Yeah, summer 94. Yeah. So I was like, I was definitely like in the age range of like alfalfa.

Like when I watched it, I was like, oh, I like this. Right, well some of the kids are like, they seem to be like, like Buckwheat and Porky are like four, maybe five years old. Alfalfa and some of the older kids are like nine. But yeah, cause I'm the same age as like the actors who played Alfalfa and Waldo and a couple of the other ones. I made the mistake of being like,

what is Alfalfa up to today? Oh yeah, don't do that. Don't Google him. Yeah, I mean, we'll just, I don't wanna, let's save it, I don't wanna talk about it. Long story short, it's a bummer. It's a bummer. Bug hall, man. Bug hall. I was like, what a fun name story short, it's a bummer. It's a bummer. Bug hall, man.

Bug hall. I was like, what a fun name, wonder what he's up to. Don't recommend, don't recommend finding out what he's up to. Anyways, we'll circle back. Sure, sure, sure. But yeah, this was also a big movie of my childhood and I watched it a ton as a kid,

probably from like, you know, 94 to 97, and then that's when Titanic came out. So I pretty much only was watching that for many years. Same. But I rewatched this movie recently, kind of apropos of nothing. I was like, oh, that's on a streaming platform. This is a movie I used to love as a kid,

and I rewatched it probably like a year ago, it was pretty recently. Did not remember most of it. I do very distinctly remember the scene where the, I guess it's four kids, two of them are stacked on the shoulders of two others. They go into the bank to try to get a loan. Did not remember it was a loan from Mel Brooks, which is kind of the, I mean, as

we'll talk about the cameo situation in this movie really runs the gamut of kinds of cameos, some age, great. One really does. One does not know. Because he's now our fascist dictator of America. Yeah. My jaw dropped when I saw him. I was, and unfortunately at the time,

I can see why it made perfect sense. You're just like, oh fuck, that was in our lifetimes. Anyways. Well, he made a few cameos in different movies around this time. Yeah, because he's in Home Alone 2. Home Alone 2, and then he's also in Zoolander as we discussed recently. Right, inescapable.

But baby Raven-Symone, you're just like what? The Olsen twins? I saw, yes! I loved that, I had to pause, I was like what? I know. It's like all the famous child stars of the day, I was like wow, they brought in the heavy hitters. Although I will say, so none of the cameos have names,

but for some reason Raven Simone is credited as Stymie's girlfriend at the club, which makes it sound like she's 25 and not a little baby. She's at the clurb. Yeah. No one's gonna clock this, but the little sister from Smart House was also in this. Which I recognized her.

She was like very tiny, yeah. Oh my God, well spotted. Because we've covered Smart House and I didn't, wow. And then yeah, you got Reba. Reba and her second best cameo after Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar. Oh my gosh, right. That's her best one.

You've got Whoopi Goldberg. Yep, it's a great one. Whoopi! Darryl Hannah, who I didn't recognize as Darryl Hannah, but then I realized and I smiled. Wow. The end. I feel like maybe that's why we remember this movie so well, is partly just because we remember all the stars

and we're in awe from it, and then we didn't remember any of the plot. Yeah, totally. No, I again, I didn't remember that they were in a He-Man-Woman-Haters club and that that was like a huge focal point of the movie. Really? I was curious if if okay, so that is not no that did not stick with me I'm a little ashamed to say that as I was watching this film I thought to myself I was like

This movie's really bad Okay, I thank you for some light defenses of this movie I will you know it does Does it fix feminism the way it tries to claim that it does at the end? I would say no. Didn't work for Bug Hall. He's a member of the He-Man Woman Hating Club to this day. Yikes. Which is ironic because Alfalfa's the only boy

in the club who loves women. Well, but also I have some thoughts on Alfalfa and his little boner haircut. Oh my God. How many boner jokes were gonna be in this movie starring seven year olds? It was so many of you. It was a little uncomfortable.

It was a little uncomfortable. You're just like boy oh my God. Reba McIntyre saying like, is that a hair licker, or are you just happy to see me? It was like Reba. Reba, he is seven years old. That's a child you're speaking to.

Read the room. A lot of the jokes though in this movie are like comedy gold. The joke writing in this movie is largely very fun. I like Penelope Spheeris as a comedy director. There's lots to discuss, but yeah, we'll get there. I love it. I feel like, Katelyn, you're rarely the defender of the movie.

This is exciting. So this is a childhood favorite of yours that you recently revisited. Yes. And Jamie, what about you? I had not seen this one. I don't know why. I found that I mix it up constantly with the Sandlot

because the posters look very similar. But no, I hadn't seen it before. And it's like, it's a weird little movie. I didn't hate it. I didn't hate it. I guess that's my review. I didn't hate it. I think it is like pretty fucking impressive

that Penelope Spheeris pulled off a movie this like vast with a cast this young, cause like the kids are doing okay. I mean, you're not gonna get a star every time. And in this case, I think they're kind of batting oh for 10. No offense to the kids, except actually the fancy little kid, I like Stimey and the fancy boy.

I was like, they were cooking. Oh, you mean Waldo Aloysius Johnston III? Oh my God, fancy Macaulay Culkin is how I refer to him in my notes. Yes, yes. For a second I was like, is it? No, but Macaulay Culkin played Richie Rich around the same time.

So I also found it interesting looking back at, cause I knew that the Little Rascals had history. I didn't know it was like over a hundred years of history. So I have some notes on that. But it's you know I think it's like an interesting way to adapt it for the 90s. I like that these like little newsy kids live in LA in 1994 and that's just canon. Like it's sweet. Yeah, it didn't really solve feminism, but I think it's nice that it thought it did. It was trying for something.

Does it think it solves feminism? Is that where the movie stands, you think? I don't actually think so, but at the end when they're like, yeah, women, you're allowed in our club in which we hate women. You're welcome here now. Right.

But I'm like, I don't see them getting leadership positions anytime soon, tell you what. They're basically framed as like the girlfriends now, which I have a whole spiel on, we'll talk about it. Well yeah, Stymie's girlfriend at the club. It is. Oh. Yeah.

In the club we all fam. Or what is the thing? Is that it? Caitlin, no! Wait, I don't know. I know what you're talking about. It's just funny to hear it from you. In the club we all fam.

Yeah. Anyway, let's take a quick break and then we'll come back for the recap. Prohibition. It's no secret that banning alcohol didn't stop people from living it up in the 1920s. When we're five years into prohibition, the government is starting to go, okay, this isn't working. In fact, you might even say it backfired spectacularly. I'm Ed Helms and on season three of my podcast, Snafu, we're taking you back to the 1920s and the tale of Formula 6.

Because what you probably don't know about Prohibition is that American citizens were dying in massive numbers due to poisoned liquor, and all along an unlikely duo was trying desperately to stop the corruption behind it. They were like superhero crusaders turning the page on a system that didn't work, wasn't fair, and was corrupt. So how did prohibitions war on alcohol go so off the rails that the government wound up poisoning its own people? To find out, listen and subscribe to Snafu on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you?

Why is my cat not here? And I go in and she's eating my lunch. Or if hypnotism is real? You will use a suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. But what's inside a black hole? Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe. Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart original podcast, Science Stuff. Join me, Jorge Cham, as we tackle questions you've always wanted to know the answer to about animals, space, our brains, and our bodies.

Questions like, can you survive being cryogenically frozen? This is experimental. This means never work for you. What's a quantum computer? It's not just a faster computer. It performs in a fundamentally different way. Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming? It's not really a safety issue.

It's more of a comfort issue. We'll talk to experts, break it down, and give you easy to understand explanations to fascinating scientific questions. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to Science Stuff on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Love at first swipe? I highly doubt it. What's your biggest red flag?

No, no, no. What's your ultimate green flag? These days, reality TV and social media have us thinking love is instant. We're marrying strangers at first sight, we're finding love through walls, or we're even judging people by balloon pops. But what really makes a relationship last? On this episode of Dope Labs, poet, author,

and relationship expert, Young Pueblo, breaks down the psychology and biology of loving better. And he provides eye-opening insights and advice that we all need. It's a big realization moment that you should not be postponing your happiness. Like your greatest happiness is not necessarily going to like come from a relationship. Your partner, they should add to your happiness, but your happiness is really coming from within you. Listen to Dope Labs on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I tell gnarly stories and I talk to friends about their worst moments of bombing in all sorts of ways.

Bombing on stage, bombing in public, bombing in life. Two at a time I talk to Blake Anderson about him breaking his back. We were throwing a Christmas party. We had this beer pong table that Comedy Central had sent us for like promotion. And one of the kids was like, I'm gonna jump off the roof. I'm seeing everybody with jazz. I'm like, I'll do it. I landed it on it with my feet. I went right through it Piece of paper and I just basically just like stood straight up. You just hit me

Yeah, it's just like spear if you just jump like straight so that made my whole spine kind of compact Listen to bombing with Eric Andre on Will Ferrell's big money players Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. We're back. Okay. Here's the recap of The Little Rascals, 1994. A little boy named Spanky, the names in this incredible. Yeah, we gotta bring that back.

Kids named Spanky, kids named Froggy, kids named Porky and Buckwheat and Alfalfa. And Woym. Yeah, they all have Looney Tunes names. Okay, so Spanky sends a note around town via Petey the dog to announce an emergency meeting of some sort. This note is seen by a kid named Stimey when he's playing baseball, then a kid named Froggy at his house.

I guess that's his name because he has a very like raspy, froggy voice. Which I, no offense to little rascals defenders, I found so obnoxious and distracting. It was hard to listen to. Not the kids fault, but I was like, oh, Yeah, not my favorite. I loved it. I do like, I hope that this is the movie that breaks the podcast.

I hope the little, I hope the little rascals do us in. This episode is going to end in blood and tears. No, so we meet Froggy. Uh, then Petey goes to two kids who are fishing, Porky and Buckwheat. Then eventually the boys, the little rascals Gather at their clubhouse for a meeting at the club at the clubhouse For a meeting for the he man woman haters club They recite their oath which states

I do solemnly swear to be a he-man and hate women and not play with them or talk to them unless I have to and especially never fall in love. And then it goes on about what the punishments are and blah, blah, blah. A character named Uh-huh, who seems to only say uh-huh, takes minutes from the meeting. Meanwhile, outside to bullies who are not allowed in the club. Oh my God. They're having great bully names. Yeah, Butch and Woym.

And I'm like, is that like Wyrm, but in a... In like baby newsies, I think. Woym. Woym. Get outta here, Woym. Right. The two bullies talk about how they're looking forward to beating the rascals in an upcoming go-kart race with their go-kart, which is called the Beast.

Meanwhile, the little rascals go-kart, the blur is their club's pride and joy, they pay respects to it, and to their hero, their idol, a race car driver named A.J. Ferguson. And they're like, he's the best race car driver that ever lived. Then they select a name out of a hat to see who's going to drive the blur in the upcoming go-kart race.

And the name that they select is Alfalfa. Who is not there at the meeting. They discover that Alfalfa is secretly spending time with his girlfriend Darla. Because unlike the other members of the He-Man Woman Haters Club, Alfalfa is sensitive and romantic and he loves women. And Darla is like, well then why the fuck are you in this ridiculous misogyny club? I love Darla. I love Darla so much.

Darla takes no nonsense from these little boys. She has no time for them. I love it. She doesn't. She's very grown. She's so grown. Yes. She's so grown, despite being like four years old when production started.

She's so little. She's so tiny. And you can just hear, I don't know, like the blooper reel was so cute. Cause you're like, God, these kids are, these kids are just like hanging on by their little fingernails, trying to remember these sentences.

So cute. Darla's little blooper reel segment at the end is like, stop looking at the camera. Yeah, it's so cute. I have a whole spiel about the age difference between her and her various love interests, but we'll get to it. Wow. Okay, so Alfalfa tells Darla that he's going to take her on a picnic and

she suggests they have it at his clubhouse so that he can prove that he's not ashamed of her and that he's proud of her. So the next day Alfalfa goes to pick up Darla. He's attacked by a dog that belongs to Waldo Aloysius Johnston III, a rich kid who absolutely sucks. Unfortunately, he's so funny and I hate it. It is. It feels very nineties that they make a little social statement with what a piece of shit he is.

Like they go out of their way to be like, he's a mini oil baron. And you're like, what a detail. What a detail to just have there. I kind of loved it. And produces a great joke where, yeah, he's like, my dad just bought the local oil refinery. And Darla's like, that explains why you're so refined in alfalfa and why you're so oily.

It's hilarious. Those are good, the jokes are good. Good jokes. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So Waldo sucks, but he takes a liking to Darla to Alfalfa's dismay. Alfalfa and Darla go on a candlelit picnic at the clubhouse, the clubhouse, but the little

rascals sabotage it by putting a whoopee cushion under Alfalfa. They put kitty litter in their sandwiches, all this kind of stuff. And then they start banging on the door. So Alfalfa hurriedly shoes Darla away and tries to clean everything up, but he accidentally doesn't blow out one of the candles. So the clubhouse catches fire.

The kids try to put out the fire, but the clubhouse catches fire. The kids try to put out the fire, but the clubhouse burns down. I love this sequence when they're the little baby firefighters. It's so cute. Oh my gosh. It's really cute. I like the entire time. I'm just like, where are any of the adults? The adults, like they, they, they just don't exist in this world. These kids are never home. I kind of love the like, just, cause it's like, cause I was worried that they're gonna like single out specific kids, but it's just like, this is a world with no parents,

except at the end when you see that they do have parents and they look exactly like them, but bigger. I liked that joke a lot. These parents are bad at their job, but I love that joke a lot. It's like these parents are bad at their job, but I love that. I feel like it is like this fantasy for people of our generation to be as loose as the little rascals are.

Do whatever you want. Live life without a care in the world, without any adults telling you, no, you can't do that. Your parents have no idea you've organized a hate group underground. They didn't used to know these things. Right. And these kids are like not going home for what seems like days at a time. They're just sort of like sleeping out at the clubhouse. Maroon alfalfa.

Fishing out on a lake on their own. I like that. Yeah, it does feel like this takes place in the South a hundred years ago, but also in Los Angeles in the 90s. And both reads are correct. Yeah, absolutely. For sure. It's great. Okay, so the clubhouse is burnt down.

Meanwhile, because Alfalfa had tried to hide Darla, she realizes that he is ashamed of her. So she dumps his ass and leaves with that fridge brick Waldo. Ay, yi, yi. I wrote down this is very specific, but it reminded me of when Jane Fonda divorced her activist husband and married Ted Turner. divorced her activist husband and married Ted Turner. Wow. Jane Fonda heads will, will know. Are they still married?

No, she divorces us too. She's, I mean, she's the best, but she was married to Ted Turner, which is suspicious. Truly. Yeah. In any case, the rascals put Alfalfa on trial and then on probation and his punishment is to guard their go kart the blur day and night and he can never talk to or see or think about Darla ever again. So that night when Alfalfa is guarding the go kart, all the boys join him for a little sleepover in a tent,

and they're talking about why they think girls are gross. Meanwhile, Darla is having a sleepover with her girlfriends, and they're talking about why they think boys are gross. It's a really fun, intercut scene The next day the boys get to work on rebuilding their clubhouse But they don't have the money for lumber which they try to buy from norm from Cheers So a few of them go into a bank This is the scene that I distinctly remember from watching this as a kid They're like stacked on each other's shoulders and they try to get a bank loan from Mel Brooks, which he denies them.

Meanwhile there's a scene where Alfalfa writes a love note and then has Buckwheat and Porky deliver it to Darla. But it's this whole like comedy of errors situation where Darla ends up even more mad at Alpha Alpha because there's like the misinterpretation of what happens. I thought it was interesting that that whole gag is predicated on you have to be able to read to understand. And I was like, I don't think the target audience of this movie can read yet. Well, I mean, let me, I was eight when the movie came out.

And I knew how to read at age eight. That's great. But also I don't remember that joke at all. And I don't remember ever knowing what that letter said. So I don't know if I ever even understood what was happening in that scene. I mean, you can like cut, this is a movie based on vibes. She ends up madder.

Absolutely. Yeah. I want to show this movie to my niece, I mean you can like cut this this is a movie based on vibes she ends up mad I want to show this movie to my niece, but I don't know if she reads well enough yet to get the joke. She's fine Yeah, well turns out you won't get any of the jokes when you're eight or maybe even ten so Who knows I truly was like oh there are like a dozen jokes that I never understood as a kid that I had to wait till adulthood. It's just like Shrek in that way. Wow. Makes you think. That makes you think really, really hard.

Okay. So Darla's even more mad at Alfalfa. So Alfalfa goes to Darla's ballet recital to try to clear things up, but Spanky insists on going with him to ensure that Alfalfa breaks up with Darla once and for all. Meanwhile, the two bullies, Butch and Woym, distract Buckwheat and Porky who are guarding the blur in this moment so that they can steal the go-kart, but the little rascals had set up a, like, Rube Goldberg pickle trap, so they are unsuccessful at stealing the blur. Back at the recital, Alfalfa and Spanky dress as girls in, like, wigs and tutus in order to hide from Butch and Woym and then while they're still in like little girl drag Alfalfa and Spanky talk to Darla who

doesn't realize she's talking to these boys and she's like oh here take my handkerchief oh yeah I remember Alfalfa he took the best years of my life hilarious joke and then she also says like I couldn't resist his singing voice Oh, yeah, I remember Alfalfa. He took the best years of my life. Hilarious joke. And then she also says like, I couldn't resist his singing voice because that's gonna all pay off later. Then Alfalfa and Spanky get shuffled in with the other ballerinas who are about to go on stage.

They perform in the recital, they ruin it, which infuriates the instructor, aka Leah Thompson, aka Lorraine from Back to the Future. She chases them out, but oh no, the bullies are waiting for them, so they start chasing Alfalfa. He's in his underwear, by the way, because there was like a frog in his tutu. That's the whole thing. I'm like, yada yada frog tutu, you know. You know. And I'm like, why are we making kids run around in their underwear on screen? Anyway, he runs into Darla and Waldo, who are like lounging by the pool drinking cocktails. They're

getting fucked up. In the hot tub with umbrellas and like, what are you drinking? It's, it is funny, but it's also just goofy as hell. And they see him naked. They see Alfalfa naked and it's weird. Meanwhile, the other little rascals head to a fair to try to raise money to rebuild their clubhouse. Then back at the burnt down clubhouse, Alfalfa finds the checklist that his friends were using to sabotage his picnic with

Darla, and Alfalfa realizes that they, and especially Spanky, are to blame for Darla hating Alfalfa. So he takes off in the blur to confront Spanky at the fair. Back at the fair, Buckwheat and Porky have scammed people into paying admission for a free talent show. Listen, I would have paid for the four foot tall man eating chicken. Also such a good joke because you think it's going to be a chicken who eats men. If I got scammed out of that, I'd be like, you know what? You deserve it.

I deserve it. Exactly. I was shocked at how long it took me to figure out what that joke was. It's so funny. It's really funny. Okay, so this is when we see Darryl Hannah. She is like the coordinator of the talent show

named Miss Crabtree. She discovers this ruse and reprimands the boys, although Spanky makes a suggestion for what to do with the money, which is to award it to whoever wins first place at the upcoming go-kart derby. Then Alfalfa arrives at the fair where Waldo and Darla are singing a duet in the talent show. Alfalfa also performs a song knowing that Darla melts when she hears his singing voice. Although Waldo sabotages the performance by putting like dish soap into Alfalfa's glass of water. So he's like blowing bubbles and Darla's like, you suck Alfalfa. I remember this part too.

And I'm being like, wow, so cool. Look when you're five, it is so cool. It's cute. It's cute. Yeah. And maybe want to drink dish soap and burp. Honestly, a lot of things I was like, I want to build a Rube Goldberg pickle machine. I also wanted an Etch A Sketch because of how well they drew that. Yeah. Okay,

so meanwhile, the bullies, butch and whims steal the blur while it's parked outside the fair. And then after Alfalfa's performance, he and Spanky get in a huge fight and Alfalfa storms off and all the little rascals are sad, but then they eventually make up and all the boys reconvene and get to work on building a new go-kart for the Derby. The blur two colon the sequel, or as I like to call it, an extremely blurry go-kart. Go-kart, yes, exactly, exactly.

And they build it out of like a trash can and washing machine parts and other random little doodads. Cut to the Derby, Alfalfa and Spanky are together in their new go-kart, the Blur II, an extremely blurry go-kart. Several other drivers are there such as Butch and William in the stolen Blur with a new paint job. Waldo and Darla are in Waldo's rich kid go-kart.

By the way, Darla is starting to realize how much Waldo sucks. Yeah. Reba McIntyre is there as the announcer. She makes a boner joke to a child and we're like, was that normal in 1994 or was it weird then too? We don't know. I think it was more normal back then. Also, as we mentioned, our fascist American president slash dictator Donald Trump is there, as Waldo's father, Whoopi Goldberg is there. The race begins, there's some confusion, and for a while, like Alfalfa and Spanky and the bullies

and Waldo and Darla accidentally go the wrong way and get separated from the other racers. Waldo tries to sabotage Alfalfa and Spanky's go-kart so Darla is like fuck you Waldo I'm done with you so he pulls over to let her out of the go-kart. Then the bullies try to sabotage Alfalfa and Spanky but then it seems like Waldo helps them, but we can't super tell because they're wearing a helmet that obscures their face. So we don't know exactly who it is, but we think it's supposed to be Waldo. Oh my gosh.

And then get ready for a classic trope. Then the race is almost over. They're almost across the finish line and Alfalfa and Spanky win by a hair. Literally, because it's Alfalfa's little spike thing that crosses the finish line first. And then they realize that the person who helped them was not Waldo, because they take off their helmet, and it's Darla. Good, good, good, good girl. What?

Oh my goodness, the person you thought was a man because they're doing a traditionally masculine activity is actually a woman. Astonishing. I can't believe it. The joke here is that a girl could drive. So Darla has forgiven Alfalfa after realizing his devotion to her. Also Alfalfa and Spanky win the $500 cash prize, which means that they can finally rebuild

their clubhouse. They also learn that their idol, AJ Ferguson, is a wo-wo-wo-wo-wOMEN? What? I know, great twist from Reba. Reba McIntyre. And because of all of this, they make an amendment to their club. They are still the He-Man Woman Haters Club,

but now they allow women to join. We see the little rascals along with Darla and her friends along with Raven- and her friends, along with Raven-Symone. Raven-Symone, Stammy's girlfriend at the club. Exactly, and they're now coexisting in harmony because the Little Rascals fixed misogyny, question mark. Or just made it more inclusive. They're like, we are now, I mean, it kind of is like a lot of like right wing movements right now. We're like we're also

allowing the targets of our hatred to join the group and you're like Okay Do they also become women haters? Unclear self hating women. Well, right like many such cases internalized misogyny, which you know a lot of girls especially in this era were you know socialized to have so could be. Do they become terfs? Oh no. I hope not. I don't want to know what happens to these kids when they get older. I don't want to know what happens to these kids when they get older. I have, I just feel like they're headed down a dark road.

It's a dark path. Yeah. These kids are fucked up. So that's the movie. Let's take another quick break and then we'll come back to discuss. Prohibition. It's no secret that banning alcohol didn't stop people from living it up in the 1920s. When we're five years into Prohibition, the government is starting to go,

okay, this isn't working. In fact, you might even say it backfired spectacularly. I'm Ed Helms, and on season three of my podcast, Snafu, we're taking you back to the 1920s and the tale of Formula 6. Because what you probably don't know about Prohibition is that American citizens were dying in massive numbers due to poisoned liquor, and all along an unlikely duo was trying desperately to stop the corruption behind it. They were like superhero crusaders turning the page on a system that didn't work, wasn't fair, and was corrupt. So how did prohibitions war on alcohol go so off the rails that the government wound

up poisoning its own people? To find out, listen and subscribe to Snafu on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you? Why is my cat not here? or wherever you get your podcasts. understand the universe. Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart original podcast, Science Stuff. Join me, Jorge Cham, as we tackle questions you've always wanted to know the answer to about animals, space, our brains, and our bodies. Questions like, can you survive being cryogenically frozen? This is experimental.

This means never work for you. What's a quantum computer? It's not just a faster computer. It performs in a fundamentally different way. Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming? It's not really a faster computer. It performs in a fundamentally different way. Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming? It's not really a safety issue. It's more of a comfort issue. We'll talk to experts, break it down, and give you easy-to-understand explanations

to fascinating scientific questions. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to science stuff on the iHeart Video app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Love at first swipe? I highly doubt it. What's your biggest red flag? No, no, no. What's your ultimate green flag? These days, reality TV and social media have us thinking love is instant. We're marrying strangers at first sight. We're finding love through walls, or we're even judging people by balloon pops. But what really makes a relationship last? On this episode of Dope Labs, poet, author and relationship expert Young Pueblo breaks down the psychology and biology of loving better.

And he provides eye opening insights and advice that we all need. It's a big realization moment that you should not be postponing your happiness. Like your greatest happiness is not necessarily going to like come from a relationship. Your partner, they should add to your happiness, but your happiness is really coming from within you. Listen to Dope Labs on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, what's up, y'all? This is Eric Andre. Well, I made a podcast called Bombing about absolutely tanking on stage.

I tell gnarly stories, and I talk to friends about their worst moments of bombing in all sorts of ways. Bombing on stage, bombing in public, bombing in life. Two years ago, I talked to Blake Anderson about him breaking his back. We were throwing a Christmas party. We had this beer pong table that came in, bombing in public, bombing in life. Two at a time I talked to Blake Anderson about him breaking his back. We were throwing a Christmas party.

We had this beer pong table that Comedy Central had sent us for promotion. And one of the kids was like, I'm gonna jump off the roof. I'm seeing everybody with jazz. I'm like, I'll do it. I landed it on it with my feet. I went right through it. I felt like it was a piece of paper

and I just basically just stood straight up. You just hit like... Yeah it was just like a spear. If you just jump like straight so that made my whole spine kind of compact. Listen to Bombing with Eric Andre on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the IR Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Bombing with Eric Andre. And we're back. Should we just start at the He-Man Woman Haters Club? I was curious.

So the rundown, I mean, there is truly, if you're a true Little Rascals head, like going back to the very beginning, literally there's not enough time, the longest Wikipedia page to ever exist is the Little Rascals page. Because, oh yeah, because they began as these theatrical shorts called Our Gang. The franchise began in 1922. During like the silent era.

Yeah, so like the little rascals have been with us for basically as long as movies have, give or take like a decade or so. And they've changed over the years, which I can't speak to every single change, but the He-Man Woman Haters Club, as far as I could tell, goes as far back as 1937,

because I was curious if this was an invention of the franchise or this movie specifically to try to have some gender commentary, but it's canon. It goes back to 1937. There is a lot to be said for what I can tell about our gang or the Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Little Rascals over the years. This page is insane.

It's so long. I've gotta say, I scanned it. But like Hal Roach is like a big, I remember him coming up in like film school because he also created the Laurel and Hardy series. Like he's very influential in early movies. There's a lot to be said, and I know that we'll talk about it later in this episode with regards to this movie, but this series relationship with race, as maybe you could imagine, because it started in 1922 is all over the place. It's extremely fraught.

You know, as far as the early shorts go, there have always been young black actors in our gang or the Little Rascals, which in the 20s was polarizing for different reasons because many black audiences felt correctly that the kids were being heavily racially stereotyped in the roles they were casted. And then there were a lot of white audiences

that were just angry that there was a black character at all. So there's a lot to be said about that. But from what I can tell, the characters have been pretty consistent. They would be, throughout the 20s, 30s, and 40s, they would be recast. Like they would just put a child in the garbage and then be like, this is the new Alfalfa.

And that would happen every couple of years. It was a big way to like launch your career in the studio system back in the day. It's one of the reasons that there's now more labor rights for child actors because most of the kids who starred in them didn't go on to have like an enduring Hollywood career and also didn't get any residuals or anything, even though the series, you know,

the shorts were shown over and over. So you're saying this is like the Doctor Who of old America where you can regenerate and get a new alfalfa. Exactly, yeah it's kind of yeah. Like I and this is like to be clear I did not know a bar of this before this morning. So thankfully the Our Gang Wikia was also very helpful to me because the He-Man Woman Haters Club has its own page. So the He-Man Woman Haters Club has its own page. So the He-Man Woman Haters Club, it goes back to the 30s in the short male and female,

but male spelled M-A-I-L, which I'm sure is a hilarious joke in text, don't really know. So I'll tell you the three times the He-Man Woman Haters Club come up in the series. The first is in 1937, kind of a similar story from the 90s. Okay, Spanky had, I'm quoting here from the ourgang.fandom.com.

Wow, scholarly journal, yeah. Which whoever is, I'm like, who is this for? But I guess us. Okay, Spanky had founded the exclusive club as a defense against girls and Valentine's Day, but Alfalfa's heart was just not in it. His love for Darla keeps him from taking it seriously, but Spanky soon forces him to realize the bonds of brotherhood. Spanky later restores the club as an act of revenge after none of the boys get invited

to the Makilla-icuddy girls' party and institutes Alfalfa as president. However, when Alfalfa learns the club rules to never fraternize with the girls again, he is forced to rush back and get a love note he sent to Darla, later trapping the club members there. But he gets busted when the love note is discovered. So like there's similarities, right?

There were adaptations in the 80s as well. I believe most of them were cartoons But this is where in the 80s the he man. I this is so much I'm sorry guys the he man woman haters club comes back around over 60 years into the gang's run So wait, let me pause you for one second. Yeah, so it's only in one Episode slash one short film that the He-Man woman haters comes up in the original run of this series, is that right? I cannot confirm that for sure.

I was only able to find that it's very relevant to the plot in exactly one short from 1937. Okay, okay. So I can't say that for sure, but it seems like this is just something that's planted. And then when they go back to it in the 80s, they find this episode and they're like, oh, let's bring back the misogyny club.

That was fun. Right, right, okay. Which is congratulations to whoever the fuck did that. So, okay, in the 80s version, you can also see like shadows of what's gonna happen in the 90s. Spanky also see shadows of what's gonna happen in the 90s. Spanky refounds the club and installs himself as president. Darla briefly considers starting her own club,

the She-Woman Man-Haters Club. However, in an attempt to cheer Darla up for losing the town beauty pageant, the boys make Darla queen of their club. Darla's response to her role is, I guess anybody can be a beauty queen, but not everybody can be queen of the He-Man-Woman-Haters club. So that's how they tackle it in the 80s, which is like somehow worse than the first time. And then there's the reference to this one in the 90s.

Are there threads of the Little Rascals that don't include a misogyny club? That is a really good question. Not that I've been able to tell. Wow. Misogyny really is just timeless, isn't it? It's everywhere, it's always. So my understanding is, yeah, it starts as silent films.

It goes into the sound era. The kids are recast constantly. But it basically is released like seasons of TV before TV existed. So they would be shown before kids movies and stuff like that. And yeah, it's relationship with race is very complicated. And it's been around for over 100 years.

Wild. And for what? But let's talk about it. We'll get live. Yeah. So the way the He-Man Woman Haters Club is represented in the movie, this 1994 movie, is I feel like very emblematic of the vibes.

When you were, if you were a kid in the nineties, it was just like, no girls allowed, you know, boys thinking that girls were gross and awful because they. Maybe this is why I'm gay. It's like, ew, girls, girls. 90s misogyny made people gay. No, but little boys were, little boys like hated girls simply because they were conditioned to think that they were supposed to and that they were told that like, you know, quote

unquote girly things were bad and they were synonymous with like weakness and other negative qualities and clearly the kids in this movie like kids that young haven't given much or any critical thought to why they hate girls and women partly because they don't have the like cognitive capacity to do that type of critical thinking because they're just simply too young. But they're just like, yeah, I hate girls because I'm supposed to, because I'm a boy. It's just like senseless reasons.

And so that was very common. I remember growing up as a kid, being excluded from- I mean, I think it's still a thing. It's true, unfortunately. Right, right. And yeah, this movie's just like, and let's have that, but you have one, this kid, Alpha Alpha,

who belongs to the club for some reason, even though he is a self-proclaimed male feminist or something. But he's also like, I feel like he's like a closet feminist because it's not like, he's not a feminist when it counts, when he's around his boys. I'm not like those other kids, darlin'. I'm in touch with my feminine side.

I do love the little boat. It's cute. And he's like, I'm a sensitive male. I'm into sharing, caring, feeling and healing. And then so you know, you have this kid who's like secretly at odds with the misogyny club, but he does nothing to like challenge them really. And then you have this arc by the end where after realizing that their race car idol is actually a woman and realizing that the person

who helped them in the race was a little girl and not a boy, like they thought, they're like, maybe girls aren't so bad after all. Let's let them into our hateful club. And the arc of the story. You're like, um, it's a start question. Right. I did enjoy this scene, although it's, you know, just referring to a bunch of stereotypes, but like the sleepover scenes that are like juxtaposed against each other

where the girls are like, girls get along with each other, boys stand up for themselves, girls care, boys take what's theirs, boys won't listen, all girls wanna do is talk. They never shut the fuck up. Boys like to moon girls and they're like, no we don't, as if they're having a conversation with you,

it's so funny. But yeah, they're just going on and on about, oh, stereotypically girls like this and stereotypically boys like this. And it's, I don't know. I thought it was like, it's so, I don't know, it's, I don't know. I thought it was like, it's so like, I don't know. It's a tricky needle to thread, right? Where I like that they are, they're clearly like,

parroting things they've heard from other people and not stating it as fact, like the movie is, to some extent, trying to push back on these assumptions. But it never pushes quite far enough, because it seems like in every version of this story, best case scenario, the girls join the girl-hating group. Right. So it's weird.

I don't know. And this was like the spiel that I was going to give about it where like at the very end when the girls are present at the misogyny club. And we see a few quick cuts of the girls and boys sharing interests, their interests with each other, like dolls and lizards and sticking pencils up your nose. But then also we see the boys kissing the girls a few times, which felt unnecessary, both from a like,

can we not have children kiss each other in movies? That just feels like a very weird, gross, icky, like thankfully outdated thing that I don't think really happens anymore. But it also just seems to suggest like, well, a big reason that the boys are now allowing the girls to hang out with them is because the girls are becoming objects of the boys' romantic affection

and that's the main function of women in a patriarchal society. So those like little kisses at the end, I was like, don't like the implications there. I agree. Yeah, and I luckily don't think that that, I hope that that wouldn't happen now. I'm like, ugh, ugh.

One thing I noticed was like, this movie was very reminiscent of like the problematic over-sexualization of children in the 90s and how no one really ever thought about it and they just make all these awful jokes and like, there was no need for Alfalfa to be swimming in white briefs in a pool and be naked and like it was tasteless. It was just like why is this even here? Like I really like it's so yeah it's gross.

I know that we'll touch on Bug Hall really quick. Bug Hall I have not watched the video, but I know that he has spoken out on feeling that he was mistreated in Hollywood as a child, and that that really affected his life. He continued to act through, like up until a couple years ago, had some addiction issues,

but most relevant lead, I guess, to the content of this movie. So I do want to like acknowledge that he, and again I don't know the details of it, but it says that he was mistreated as a kid. I don't know how severe the allegations are or anything like that, but he also hates women to this day. This is from scholarly journal Wikipedia. In 2013 Hall converted to Catholicism, later leaving Hollywood in 2020. In 2021, Hall stated that he and his family had moved to a farm in the Midwest

so as to undertake a vow of poverty. In December, 2022, Hall was temporarily banned on Twitter after posting tweets in support of marital debt and corporal punishment of minors regarding his two daughters. Marital debt is like your wife is legally obligated to have sex with you when you want to have sex with her. Oh my God.

He followed up on the ban through his Instagram saying, the truth will always be unpopular. The truthful will always be persecuted, but eternity will always be sweet. In September, 2024, Hall was criticized for referring to his daughters as dishwashers in an ex-post regarding the birth of his first son, who he called his heir. So, Boo! Boo! Boo to him. Wow! Whereas, I mean, there's a lot of these kids didn't work very long in Hollywood, so I can't follow everyone's career but

interestingly Alfalfa our hero turns out to be a real-life villain meanwhile Waldo our villain Blake McIver Ewing is a queer icon and has he's gay he's like done work for the it gets better project He's been an LA go-go dancer and like has been a huge advocate for gay rights for a very long time. So. I need to book a flight to LA. Get over here, Blake's waiting.

But it's really, I was like. That's wild. Yeah, it's the blowhole stuff threw me for a damn loop. Yeah, I did not encounter that stuff threw me for a damn loop. Yeah, I did not encounter that in my research, yikes. This film really doesn't really hit you on the head enough with, if its intent was to be like, well actually women are equal and we should, these are all stereotypes that we fight

and we should be combating. Like that it doesn't really do that at all. It like really elevates a lot of that stuff. Right. Which is weird because I felt like, well, I don't know what y'all think, but like I felt like in 1994, you could get away with doing that.

But especially in a movie that is like, I mean, I love Penelope Spherus and who who knows, you know, I'm sure this movie was like noted in studio notes to death, but I do wonder if there was ever, if that was ever even like floated. Like having it be more like more feminist in its approach. Yeah, yeah. I just wonder if that was ever even like on the table. Well, I mean, like, so actually I just watched Tootsie

the other day, which is really funny because I saw it on your list, and then my husband had it in our library, and I was like, oh, let's check this out. And that movie was made in the 80s, and that movie does a really great job at talking about gender equality and expectations of women at the time in the 80s.

And I was like, that was in the 80s so like this was Like 10 years later, like they absolutely could have gone right way further with it Especially in a movie for kids where it would be extra valuable to include Those values and I don't know it seems like they built out You know Darla's world a little bit more, but her world is still very stereotypically feminine, and it's ballet and sleepovers. And pink tutus.

And the world of the boys is very stereotypically masculine. I liked the drag sequence was kind of fun. I thought so too. I thought it was sweet, I don't know. There were a couple moments of queer phobia where, for example, because of the girls who are talking to the two boys in tutus and wigs and everything, and they don't realize they're talking to boys,

they are talking about Alfalfa as if he's not there. And I think it's Spanky goes, well, I heard Alfalfa dresses in girls' clothing, i.e. in this exact moment. And then all the girls are like, oh, shock and maybe disgust. Very dated. And then there's like a no homo joke where.

Like they're eight, like what are you doing? Right, they're like weirdo. The girls see the boys, again, not realizing they're eight. Like what are you doing? Right, they're like weirdo. The girls see the boys again, not realizing they're boys. And they say, oh, are you fairies? And they're like, no, we're not fairies as if like eight year old kids understand that euphemism. And then they're like, no, we meet like, are you sugar plum fairies?

Because they're about to like do scenes from the Nutcracker. And they're like, oh yeah, yeah, we're sugar plum fairies. So it's just, I mean, this, I think, and I'm sure it has to do with its like age, but this like franchise has just struggled with equality conceptually, it seems like at every stage of its existence. The best thing it has going for it are its cameos.

Truly, yes. And I feel like that firmly places this movie in the 90s, where the characters are from 1940 for some reason, but they know Reba, so how bad could it be? Yeah, I guess I was curious because this is, I guess, for a 1994 movie, more diverse than I expected, and I also didn't know that that is canonical to the series going back 100 years,

but we don't really know anything about the black characters and almost everything they do is to support Alfalfa or Spanky it seems like. Right, it is a predominantly white cast, but as you mentioned, Jamie, I guess the inclusion of the two black characters who are among the main cast between Stymie and Buckwheat, it is kind of polling from the original series from the 20s, 30s, and 40s,

which was considered to be groundbreaking the original series from, you know, the 20s, 30s and 40s, which was considered to be groundbreaking because it was like one of the first and few pieces of media at the time that was portraying black and white children interacting as equals in the Jim Crow era. As you also said, the black characters were basically just racial stereotypes and that there were various like very racially charged gags that were just absolutely disgusting throughout the series.

Which was also further complicated. I'm trying to think of, I forget what movie we talked about that had a similar legacy where the actors who played these parts in the original shorts were sort of like later kind of defensive of the R gang shorts where I guess that Eddie Murphy performed as Buckwheat on SNL in the 80s and the original Buckwheat's family reached out and was like, fuck you Eddie Murphy. It's a, whoa. But it sounds like, I haven't seen the sketches, but it seems like the sketches were built around like, yes, this was a black character on TV,

but how like, how racist were they being to this character? Right, I mean, as many people have pointed out when it comes to inclusion in media, just because a marginalized person is represented on screen doesn't mean that representation is thoughtful or responsible. Because going back to the 1994 movie, of the main cast, it is predominantly white.

There are a couple black characters who are given some characterization. There's an Asian character who doesn't speak at all. Cause there's like, I don't know, a dozen or so little rascals that are just extras. Like they're in the club, but we don't ever meet them or anything like that. I'd say at the very least,

the very offensive racial stereotyping from the original series doesn't carry over into the black characters in the movie, but that is such a low bar and it is not an accomplishment. It just feels like there's still a deeply reduced role as a result. For sure. Yeah.

And that I think the only young black girl that we see is Raven in passing in one second. I also think it's interesting that like the 90s idea of racial diversity is like mostly white people and then a few black people. Other racial identities, never heard of them. Which is especially so like, I mean, whatever, I'm not saying anything that we don't know already, but like, especially because this is canonically in LA, which has like always been a very, very diverse place, like updated or don't, pick a lane. Yeah. It's like

they sought out to like recreate this like classic story and they're just like, let's just tell a fun little gig and let's not actually make it meaningful in any way. Right. You're like, well then, why not do something like, why not do a different story in that case, because I just don't see the point of like, I mean, this still happens obviously all the time, but like, why redo it if you have nothing new to say? And the answer is money, so I guess that's the answer. You know, and that's a really curious like,

thing to bring up is like, how many like, like, how many people love the Little Rascals from the 80s or grew up with this stuff? Or like, oh, I want to be in this remake of this thing that I grew up with or that my grandfather loved. I wonder how large the Little Rascals was because I'm just like, how do they get all these celebrities to be in this really weird movie? Like, this IP from early Hollywood to people. Well, like Penelope Spheeris. It had been like present enough. Was like, I watched these growing up and that's part of why I was hired to direct it. But I think that they were like fairly enduring throughout the year because they would like re-air on TV and stuff too.

So it wasn't like they only aired in a void. I think that they were rebroadcast a fair amount, but I don't know. I also feel like it has to do with like weird nostalgia cycles. Like how, I feel like it was a couple of years ago now, but how like every kids series took place in the 80s, the second Stranger Things did well

because people who are kids in the 80s are now old. And that'll happen to the 90s. Like it comes for us all. It's happening, it's currently happening to the 90s and it's the terrifying thing is you can start seeing it happen with the 2000s as well. I'm just like, oh no. I was like, oh no, we're not even

the most recently old people. I know, it's so scary. It's actually kind of, I feel like it's kind of a relief now that it's like, oh, now kids who were born in the early 2000s feel old and I can just be old forever. But yeah, I mean, it seems like because this is like around the time the Macaulay Culkin, Richie Rich movie

comes out too, which is also this like old timey thing. I'm like, I wonder if this was just a nostalgia cycle that was taking place for parents in the way that a lot of stuff is happening now in the 90s and 2000s. Right. It's like the era of Richie Rich and Home Alone and like blank check.

Yes, all the Mac are Kully Culkin. They're awesome. Yeah. And like Cheaper by the Dozen, I feel like was one thing. I didn't know when I was a kid that Dr. Doolittle or Cheaper by the Dozen had already been done a trillion times. I thought it was a new, awesome idea.

And I think so did every kid that saw the little rascals. They were like, whoa, who are these? What is this fresh new story that takes place 100 years ago? Same thing with Flubber being an adaptation from Yes! The whatever fucking thing, absent-minded professor maybe?

Yeah, I mean, I'll never watch the absent-minded professor because Flubber has all I need in a movie. I mean, hello, it has the Flubber Mambo. It has the Flubber Mambo. It has the Flubber Mambo. It has the dancing goo. I am like, it has a robot that has a crush on Robin Williams. What else do I need? Nothing.

Yeah. This film is reminiscent of Hollywood's obsession with IP and its inability to think of something new. And then also, it's like it's oh I forgot what the second point is but it is it really is truly just an obsession with IP and like the refusal to come up with new creative stuff because it's too much of a risk. It's too risky. We need to make money. I'm just realizing I have it in my notes that this was the same year that the like the Flintstones live action movie came out.

So there was just this big wave of nostalgia content that was coming out of varying degrees of goodness. I think I remember loving the Flintstones movie, but who knows? I watched it for the first time kind of recently, and I think it would be a very fascinating episode for us to cover. Yeah.

I was also thinking about the, okay, and this might be me being a fool. Is the Adams Family based on IP from like the 60s or 70s or something? Yeah. It was like a newspaper cartoon. Right. Because this was also around the time that the Adams family's movies were coming out. So yeah, Hollywood just does this time and time again for money reasons. And speaking of money, I want to talk about how the movie handles class.

Because the kids all seem to come from, you know, either working class or middle class families. One of the villains, because we have like villains in the bully kids who also seem to come from like, you know, a more working class background. But one of the bullies is this rich bitch Waldo, whose dad is literally Donald Trump. There is a really funny joke toward the end where Waldo is on the phone with his dad and then Trump says, you're the best son money can buy. And I'm like, that's a funny joke. Obviously credit to the writer and not to fucking Trump delivering it. But it wasn't delivered well.

But I appreciate that like there's this villainization of, you know, extreme wealth. And this is also pulling from the original series where, you know, most of the kids were poor and they were at odds with snobbish rich kids. So I appreciated that because there are, there have been a lot of movie like just media from decades past that glorified wealth and that like featured pretty much exclusively, you know, upper class families and kids. So I appreciated that this movie didn't go that route. appreciated that this movie didn't go that route. Yeah, the kids are so, I know that they like date back to earlier than this and also the original cast, I think they were just pulling the names

from the actual children. Like the original Darla's name was Darla. Oh, like the actor? I think because they were, yeah, I think because they were so young that they were like, it'll confuse them. Her name is Darla, we're calling her Darla because she was like two originally,

because old Hollywood is terrifying. I don't know, find a baby, put it in a movie. It kind of reminded me of in Massachusetts, there was like the on Zoom, did either of you watch Zoom growing up on PBS? No. Oh my gosh. It was this show on PBS where it was like

the only show made in Boston that starred kids. So every kid was like, I'm gonna be on Zoom and then I'm gonna be famous across the country. And our friend Taylor Garan was on Zoom because when I met him- Oh, is that what she's, okay, okay. When I met her later, I was like, you're famous. And she was like, yeah, it's true.

Because she was on Zoom. And it seems like our gang was the Zoom of its time, where every little kid in LA was like, I wanna be in our gang. A lot of the actors were like plucked out of East LA. Like they were all local kids that did this and then proceeded to make no money. Yikes.

But just circling by just a fact I thought was fun was the original Buckwheat later went on to become like a film editor and was one of the editors on Jaws. Isn't that weird? Oh, that's cool. Wait, the kid, not, no, not in the movie, in the original. Oh, I was gonna say how did this? How did a four year old kid? I was doing the math in my head. Back in time. No, like someone who is a kid in the 30s was later an editor on Jaws.

Would be okay. That makes much more sense. Yeah, sorry, I was not being clear enough. No, I should have used one speck of logic to understand what you must have meant. Well, good for that actor turned Jaws editor. Yeah, there's a lot of fascinating production stuff around this movie. I wanna talk about Penelope Spheeris a little bit. We also discussed her to some extent on our Wayne's World episode, but she directed this

movie. She co-wrote the screenplay. There's a lot of credited writers as far as story by credits, and then there's three credited screenwriters. But she had a pretty big creative role in this in the sense that she was a co-writer and director of course. Just a little bit about her career, she started out directing music videos and music documentaries, mostly about punk and metal and rock and roll, including a trilogy of documentaries

called The Decline of Western Civilization that kind of like put her on the map as a filmmaker. She's so cool. By the early 90s, she was directing big studio comedies like Wayne's World, like Beverly Hillbillies, like Black Sheep. She was one of only a handful of women directors during that time directing mainstream studio movies in the US and particularly like broad comedies

because almost no women were directing those at the time. Yeah. Especially ones that were not centered because I feel like to this day it's like women can direct comedies but they better be about other women. Like the fact that she directed this, you know, not even, I mean I wouldn't call Wayne's World a hyper masculine movie but just around two guys

is very cool right because like if women were directing comedies around this time they were almost always rom-coms I'm thinking of you know like Nora Efron and right which is like you know they're not knocking those whatsoever right classics but but yeah like she is kind of out outlier in that way, for sure. I kind of like the way that this movie had a Matilda-esque vibe, where it was just cartoonish enough, where things were a little out there,

but cartoonishly weird, with the hose and like riding the hose and when they were trying to put out the thing and then like the two villain kids getting like splattered with paint and their like shadows are on the van. Like I thought it was like really, really fun.

Like it took the absurdity of the film to the next, to the another level. And I just kind of wish they wrote that a little bit more and just went even more absurd with it, you know? I agree. I love a live action cartoon. Yeah, especially when it's like a, like this movie feels so clearly for kids,

which is obvious, but stay with me. I feel like there's a lot of movies of the past, whatever decade or so except for minions movies have been I think it's just like because Pixar movies do so well and there's always this like profound message and like the villain is exposed to have this like Freudian problem that is resolved by the end of the film and it is nice to go back and watch a kid's movie that you're like, this is just silly,

this is a silly Billy movie for silly Billies. The good kids are good, the bad kids, they suck. We're not interested in Waldo's trauma, we just want him to get the fuck out of the movie by the end. Like, I just, I don't know. It made me feel very nostalgic for, dare I say, a simpler time. But you mentioning Matilda reminds me of how few movies there were from this era that focused on little girls, because Little Rascals is one of many that's about either a group of little boys

such as the Sandlot, which you mentioned earlier, Jamie, there's a lot of other like little boys doing sports or like little boys just hanging out. And there were so few. Just a handful. I was like, I think the ones that come to mind are Harriet the Spy, RIP Michelle, and a little princess. Those are the only, and obviously Matilda, but those are kind of the only ones that come to mind. Yeah, yeah. There's more we know, but like, yeah, it just was so much rarer to see little girls featured in a movie from this era. I just wish the girls in this film were not just the objects of men. That would be nice. That would have been...

Where's little rascals? Little girl rascals? Or just little rascals starring girls? Little rasclets! You know? Yeah. Little rasclets. I want to see a movie about a woman, like a man-hating club of women that like sabotage these little boys' lives. And like they just like, I would love that. And the movie ends by them doubling down and being like, we were right, we were right.

Exactly. You are not welcome in our club, ever. Because- Get the fuck out of here. Miss Andrie is a response to misogyny. It's not like, you know, girls and women are like- Also- Men are bad in a vacuum. It's just like, no girls and women are like also men are bad in

a vacuum it's just like no we don't like men because they hate us they hated us first what I what I learned this fairly recently when I was like I had to do a very unfortunate project on the Manosphere on my other show and I learned that the term miss Andri was literally made up by a misogynist to be like, I know you were, but what am I? So it's like, it's barely a thing because you're right. It's just like a logical response, which is why the word didn't exist.

Going back to Penelope Spheeris for a moment. So, you know, she was one of a few women directing mainstream Hollywood movies in the early 90s. Her career eventually took a turn. There's an interview with her in the AV club from 2019. I think we referenced this a little bit in our Wayne's World episode,

but she basically describes her last studio movie, something called Senseless from 1998. It was a box office flop. And because she's a woman that was enough to put her in like quote unquote director jail, right, because as she points out in the interview, women don't get a second chance in Hollywood after they make one flop while men get infinite chances. She also says that working with Harvey and Bob Weinstein, which she did on that movie senseless, was a tipping point that made her realize that she didn't want to work in Hollywood anymore. Right? A few choice quotes from her from this interview. Quote, you have no friends in

Hollywood. Hollywood is a lonely, lonely desert, especially as a woman. Quote, if they don't hire me because I'm a woman, because I'm an older woman, if they don't hire me, I don't give a shit. And quote, I don't need them. I really don't, especially now, what am I going to do work for a year on a movie and make $50,000? They can blow me. That's a quote, you can print that, unquote. I love her, I love her. That is incredible.

But then you read on in this interview and you find out that she owns six houses and she's a landlord and then you're like, oh shit. Honestly, I mean. So close. So close. Landlord evil, but it also makes me, it makes me sad in more than one way because I'm like,

wow, they used to pay people that much to do a job here? Because residuals exist. Like in the 90s, she made nearly $3 million directing. I think it was senseless. And then she's like, and then now if I do something I will get basically no money. Yeah. Yeah. Um so that's that's all I had on the director. I wanted to just say a few kind of stray thoughts. Oh the age difference between Darla drag them drag them and the boys that love her okay, so we've talked about the common occurrence of

Older men being paired with a much younger woman in a romantic storyline in media which often carries the implications of like older women are not romantically desirable or you know women Should be valued for their youth and things like that Obviously, usually we see this in adults But it happens in this movie with these kids So eight-year-old girl would be simply too old for L.F.L.F. Too old for these eight-year-old boys. So Darla is played by an actor named Brittany Ashton Holmes. She was four years old at the beginning of the production. She turned five

part way through. Alfalfa and Waldo, played by Bug Hall and Blake Ewing respectively, were both eight when the production started and they turned nine partway through. They all had birthdays in this like four month shoot. So these boys are like twice the age of her. Like obviously a four year age gap is not a big deal if you're an adult, but when you're that young, like those years really make a developmental difference and it's just two of your life. So it was, I never picked up on this as a kid, but as an adult, I'm like,

she seems so much younger than them and it's because she is. And it was just really gross to me that these boys were lusting after a little girl who is basically still a toddler. Like who doesn't know to not look at the camera. You shouldn't be making that kid kiss someone she doesn't know to not look at the camera. So icky. The way that heterosexual people sexualize children and then it's always the queer people that get blamed for it. Like it's ridiculous.

It's horrendous. Every time I go into, like every time I walk through like a greeting card aisle, you're reminded at still how over sexualized little kids are. Where I don't, like I was looking for, like my friends got engaged. I was trying to buy an engagement card and so many of them were like little kids kissing.

And you're like why? Why are we doing that? Why are we making them do that? Get over it, yeah. The one thing I'll say about kids kissing on screen in this movie is that at least we see an example of a boy asking a girl for consent to kiss her. The king of consent, Alfalfa.

Alfalfa says, Darla, would you think me forward if I asked you for a big wet one? And she's like, what? And he's like, I'd kiss. And she's like, okay. And so he asks for and then receives consent. The fact that we see them kiss then, completely unnecessary, but I guess at the very least,

we see an example of someone asking for consent. Yeah, so there's that. Let me see if I had any other straight thoughts. Oh, just that this was like probably the first example I saw in a movie of the trope of like, someone who's doing something that's considered traditionally masculine, and we assume it's a man, but we can't tell because they're wearing like a mask or a helmet that obscures their face.

Twist, it's a woman or a girl. We get like kind of two examples of that between. Yeah, back to back. AJ Ferguson turns out their idol, their race car driver idol is a woman and then with Darla taking off her helmet. So whenever I see that trope, like this movie is the first thing I think of because I'm

like, oh, I think I saw it there for the first time. I don't remember where I saw it for the first time, but it's never the last time. That's all I know. I know. Never, never. And it will never. It's going to still happen 2025. That's what I mean.

One of the many downsides of fascism is that this shit is gonna roll back and back and back. We're to see tropes we haven't seen in 30 years popping up in movies. It's damn. But no, our podcast fixed it. I wanted to add a quick, just like a fun 90s kid fact that the voice of Froggy is E.G. Daily, AKA the voice of Tommy Pickles and Bubbles from Powerpuff Girls.

She's a legend. She's also in Peewee's Big Adventure. Big E.G. Daily head, head, EG Daily head fans unite. I'm so, you know, I'm actually a little bummed that's not his real voice. Right, it was like that, I mean, it would have been a hell of a performance, but it is. I'm like, damn, that kid's got pipes.

Like, did they make him speak like that the entire time? I know, I was wondering what sort of like voice modifying situation was happening there but it's like a voice actor. It wasn't it's just a voice actor who very frequently voiced little boys like such as Tommy Pickles. I love E.G. Daly she's like so awesome. She's incredible. She's great. Does anyone have anything else they'd like to discuss? I'm so sorry for making you watch this film. No, I had a great time. There's so much to talk about.

There really was. I had a great time revisiting this. Again, there's so many hilarious jokes. The comedy writing in this movie is really on par with some of the best comedy movies out there. For example, Spanky, how do you plead Alfalfa like this? And then he proceeds to show how he begs for mercy. And then Spanky's like, and now you're sentenced

to execution at dawn? Hilarious. Buckwheat and Alfalfa trying to call 911, but they're like, what's the number to 911? How should I know? And then pan over and they're right next to a fire station that they just walk past, because they don't realize that that would help them.

Oh, Alfalfa and Darla drink disgusting grape juice. And Alfalfa says, must have been a bad year, as if it's wine. Pretty funny. That's good comedy. Alfalfa, we're singing a duet. Waldo, how redundant. That's funny in and of itself.

And then Alfalfa says, thank you. As if he's receiving a compliment. Kaylee, you're defending this movie with your life. It's so funny. Your life, your body's on the train tracks. You're like. Look, okay, well we'll get to Nipple Scale. It's a good movie, you're a creator.

It's young. I mean, let's get to the Bechdel test. The movie does not pass. Darla and her friends do talk to each other, but it's always them either like fawning over Waldo or talking about how gross boys are at the sleepover, which I think actually might be an exception to the Bechtel test, but that's just me.

I feel like spiritually that exchange passes, but technically it doesn't. I don't think this movie is doing it. I think in the movie that ends in all the girls joining the woman haters club, I think it doesn't pass. There I said it. I really wish that they had changed the sign. Yeah.

And then it was like the woman to tolerators club, because they're not gonna go straight into, you know, intersectional feminism, but. The woman tolerators club. Woman tolerators club. Yeah, I don't really think this test, this movie passes the test at all. No.

I have something to say about a man that I forgot to mention earlier. Oh, no, please, yes. Did you know that Norm from Cheers is Jason Sudeikis' uncle? What? I did discover that in my research. I didn't, I was like, stealth nepotism. I did not know that. Stealth nepotism, that in my research. I was like stealth nepotism.

I did not know that. Stealth nepotism, that's my favorite. I had no idea. The like aunt, uncle, nepotism. That's a sneaky one. You don't see that one coming. I know, cause it's like that kid, that Wahlberg kid from the Dora movie

is Mark Wahlberg's nephew. Oh my god, nephew. Emma Roberts is Julia Roberts' niece. But she's also Eric Roberts' daughter, you know, so she is proper nepotism. Yeah. But as far as our nipple scale goes, the scale where we rate the movie.

I'm so sorry, how does this work? This nipple scale? Yes, okay. Oh, don't you worry. We've got you covered. It's a scale where we rate the movie zero to five nipples based on examining it through an intersectional feminist lens. So a movie that does horribly would get zero nipples, like zero or one. The most feminist, like intersectional feminist movie of all time

would get five nipples. We'd almost never award five nipples Just yeah, and if we do we almost always take it back later. We regret it later I'm gonna give this I'm kind of between like a 1.5 and a 2 because it does try to address between like a 1.5 and a 2 because it does try to address gender and it tries to address misogyny and the lesson at the end is the boys learn that their misogyny was based in nothing and that women can contribute to society. The movie does this on a very surface level but it does make an attempt and that's more than most movies from the 90s we're doing that's more than most kids movies from the 90s we're doing especially ones

that feature a cast full of boys so with your life. I'm gonna give it two nipples. Jamie's face right now is so great. It's like, the tight-lipped smile, just like, mm. I, and maybe two nipples. Just because this is a movie, I don't even think I owned this on VHS, but this is one that we would, we rented so many times from the video store that it would have been way more cost-effective

if my mom had just bought it because she spent so much money on like me insisting on renting it all the time. So I saw it on repeat a lot as a kid and so I do have an attachment to it. And again, the jokes in this movie are fire, most of them. So yeah, Two Nipples, it does try to do something. It doesn't do it successfully. Two Nipples, it does try to do something. It doesn't do it successfully.

Two Nipples is still two out of five. That's an F, that's 40%, but it's trying. I'm gonna go One Nipple, because I bravely think this movie is not trying. And it did just as bad, if not worse, than it did in the 80s. I don't see enough of a meaningful difference in between 1922 and this movie

in terms of how women and girls are portrayed. But I love Penelope Spheras. I think she's punk rock. She's very, very cool. I love Wayne's world and I won't hold it against this movie too much. But this was, I mean, it was a really fun episode to put together, because I just like did not know

how much there was gonna be to talk about. Sorry, I should have warned you. No, I mean, it was good. It was, I don't know, we've covered so many movies from this span of time, but we have never covered a movie quite like this. So I enjoyed it. I, yeah, it's a fun movie to watch,

but I don't think it's really trying to do very much other than have women join the misogyny club. 1994, I mean, like you were saying earlier, Tark, there were movies that were coming out decades before this that were doing more. So, One Nipple, and I'm giving it to Darla, my friend. Tariq, how about you? I'm sorry, are we assigning characters nipples?

You can award them. Yeah, like so I forgot to, but I'll give my two nipples, one to Petey the dog and the other one to, oh, I forget the monkey's name, but I like to give mine to the ant. I think it was Elmer, yeah. Elmer, yeah. I'm also going to give it one nipple.

Is it zero nipple? Is that even like a... You can't do as little... Sometimes we give negative nipples. I would say a one nipple because of the cameos. The cameos really... They really make it stand out. I agree with you.

I think they didn't try nearly hard enough. I think they went in for a flimsy little fun movie about kids doing kid stuff, but they had nothing new to add to the lore or to the franchise, to really make it a true sign of its times. And a sign of its times meaning in the there were there was so much more happening in terms of like trying to get better representation of women on screen and they could have been one of one of those attempts and they didn't really try hard at all. Oh haters. So I'm with you Jamie. And then I would award oh gosh I guess I would award my nipple to Elmer because I love that monkey. Yeah, Elmer is a cutie pie. I'm like, I don't believe that Elmer, I think Elmer and Petey

learned the error of their ways and started a woman tolerators club nearby. club nearby. Yeah. Yeah. Well, now that I'm crying, as was foreseen earlier, no. Tarik, thank you so much for joining us for this. Yeah, this has been a blast. Thank you for having me on. It was fantastic. Anytime. Come back anytime. Where can people follow you online? Plug anything you'd like to plug.

You can follow me on Instagram, Tarik, T-A-R-I-Q, underscore R-A-O-U-F. I'm also on Twitter, which is same username. And then like, I'm on TikTok too, but like it's all the same stuff on Instagram. So if you don't wanna be on Instagram, I'm on TikTok too, same username. Oh yeah, love it.

You can follow us on Instagram at Bechtelcast. You can subscribe to our Patreon, AKA matrion, at patreon.com slash Bechtelcast. We're currently, we're doing the important work over there. We've recently done a month about insect movies and we just finished doing a month about rats. So. Yeah, it's Rodent Timber over there with episodes on Ratatouille and The Great Mouse Detective.

Really important disc course taking place. Don't miss it. Yeah. Wow. I have FOMO not being a part of your matron. Well, it's only $5 a month. So- I'll say, I think the Ratatouille episode was a banger. I think it was really good.

Yeah, I think by the time this episode comes out, it'll either have just been released or it's about to be like, yeah, listeners, be on the lookout for Ratatouille and don't walk. I like the way plugging this scurry scurry your little rat paws over to that episode. And with that, I call this meeting of the man hating women and marginalized gender people loving club to an end. All in favor? Oh, tae. Oh, tae.

Bye bye. Bye. Bye. The Bechtel cast is a production of iHeartMedia, hosted by Caitlin Durante and Jamie Loftus, produced by Sophie Lichterman, edited by Mo Laborde. Our theme song was composed by Mike Kaplan, with vocals by Catherine Voskrasensky. Our logo and merch is designed by Jamie Loftus, and a special thanks to Aristotle Acevedo. For more information about the podcast, please visit linktree slash Bechtelcast. Prohibition is synonymous with speakeasies, jazz, flappers, and of course, failure. I'm

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