The Little Rascals | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Penelope Spheeris |
Produced by | Bill Oakes Michael King Gerald R. Molen |
Written by | Paul Guay Stephen Mazur Penelope Spheeris Mike Scott Robert Wolterstorff |
Story by | Paul Guay Stephen Mazur Penelope Spheeris |
Based on |
Our Gang by Hal Roach |
Starring |
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Music by | William Ross |
Cinematography | Richard Bowen |
Edited by | Ross Albert Peter Teschner |
Production
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Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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82 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $67.3 million |
The Little Rascals is a 1994 American family comedy film produced by Amblin Entertainment, and released by Universal Pictures on August 5, 1994. The film is an adaptation of Hal Roach's Our Gang, a series of short films of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s (many of which were broadcast on television as The Little Rascals) which centered on the adventures of a group of neighborhood children. The film, with a screenplay by Paul Guay, Stephen Mazur, and Penelope Spheeris – who also directed – presents several of the Our Gang characters in an updated setting, and features re-interpretations of several of the original shorts. It was the first collaboration by Guay and Mazur, whose subsequent comedies were Liar Liar and Heartbreakers.
A sequel, The Little Rascals Save the Day, was released as a direct-to-video feature in 2014.
Spanky (Travis Tedford) is the president of the "He-Man Woman Haters Club" with many school-aged boys from around the neighborhood as members. Spanky's best friend Alfalfa (Bug Hall) has been chosen to be the driver for the club's prize-winning go-kart, "The Blur", in the upcoming Soap Box Derby go-kart race. Unfortunately, Alfalfa is nowhere to be found.
The boys go to find Alfalfa and they discover him in the company of his sweetheart Darla (Brittany Ashton Holmes), with whom he is forbidden to be in love because she is a girl and that is against club rules. Alfalfa invites Darla on a picnic, and to prove his devotion to her, he agrees to have the picnic inside the Clubhouse. Unbeknownst to Alfalfa, his fellow club members find out about his plans.
At the picnic, Alfalfa and Darla think they are alone, but the other club members secretly pull several silly pranks to sabotage their romantic date. When they finally reveal themselves and demand to come inside the clubhouse, Alfalfa frantically tries to convince Darla to hide in the closet, which causes her to be offended. In the frenzy, a candle flame gets out of control, ultimately causing the clubhouse to burn down.